Dr. Harding is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Pharmacy, is a Principal Investigator at the Structural Genomics Consortium and is also cross-appointed to the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, all at the University of Toronto. Dr. Harding completed both her undergraduate (MBiochem) and graduate (DPhil) studies at the University of Oxford, the latter training in the lab of Dr. Susan Lea. Dr. Harding moved to the University of Toronto for her postdoctoral training in the lab of Dr. Cheryl Arrowsmith. Dr. Harding was awarded the prestigious Huntington’s Disease Society of America Berman-Topper Family Career Development Fellowship for her research on the structure-function of the Huntington’s disease protein, huntingtin, work that has continued into her independent research career. Her contributions to the field of Huntington’s were further recognised with her award of the 2024 Nancy Wexler Young Investigator Prize, an honour bestowed upon a researcher whose work reflects the highest calibre of excellence, diligence and creative thinking.
Dr. Harding's team uses structural biology, protein biochemistry and chemical biology to study the molecular mechanisms of pathology of repeat expansion disorders, with a primary focus on Huntington’s disease. Huntington’s is a devastating, incurable, genetic, neurodegenerative disease caused by a CAG-tract expansion in the Huntingtin gene. The group is concentrated on three key areas: 1) defining the structure-function relationship of the Huntington’s disease protein, huntingtin, and how this is altered by the disease-causing mutation; 2) molecular mechanisms of repeat expansion disorders like Huntington’s; and 3) development of chemical tools targeting understudied proteins and targets of interest for Huntington’s disease drug discovery.
Truant R, Harding RJ, Neuman K, Maiuri T
J Huntingtons Dis. 2025-2-20 . 13(4):419-430 .doi: 10.1177/18796397241295303
PMID: 39973382Wang X, Sun J, Ahmad S, Yang D, Li F, Chan UH, Zeng H, Simoben CV, Houliston S, Dong A, Bolotokova A, Gibson E, Kutera M, Ghiabi P, Kondratov I, Matviyuk T, Chuprina A, Mavridi D, Lenz C, Joerger AC, Brown BD, Heath RB, Yue WW, Robbie LK, Beyett TS, Müller S, Knapp S, Harding R, Schapira M, Brown PJ, Santhakumar V, Ackloo S, Arrowsmith CH, Edwards AM, Peng H, Halabelian L
bioRxiv. 2025-2-3 . .doi: 10.1101/2025.01.17.633682
PMID: 39896675Mettu A, Glavatskikh M, Wang X, Lara Ordóñez AJ, Li F, Chau I, Ackloo S, Arrowsmith C, Bolotokova A, Ghiabi P, Gibson E, Halabelian L, Houliston S, Harding RJ, Hutchinson A, Loppnau P, Perveen S, Seitova A, Zeng H, Schapira M, Taymans JM, Kireev D
Chem Sci. 2025-1-29 . .doi: 10.1039/d4sc07532c
PMID: 39877816Geurs S, Staessens E, Bredael K, Borghgraef S, De Ridder J, Persoons L, De Jonghe S, Schols D, Mann MK, Harding RJ, Franceus J, Desmet T, Van Hecke K, Clarisse D, De Bosscher K, D'hooghe M
Eur J Med Chem. 2025-1-18 . 285:117208 .doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2024.117208
PMID: 39823806Li F, Ackloo S, Arrowsmith CH, Ban F, Barden CJ, Beck H, Beránek J, Berenger F, Bolotokova A, Bret G, Breznik M, Carosati E, Chau I, Chen Y, Cherkasov A, Corte DD, Denzinger K, Dong A, Draga S, Dunn I, Edfeldt K, Edwards A, Eguida M, Eisenhuth P, Friedrich L, Fuerll A, Gardiner SS, Gentile F, Ghiabi P, Gibson E, Glavatskikh M, Gorgulla C, Guenther J, Gunnarsson A, Gusev F, Gutkin E, Halabelian L, Harding RJ, Hillisch A, Hoffer L, Hogner A, Houliston S, Irwin JJ, Isayev O, Ivanova A, Jacquemard C, Jarrett AJ, Jensen JH, Kireev D, Kleber J, Koby SB, Koes D, Kumar A, Kurnikova MG, Kutlushina A, Lessel U, Liessmann F, Liu S, Lu W, Meiler J, Mettu A, Minibaeva G, Moretti R, Morris CJ, Narangoda C, Noonan T, Obendorf L, Pach S, Pandit A, Perveen S, Poda G, Polishchuk P, Puls K, Pütter V, Rognan D, Roskams-Edris D, Schindler C, Sindt F, Spiwok V, Steinmann C, Stevens RL, Talagayev V, Tingey D, Vu O, Walters WP, Wang X, Wang Z, Wolber G, Wolf CA, Wortmann L, Zeng H, Zepeda CA, Zhang KYJ, Zhang J, Zheng S, Schapira M
J Chem Inf Model. 2024-11-5 . .doi: 10.1021/acs.jcim.4c01267
PMID: 39499532Maiuri T, Bazan CB, Harding RJ, Begeja N, Kam TI, Byrne LM, Rodrigues FB, Warner MM, Neuman K, Mansoor M, Badiee M, Dasovich M, Wang K, Thompson LM, Leung AKL, Andres SN, Wild EJ, Dawson TM, Dawson VL, Arrowsmith CH, Truant R
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024-9-27 . 121(40):e2318098121 .doi: 10.1073/pnas.2318098121
PMID: 39331414Fanti R, Ayoubi R, Alende C, Fotouhi M, González Bolívar S, Chandrasekaran R, Southern K, Edwards AM, Harding RJ, Laflamme C
F1000Res. 2024-9-11 . 13:922 .doi: 10.12688/f1000research.153670.1
PMID: 39257448Caba C, Black M, Liu Y, DaDalt AA, Mallare J, Fan L, Harding RJ, Wang Y, Vacratsis PO, Huang R, Zhuang Z, Tong Y
J Biol Chem. 2024-8-28 . 107727 .doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2024.107727
PMID: 39214302Yadav M, Harding RJ, Li T, Xu X, Gall-Duncan T, Khan M, Bardile CF, Sequiera GL, Duan S, Chandrasekaran R, Pan A, Bu J, Yamazaki T, Hirose T, Prinos P, Tippett L, Turner C, Curtis MA, Faull RLM, Pouladi MA, Pearson CE, He HH, Arrowsmith CH
Sci Adv. 2024-7-19 . 10(29):eado5264 .doi: 10.1126/sciadv.ado5264
PMID: 39028820Eguida M, Bret G, Sindt F, Li F, Chau I, Ackloo S, Arrowsmith C, Bolotokova A, Ghiabi P, Gibson E, Halabelian L, Houliston S, Harding RJ, Hutchinson A, Loppnau P, Perveen S, Seitova A, Zeng H, Schapira M, Rognan D
J Chem Inf Model. 2024-6-25 . .doi: 10.1021/acs.jcim.4c00601
PMID: 38916159