Faculty profile

Martin Hirst

ResearcherMicrobiology and ImmunologyUniversity of British Columbia

This profile is built from public research funding records (CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC) and PubMed. We have not imported them from a University of British Columbia directory, so their courses may be missing. Find their university profile.

Martin Hirst

Researcher

Microbiology and Immunology

Health Sciences

University of British Columbia

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Supervision signals

Has led research grants, which requires an independent research appointment. Ask their department whether they supervise graduate students.
27 publications in the last five years, latest in 2026.
Senior (last) author on 4 recent papers, a sign of leading a research group.
Principal investigator on 10 research grants (10 CIHR), most recently in 2024.
Supervised 1 trainee who won CIHR awards, most recently in 2015.

These signals come from public records, including CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding decisions. Ask the professor or the graduate program whether they are taking new students.

Academic metrics

147

Publications

163

Citations

h-index

Collaborators

Grants

Publications by year

Counts cover the works listed on the university profile; citation counts come from Dimensions.

Profiles and links

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Signals and details

Research

Epigenetics Dna Health Knowledge Translation Xenografts Bioinformatics Epigenomics Patient Engagement

Latest papers

Initial leukemic epigenomic state determines hypomethylating agent response.
Nature communications · 2026
Early-life microbiota skews long-term gene expression and chromatin states of bone marrow hematopoietic precursors.
Cell reports · 2026
Meeting report: 10th Annual Canadian Conference on Epigenetics.
Biochemistry and cell biology = Biochimie et biologie cellulaire · 2026 · senior author

All 147 publications

Latest funding

Deciphering Immune Evasion in Synovial Sarcoma through Interpretable AI and Validation Experiments
CIHR · 2026 · Co-investigator
$948,600
Leveraging Epigenetic Reprogramming for Targeted Therapy in ARID1A/ARID1B Dual-Deficient Cancers
CIHR · 2024 · Co-investigator
$1,143,675
Enhancing Patient Engagement in Epigenetics Research
CIHR · 2024 · Nominated PI
$15,000

All 20 grants and awards

147 publications.

Initial leukemic epigenomic state determines hypomethylating agent response.

Gopal A, Tam D, Mey F, Lin D, May C, Jiang J, Bridgers J, Caswell B, O'Neill K, Vizeacoumar FS, MacAuley M, Haniak E, Craddock C, Vyas P, Malcovati L, Buckstein R, Moksa M, Hirst M, Vizeacoumar FJ, Medvedev N, Heuser M, Stubbins RJ, Deng Y, Karsan A

Nature communications2026

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-73334-3 PMID: 42173855

Early-life microbiota skews long-term gene expression and chromatin states of bone marrow hematopoietic precursors.

Kabil AK, Cait A, Reynolds LA, Chopra S, Bilenky M, Moksa M, Li Y, Cait J, Hernaez DC, Scott RW, Fogarty E, Finlay BB, Mohn WW, Hirst M, Hughes MR, McNagny KM

Cell reports2026

DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2025.116871 PMID: 41569851

Meeting report: 10th Annual Canadian Conference on Epigenetics.

Nouruzi S, Grégoire S, Lupien M, Hirst M

Biochemistry and cell biology = Biochimie et biologie cellulaire2026Senior author

DOI: 10.1139/bcb-2026-0013 PMID: 41734369

BRD9 Degraders Unleash GBAF Chromatin Remodeling Activity in Synovial Sarcoma.

Li J, Nelson ML, Li L, Xia X, Stephan C, Modzelewska K, Yu G, Mulford I, Srinivas H, Ge X, McCollum S, Jones ER, Guo Y, Chen X, Hollingworth G, Zoller T, Halilovic E, Clapier CR, Whittaker-Tademy AF, Faheem, Abrams T, Harrington E, Gkountela S, Galli GG, Voshol H, Thomas J, Carte N, Zhang X, Diehl KL, Lum DH, Hirst M, Yap JT, Forrester W, Cairns BR, Jones KB

Cancer research2026

DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.can-25-5405 PMID: 42361322

EpiATLAS - a reference for human epigenomic research.

