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Peter Darlington, PhD

  • Associate Professor, Health, Kinesiology and Applied Physiology
  • Associate Professor, Biology

Research areas: Immunology and autonomic nervous system

Contact information

Email:

peter.darlington@concordia.ca

Biography

Training and Previous Positions

2005-2008 Postodoctoral Fellow, Montreal Neurological Institute (McGill University)

2008-2011 Research Associate, Montreal Neurological Institute (McGill University)

2011-2016 Assistant Professor (Concordia University)

2016-current Associate Professor (Concordia University)

Education

1994-1998 B.Sc. Honors Biochemistry and Chemistry (The University of Western Ontario)

1998-2005 Ph.D. Microbiology and Immunology (The University of Western Ontario)

Research interests

Theme: Immunology
Secondary Theme: Autonomic nervous system

2017- Concordia University Science College, Fellow

Teaching activities

Teaching statement

“My hope is to teach students to science in a way that they are not familiar with. We are in the midst of a scientific revolution; major discoveries continue to be made that change the way we think about traditional scientific subjects. By using a combination of traditional and outside-the-box teaching methods I try to inspire students to learn not just for the sake of learning but because they are inspired by the material. My lectures aim to blend ‘textbook facts’ with new information. In this way the students will leave Concordia with a cutting edge knowledge base and way of thinking that will help them succeed in whatever endeavor they pursue.”

Courses taught

Research activities

Current research projects

The immunology laboratory explores how, and why, the immune system communicates with the rest of the body. For example, we study how stress hormones and autonomic drugs alter the function of T cells. Answering fundamental immunology questions will help advance knowledge related to autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis. Our research is multidisciplinary, with students coming from the departments of Exercise Science, Biology, Psychology, Chemistry and Biochemistry backgrounds. Key methods include isolation of human white blood cells and plasma, sterile cell culture, cellular analysis of immune function, protein analysis (ELISA), RNA analysis (qPCR), flow cytometry based immuno-phenotyping and cell signalling. We study human cell lines, and immune cells obtained from human subjects to provoke acute sympathetic responses. We have active collaborations on extracellular vesicles, and advanced gene-editing technology

Publications

Publications

1. Samuel R. Little, Ziuwin Leung, Angela B.V. Quach, Alison Hirukawa, Fatemeh Gholizadeh, Mehri Hajiaghayi, Peter J. Darlington, Steve C.C. Shih, A Tri-Droplet Liquid Structure for Highly Efficient Intracellular Delivery in Primary Mammalian Cells Using Digital Microfluidics, Advanced Materials Technologies, 2023 , online https://doi.org/10.1002/admt.202300719 [original research article, peer-reviewed]

Catalina Marysol Carvajal Gonczi*, Mehri Hajiaghayi*, Fatemeh Gholizadeh, Maria Auxiliadora Xavier Soares, Fadi Touma, Carolina Lopez Naranjo, Amanda J. Rios, Chelsea Pozzebon, Tina Daigneault, Kelly Burchell-Reyes, Peter J. Darlington, The β2-adrenergic receptor agonist terbutaline upregulates T helper-17 cells in a protein kinase A-dependent manner, Human Immunology, 2023, Oct;84(10):515-524 [original research article, peer-reviewed] *shared 1st author

.     Elena Willis, Jessica Ladouceur, DebanjaliPurkayastha, Dipannita Purkayastha, Natalie Levtova, Gabriel Kakon,Amir-Arshiya Kaffash Mohamadi, Meagane E. I. Maurice-Ventouris, Emilie-AnneBenoit, Fadi Touma, Geoffrey Dover, and PeterJ. Darlington. Syncope during a Cold Pressor Test is Related to PainCatastrophizing, Elevated Pain and Stress.  Accepted September 2022, Concordia Journal of Psychology and Neuroscience [original research article, peer-reviewed]

 2.   Pablo Godoy, Peter J. Darlington, Malcolm Whiteway. Genetic screening of Candida albicans inactivation mutants identifies new genes involved in macrophage-fungalcell interactions. Frontiers Microbiology. accepted, 05 April 2022, doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.833655[original research article, peer-reviewed]

