The Moorhead Lab
Studying cell signalling events controlled by protein phosphorylation in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana.
Principal Investigator: Dr. Greg Moorhead
I completed my Bachelor of Science at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario before completing a PhD with Dr. Bill Plaxton (Queen's) in Plant Biochemistry. After graduation, I began my post-doctoral studies under the guidance of Sir Philip Cohen at the University of Dundee (Dundee, Scotland) where I studied mammalian protein phosphatases. I then worked with Dr. Carol MacKintosh (University of Dundee) on plant nitrate reductase and 14-3-3 proteins.
I joined the department of Biological Sciences biochemistry group at the University of Calgary in 1998. My current research looks into signalling pathways regulated by protein kinases and protein phosphatases in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana.
- BCEM 411 - Biochemistry Lab Techniques I
- BCEM 547 - Signal Transduction and Regulation of Metabolism
- BCEM 561 - Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology
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Lab location
Biological Sciences 144 (BI 144)
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Email
moorhead@ucalgary.ca
Professor, Biological Sciences - Biochemistry
Lipidomic profiling of Arabidopsis chloroplast protein phosphatase SLP1 mutants reveals altered diurnal lipid remodeling.
Chris White-Gloria, Greg B. Moorhead and Adriana Zardini Buzatto (2026) BBA Advances 9 100180.
Phospho-proteomics identifies D-group MAP kinases as substrates of the Arabidopsis tyrosine phosphatase RLPH2.
Anne-Marie Labandera, Ryan Toth, Sierra Mitchell, Jayde J Johnson, Brooklyn Kurucz, Juliette Puyaubert, Emmanuel Baudouin, R. Glen Uhrig and Greg B Moorhead. (2026) Plant Direct, 2026; 10:e70137.
Plant Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase: The Eukaryotic Form and the Prokaryotic Form.
Dilawar Niazi and Greg BG Moorhead (2025) BBA Advances 7 (2025) 100148
Eukaryotic-like Phosphoprotein Phosphatase (PPP) enzyme evolution: interactions with environmental toxins and regulatory proteins.
David Kerk, Chris White-Gloria, Jayde J. Johnson, and Greg B.G. Moorhead (2023) Bioscience Reports 43 BSR20230378
Peroxisomal protein phosphatase PP2A-B’ theta interacts with and piggybacks SINA-like 10 E3 ligase into peroxisomes.
Amr Kataya, Sierra Mitchell, Rasha Etman, Marcus Samuel, and Greg B Moorhead (2023) Biochem. Biophys. Research Comm. 644: 34-39.
Identification of Arabidopsis Protein Kinases That Harbor Functional Type 1 Peroxisomal Targeting Signals.
Amr Kataya, Nitija Gautam, Muhammad Jamshed, Douglas G. Muench, Marcus A. Samuel, Jay J. Thelen, and Greg B. Moorhead (2022) Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, 10:745883.
Activity-based profiling of endogenous Phosphoprotein Phosphatases by mass spectrometry.
Brooke L. Brauer, Kwame Wiredu, Scott A. Gerber, Sierra Mitchell, Greg B Moorhead and Arminja N. Kettenbach (2021) Nature Protocols, 16: 4919–4943.
The origin and radiation of the phosphoprotein phosphatase (PPP) sequences of Eukaryotes.
David Kerk, Jordan F. Mattice, Mario Valdez Trescano, Sergei Noskov, Kenneth K.-S. Ng, and Greg B.G. Moorhead (2021) Scientific Reports, 11:13681.
Origin of the Phosphoprotein Phosphatase (PPP) sequence family in Bacteria: critical ancestral sequence changes, radiation patterns and substrate binding features.
David Kerk, Mario E. Valdés-Tresanco, Ryan Toth, Sergei Y. Noskov, Kenneth K.S. Ng, and Greg Moorhead (2021) Biochem Biophys Acta. DOI 10.1016/j.bbadva.2021.100005
LIKE SEX4 1 Acts as a β-Amylase-Binding Scaffold on Starch Granules during Starch Degradation.
Schreier TB, Umhang M, Lee SK, Lue WL, Shen Z, Silver D, Graf A, Müller A, Eicke S, Stadler-Waibel M, Seung D, Bischof S, Briggs SP, Kötting O, Moorhead GBG, Chen J, Zeeman SC. (2019) Plant Cell. 31: 2169–2186.
A Framework to Investigate Peroxisomal Protein Phosphorylation in Arabidopsis.
Kataya ARA, Muench DG, Moorhead GB. (2019) Trends Plant Sci. Apr;24(4):366-381.
A Quantitative Chemical Proteomic Strategy for Profiling Phosphoprotein Phosphatases from Yeast to Humans.
Lyons SP, Jenkins NP, Nasa I, Choy MS, Adamo ME, Page R, Peti W, Moorhead GB, Kettenbach AN. Mol Cell Proteomics. 2018 Dec;17(12):2448-2461.
