Associate Professor
Affiliation
Université de Montréal, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medicine and Medical Specialties. Also accredited to supervise graduate students in the Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, and Pharmacology and Physiology.
Research Axes
Team
- Zaynab Nouhi, PhD: Research Associate
- Victor Gife: PhD student in Biochemistry. Co-supervised with François Mercier, Lady Davis Institute, McGill University.
- Sarah St-Amand: PhD student in Biochemistry. Co-supervised with Frédérick A. Mallette, CR-HMR.
- Anavasadat Sadr Hashemi Nejad: PhD student in Biochemistry
- Meriem Takdenti: PhD student in Biochemistry
- Maëline Roulet-Matton: PhD student in Pharmacology and Physiology. Co-supervised with Hugo Wurtele, CR-HMR.
- Thailany Gomes Monteiro: PhD student in Biochemistry. Co-supervised with Frédérick A. Mallette, CR-HMR.
Laura Hulea is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine and Medical Specialties at Université de Montréal and a researcher at the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital Research Centre (CR-HMR). She joined Université de Montréal in 2019 and established her laboratory at CR-HMR in March of that year. She was appointed Assistant Professor in 2020 and promoted to Associate Professor in 2024.
Her laboratory studies the interplay between mRNA translation and cellular metabolism, and how it shapes cell function, cell state and adaptation. Her research focuses primarily on cancer biology, with complementary projects in immune-cell and adipose-tissue biology.
At CR-HMR, Laura established the metabolomics platform and led it from 2021 to 2025. She chairs the centre's Scientific Activities Committee.
Research Unit
Regulation of cellular metabolism and mRNA translation
We seek to understand how cellular signalling coordinates protein synthesis and nutrient use to support homeostasis, metabolic plasticity and stress responses. In particular, we study translational regulation through the mTORC1–4E-BP–eIF4F axis and eIF4A-dependent programmes.
Objective
Our goal is to define the mechanisms linking mRNA translation, metabolism and cell state, and to identify the vulnerabilities that emerge when these processes are dysregulated. In cancer, we investigate how these dependencies can be exploited to limit tumour growth and improve treatment responses.
Our approaches combine polysome profiling, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, isotope tracing and measurements of cellular bioenergetics with molecular and cell biology. We use cellular and mouse models of cancer, including cell-line-derived and patient-derived xenografts
Research interests
Melanoma: understanding the links between mRNA translation, metabolic plasticity and adaptation to targeted therapies, particularly through eIF4A targeting.
Acute myeloid leukemia: investigating survival programmes and translational and metabolic vulnerabilities in resistance to venetoclax and azacitidine, in collaboration with François Mercier, Lady Davis Institute, McGill University.
Paediatric acute megakaryoblastic leukemia: identifying metabolic dependencies associated with the CBFA2T3::GLIS2 fusion, in collaboration with Frédérick A. Mallette, CR-HMR.
Ovarian cancer: investigating the links between mRNA translation, cell survival, DNA-damage responses and resistance to platinum-based chemotherapy, in collaboration with Hugo Wurtele, CR-HMR.
Publications
Voir toutes les publications-
Mercier et al. (2025). Translational control of leukemic metabolism and disease progression. Trends in Cell Biology, 35(11), 971–986.
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De Siqueira, Nouhi et al. (2025). Protocol to perform polysome profiling in primary differentiating murine adipocytes. STAR Protocols, 6(2), 103799.
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Gife et al. (2025). Intracellular Phosphoflow Cytometry of Acute Myeloid Leukemia Patient-Derived Xenotransplants. Journal of Visualized Experiments, (220), e68244.
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Neault et al. (2023). CBFA2T3-GLIS2-dependent pediatric acute megakaryoblastic leukemia is driven by GLIS2 and sensitive to navitoclax. Cell Reports, 42(9), 113084.
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Fooks et al. (2022). EIF4A inhibition targets bioenergetic homeostasis in AML MOLM-14 cells in vitro and in vivo and synergizes with cytarabine and venetoclax. Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research, 41, 340.
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Hulea, Gravel, Morita et al. (2018). Translational and HIF-1α-Dependent Metabolic Reprogramming Underpin Metabolic Plasticity and Responses to Kinase Inhibitors and Biguanides. Cell Metabolism, 28(6), 817–832.e8.
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Education
Postdoctoral training in cancer biology, mRNA translation and cellular metabolism
Lady Davis Institute, McGill University, Montreal
PhD in Biochemistry, with a focus on transcriptional regulation and DNA-damage responses
Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Research Centre, McGill University, Montreal
Master's degree in Structural and Functional Biochemistry
Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Lyon, France
Engineering degree in Biochemistry and Biotechnology
Institut national des sciences appliquées de Lyon, France
Awards
- 2026 CR-HMR Recognition Award for contributions to scientific activities and the development of the centre. (Centre de recherche de l'Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont (CR-HMR)
- 2024 Junior 2 Research Scholar Award (Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQS)
- 2020 Junior 1 Research Scholar Award (Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQS)
- 2018 Travel award (Canadian Cancer Society)
- 2015 Travel award (Terry Fox Research Institute)
- 2008 Graduate Fellowship (Cole Foundation)
- 2008 Maysie MacSporran Graduate Award (McGill University)