 3.   Catalina Marysol Carvajal Gonczi, Fadi Touma,Tina Daigneault, Chelsea Pozzebon, Kelly Burchell-Reyes, Peter J. Darlington. Modulation of IL-17A and IFNγ by β2-adrenergicagonist terbutaline and inverse-agonist nebivolol, influence of ADRB2polymorphisms. AIMS Allergy and Immunology, 2021, Volume 5, Issue 4: 222-239.doi: 10.3934/Allergy.2021017  [originalresearch article, peer-reviewed]

 4.   Gabriel Kakon*, Amir-Arshiya Kaffash Mohamadi*,Natalie Levtova, Meagane E. I. Maurice-Ventouris, Emilie-Anne Benoit, FlorianChouchou, Peter J. Darlington,Geoffrey Dover. Elevated Heart Rate and Pain During a Cold Pressor TestCorrelates to Pain Catastrophizing. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback. onlineahead of print 2021 Aug 28. Print: 46(4), 359-366[original research article, peer-reviewed] DOI 10.1007/s10484-021-09520-4*Shared first author.

5.     Lentini Matylda, Scalia Joseph, Berger LebelFrédérike, Touma Fadi, Jhajj Aneet, PeterJ. Darlington, Dover Geoffrey. Association Between Pain Catastrophizing andPain and Cardiovascular Changes During a Cold-Pressor Test in Athletes. Journalof Athletic Training. 2021 May 1;56(5):473-483. [original research article,peer-reviewed]

 6.    Nghibzadeh A., Mohammadi G., P.J. Darlington, Rezaei Namjoo F., Rashidlamir A. Aquaticexercise with Swedish massage increases neurotrophic factors and decreasesinterleukin-6 (IL-6) in relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis. Biology ofExercise. 2019, Vol. 15 Issue 1, p171-186. 16p. [original research article,peer-reviewed]

Stopnicki B., Q-L. Cui, M. Blain, T. E. Kennedy,J. P. Antel, L. M. Healy, P.J.Darlington. Helper CD4 T cells Expressing Granzyme B Cause GlialFibrillary Acidic Protein Fragmentation in Astrocytes in an MHCII-independentmanner. Glia. 2019 Apr;67(4):582-593  [originalresearch article, peer-reviewed]

 8.   P.J.Darlington, B. Stopnicki, T. Touil, J-S. Doucet, L. Fawaz, M. E. Roberts,M-N. Boivin, N. Arbour, M. S. Freedman, H.L. Atkins, A. Bar-Or. NaturalKiller Cells Regulate Th17 cells After Autologous Hematopoietic Stem CellTransplantation for Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis. Frontiers inImmunology. 07 May 2018, volume 9, article 834, p1 -14  [original research article, peer-reviewed]

 9.   M. Youssef, A. Ghassemi, C. C. M. Gonczi, T.Arabi Kugathasan, R. D. Kilgour, P.J.Darlington. Low Baseline Sympathetic Tone Correlates to a Greater BloodPressure Change in the Cold Pressor Test. Aerospace Medicine and HumanPerformance.  89(6),  2018. pp503-509 [original research article,peer-reviewed]

 10C. C. M. Carvajal Gonczi, M. Tabatabaei Shafiei,A. East, E. Martire, M. E.I. Maurice-Ventouris, P.J. Darlington.  ReciprocalModulation of Helper Th1 and Th17 Cells by the β2-Adrenergic Receptor AgonistDrug Terbutaline. The FEBS Journal, Sept 2017, Vol 284, Issue 18, pp 3018–3028.[original research article, peer-reviewed]

 11Levtova N.*, Healy L.M.*, Carvajal Gonczi C. M. ,Stopnicki B., Blain M., Kennedy T., Moore C.S., Antel J., Darlington, P.J. Comparative morphology and phagocytic capacity ofprimary human adult microglia with time-lapse imaging. Journal ofNeuroimmunology, 2017 Sep 15; vol 310, 143-149. *shared first author. [original research article, peer-reviewed]

 12S. L.C. Elsaser, F. Vickers, C.M. CarvajalGonczi, P.J. Darlington. LactatePromotes Survival Of Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells due to Lowering ofApoptosis. Journal of Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Excellence. 2017.vol VIII, p 1-4 [original research article, peer-reviewed]

 

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