Brooklyn Kurcuz- Graduate Student
coming soon
Chris White-Gloria - PhD Candidate
After completing a BSc (Biochemistry) at UCalgary I started graduate studies in the Moorhead lab. I boarded the SLP1 project, specifically looking at the protein phosphatase's many putative substrates in the chloroplast. Chloroplast metabolism and its regulation by post-translational modifications has since fascinated me. Beyond lab activities, I enjoy running and Seniore's pizza.
Dilawar Niazi - MSc Student
I grew up in Pakistan and immigrated to Canada when I was 11. I did my undergraduate degree - BSc (honours) at UCalgary. In my final year I completed a 530 research project under Dr. Constance Finney (Immunologist). I studied host-parasite interactions using stem cell-derived organoids and the model murine helminth parasite - Heligmosomoides polygyrus. Wanting to pursue research further, I joined the Moorhead lab and began working on a chloroplast protein complex (the plastid ACCase) that catalyzes the rate limited step in plastid fatty acid biosynthesis. So far, I love what I'm doing! : )
Astra Wang-Graduate Student
coming soon
Current Students:
Jessica Preston-undergraduate
Drew Pearson-undergraduate
Nicole Miller-undergraduate
Kennedy Rice-undergraduate
Selma Yassin- Undergraduate
Kausar Virji- Undergraduate
Jayde Johnson- Ph.D
Brooklyn Kurcuz- Undergraduate
Astra Wang- Undergraduate
Madison Bailey- Undergraduate
Lana Wong- M.Sc.
Ashley McGibbon- Undergraduate
Sandra Tran- Undergraduate
Sierra Mitchell - M.Sc.
Amr Kataya - Research Assoc.
Kristijan Kovac - Undergraduate
Danielle Maundy - Undergraduate
Kyle Harris - Undergraduate
David Kerk - Research Assoc.
Jordan Mattice - M.Sc.
Abigail Kiddle - Undergraduate
Ryan Toth - M.Sc.
Ryan Grewal - Undergraduate
Jordan La - Undergraduate
Sibapriya Chaudhuri - Doctoral
Parker La - Undergraduate
Kayla Marritt - Undergraduate
Kaitlin Chan - Undergraduate
Paige Grant - Undergraduate
Ryan Toth - M.Sc.
Sharon Dong - Undergraduate
Houda El Sidawi - Undergraduate
Viviana Heather - Undergraduate
Shan Wang - Undergraduate
Tejinder Gill - Undergraduate
Guneet Khosa - Undergraduate
Brooke Rackel - M.Sc.
Aminah Farzana - Undergraduate
Ahmad Vahab - M.Sc.
Sibapriya Chaudhuri - Ph.D
Lay Yin Tang - PDF
Drishti Mannan - Undergraduate
Nicolas Sieben - M.Sc.
Arshpreet Deol - Undergraduate
AM Labandera - Ph.D
Simon Hasan - Undergraduate
Matt Patterson - Undergraduate
Keaton Colville - Undergraduate
Sarvan Kumar - Undergraduate
David Lloyd - M.Sc.
Isha Nasa - Ph.D
Scott Corbett - Undergraduate
Brendan Bakos - Undergraduate
Arsalan Pervaiz - Undergraduate
Rolaine Bu - Undergraduate
Tuyen Dao - Undergraduate
Nick Bandy - Undergraduate
Tyler O'Bryan - Undergraduate
Dylan Silver - Ph.D
Nick Bandy - Undergraduate
Matt Banasch - Undergraduate
Glen Uhrig - Ph.D
Veerle Dewever - PDF
Mark Bazett - Undergraduate
Cory Waller - Undergraduate
Oyefiade Adeoye - Undergraduate
Hui Xu - Technician
Elizabeth Nguyen - Undergraduate
Wendy Lyzenga - Undergraduate
Susan Wrobel - Undergraduate
Bhavneet Kahlon - Undergraduate
Tianjun Sun - Undergraduate
Harbir Gill - Undergraduate
Mhairi Nimick - Technician
Shawn Keating - Undergraduate
Michael Tang - Undergraduate
Tony Ferrar - M.Sc.
Yan Chen - M.Sc.
George Templeton - Ph.D
Richard Suri - Undergraduate
Christine Johannes - Undergraduate
Hong Tran - Undergraduate
Rahela Malik - Undergraduate
Chris Armstrong - Undergraduate
Mona Patel - Undergraduate
Annegret Ulke-Lemée - Ph.D
Trevor Trinh - Undergraduate
Dave Bridges - Ph.D
Hue Tran - M.Sc.
Ha Nv - Undergraduate
Mike Stubbs - Undergraduate
Natalie Rezansoff - Undergraduate
Adrian Atwell - Undergraduate
Catherine Smith - M.Sc.
Jacqueline Pearce - Undergraduate
Gideon Choi - Undergraduate