International Human Epigenome Consortium, Manz Q, Bilenky M, Hecker D, Aggarwal N, Arcila-Galvis JE, Ashrafiyan S, Baumgarten N, Ardakani FB, Branco Lins PR, Breeze CE, Brownlee D, Bujold D, Chapman AR, Chow SH, Dincer TU, Dupras C, Frosi G, Fu J, Gérard D, Hauduc A, Hyacinthe J, Jaroszewicz A, Li R, Mangan RJ, Mikulasova A, Moghul I, Needhamsen M, Palmour N, Pacheco MP, Quon J, Raby J, Reynolds A, Rumpf L, Salhab A, Shi CH, Sinkkonen L, Tanigawa Y, Tanner RM, Vu H, White F, Aw JTM, Badii S, Bowlby R, Boyle M, Brown C, Chand D, Calingo M, Cao Q, Carles A, Caron M, Carreira M, Cheng ASL, Cheng CCY, Cheng D, Cheng Y, Cheung MF, Choe G, Chuah E, Dali R, Deng A, Gakkhar S, Gut M, He A, Heath SC, Ho V, Intan AG, Ito CY, Jiang Q, Kluiver JL, Lee J, Lee S, Leung Z, Li I, Lorzadeh A, McKerricher D, Mishra N, Mungall K, Nagai LAE, Ngubo M, Palmquist D, Pang J, Park V, Plettner P, Puri A, Redensek A, Sharafian Z, Simon MM, Steif J, Su E, Tam SKM, Tam SST, Van den Berg A, Wong R, Wong T, Wu JKH, Zhu A, Kwan T, Moksa M, Aherne ST, Aparicio S, Arima T, Chung HR, Costello JF, Eaves CJ, Fisher SJ, Gut IG, Harrison PW, Horsthemke B, Ilsley GR, Jagodic M, Karsan A, Lavoie PM, Leung D, Libbrecht MW, Manke T, Marra MA, Meuleman W, Müller F, Nakato R, Okae H, Rico D, Rosenstiel P, Sasaki H, Sauter T, Schreiber S, Scott DW, Stanford WL, Steidl C, Stunnenberg HG, Suyama M, Tran F, Ushijima T, Weng AP, Wiseman SM, Wu AR, Yip KY, Yip S, Beck S, Bourque G, Ernst J, Jacques PÉ, Joly Y, Kellis M, List M, Perkins TJ, Schulz MH, Walter J, Hirst M

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology2026

DOI: 10.64898/2026.06.22.729579 PMID: 42395464

Proteomics and personalized PDX models identify treatment for a progressive malignancy within an actionable timeframe.

Barnabas GD, Bhat TA, Goebeler V, Leclair P, Azzam N, Melong N, Anderson C, Gom A, An S, Ergin EK, Shen Y, Conrrero A, Mungall AJ, Mungall KL, Maxwell CA, Reid GSD, Hirst M, Jones S, Chan JA, Senger DL, Berman JN, Parker SJ, Bush JW, Strahlendorf C, Deyell RJ, Lim CJ, Lange PF

EMBO molecular medicine2025

DOI: 10.1038/s44321-025-00212-8 PMID: 40204966

tp53 R217H and R242H mutant zebrafish exhibit dysfunctional p53 hallmarks and recapitulate Li-Fraumeni syndrome phenotypes.

Kobar K, Tuzi L, Fiene JA, Burnley E, Galpin KJC, Midgen C, Laverty B, Subasri V, Wen TT, Hirst M, Moksa M, Carles A, Cao Q, Shlien A, Malkin D, Prykhozhij SV, Berman JN

Biochimica et biophysica acta. Molecular basis of disease2025

DOI: 10.1016/j.bbadis.2024.167612 PMID: 39643218

DNA methylation cooperates with genomic alterations during non-small cell lung cancer evolution.

Gimeno-Valiente F, Castignani C, Larose Cadieux E, Mensah NE, Liu X, Chen K, Chervova O, Karasaki T, Weeden CE, Richard C, Lai S, Martínez-Ruiz C, Lim EL, Frankell AM, Watkins TBK, Stavrou G, Usaite I, Lu WT, Marinelli D, Saghafinia S, Wilson GA, Dhami P, Vaikkinen H, Steif J, Veeriah S, Hynds RE, Hirst M, Hiley C, Feber A, Deniz Ö, Jamal-Hanjani M, McGranahan N, TRACERx Consortium, Beck S, Demeulemeester J, Tanić M, Swanton C, Van Loo P, Kanu N

Nature genetics2025

DOI: 10.1038/s41588-025-02307-x PMID: 40931149

Coordinated regulation of self-renewal and cell cycle during human lympho-myeloid lineage restriction.

Wang F, Gonzalez L, Lian Q, Hammond CA, Lau YYM, Simons BD, Hirst M, Eaves CJ

Blood2025

DOI: 10.1182/blood.2024026936 PMID: 40258184

Integrative Molecular and Functional Analysis of Human Sperm Subpopulations to Identify New Biomarkers of Fertilization Potential.

Caballero-Campo P, Lira-Albarrán S, Amaral A, Hong C, Shah N, Carles A, Li D, Barrera D, Hernández-Silva G, Ramalho-Santos J, Wang T, Hirst M, Larrea F, Costello J, Rinaudo P, Chirinos M

Archives of medical research2025

DOI: 10.1016/j.arcmed.2025.103210 PMID: 40168948

Deciphering Immune Evasion in Synovial Sarcoma through Interpretable AI and Validation Experiments

Co-investigatorCIHR2026Project Grant

Principal investigators: Tang, Xin; Underhill, Michael

Keywords: Ai For Cancer Genomics; Bioinformatics; Cd24/Cd24a; Immune Evasion; Immune-Cold Tumours; Interpretable Ai; Machine Learning For Biomedicine; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells; Single-Cell And Spatial Omics; Synovial Sarcoma

$948,600

Leveraging Epigenetic Reprogramming for Targeted Therapy in ARID1A/ARID1B Dual-Deficient Cancers

Co-investigatorCIHR2024Project Grant

Principal investigators: Wang, Yemin

Keywords: Arid1a; Arid1b; Chromatin-Remodelling; Dedifferentiated Endometrial Cancer; Epigenetic Reprogramming; Swi/Snf

$1,143,675

Enhancing Patient Engagement in Epigenetics Research

Nominated PICIHR2024Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

Principal investigators: Hirst, Martin

Keywords: Dna; Epigenetics; Health; Knowledge Translation; Patient Engagement

$15,000

International Human Epigenome Consortium (IHEC) 2023 Satellite Meeting

Nominated PICIHR2023Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

Principal investigators: Hirst, Martin

Keywords: Dna; Epigenetics; Health; Knowledge Translation

$15,000

Translating Epigenomics into Clinical Care for Synovial Sarcoma

Co-investigatorCIHR2023Project Grant

Principal investigators: Nielsen, Torsten O

Keywords: Baf; Conditional Mouse Model; Erna; Fusion Oncoprotein; Sarcoma

$948,600

International Human Epigenome Consortium (IHEC) 2022 Meeting

Nominated PICIHR2022Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

Principal investigators: Hirst, Martin

Keywords: Dna; Epigenetics; Health; Knowledge Translation

$20,000

Translating Epigenomics into Clinical Care for Synovial Sarcoma

Co-investigatorCIHR2022Project Grant - Priority Announcement: Pediatric Cancer Research

Principal investigators: Nielsen, Torsten O

Keywords: Baf Complex; Conditional Mouse Model; Epigenetic Therapy; Erna; Fusion Oncoprotein; Gene Transcription; Mesenchyme; Sarcoma

$100,000

Dissecting aging associated epigenetic contributions to breast cancer

Nominated PICIHR2020Project Grant

Principal investigators: Hirst, Martin

Keywords: Aging; Breast Cancer; Experimental Model; Human Mammary Gland; Preneoplastic Changes; Xenografts

$1,059,525

Canadian Epigenetics, Environment and Health Research Consortium Network Phase II

Nominated PICIHR2019Operating Grant: CEEHRC (Epigenetics)

Principal investigators: Hirst, Martin; Bourque, Guillaume

Keywords: Dna; Epigenetics; Health; Knowledge Translation; Network; Outreach; Training

$1,080,000

An epigenetic link between the gut microbiome and the immune response in asthma

Principal investigatorCIHR2017Operating Grant: Impact Grant : CEEHRC Phase II

Principal investigators: Mohn, William W; Hirst, Martin; McNagny, Kelly M

Keywords: Asthma; Epigenetics; Immunology; Inflammation; Microbiome; Mouse Experiments

$599,910

From CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding decisions: CIHR since 2008, NSERC since 1991 and SSHRC since 1998, including their latest published competition results.

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Martin Hirst

Research

Latest papers

Latest funding

Initial leukemic epigenomic state determines hypomethylating agent response.

Early-life microbiota skews long-term gene expression and chromatin states of bone marrow hematopoietic precursors.

Meeting report: 10th Annual Canadian Conference on Epigenetics.

BRD9 Degraders Unleash GBAF Chromatin Remodeling Activity in Synovial Sarcoma.

EpiATLAS - a reference for human epigenomic research.

Proteomics and personalized PDX models identify treatment for a progressive malignancy within an actionable timeframe.

tp53 R217H and R242H mutant zebrafish exhibit dysfunctional p53 hallmarks and recapitulate Li-Fraumeni syndrome phenotypes.

DNA methylation cooperates with genomic alterations during non-small cell lung cancer evolution.

Coordinated regulation of self-renewal and cell cycle during human lympho-myeloid lineage restriction.

Integrative Molecular and Functional Analysis of Human Sperm Subpopulations to Identify New Biomarkers of Fertilization Potential.

Frequent collaborators

Steven Jones

Samuel Aparicio

Aly Karsan

Marco Marra

Inanc Birol

Christian Steidl

Ali Bashashati

Jiarui Ding

David Huntsman

Sohrab Shah

Bharati Bapat

Peter Watson

Mathieu Lupien

Guillaume Bourque

Rob Holt

Yemin Wang

Yann Joly

Tobias Berg

Connie Eaves

Peter Leung

Helen McNeill

Wan Lam