Dr. Rastegar is a Professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, Max Rady College of Medicine at the University of Manitoba. She obtained her PhD degree in Biomedical Sciences from the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL), Brussels, Belgium. Prior to joining the University of Manitoba, she performed postdoctoral training at the Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto, Canada), McGill University (Montreal, Canada), and Indiana University-Purdue University (Indianapolis, USA).

In 2019, she was recognized to take a leadership role in Canada to establish the “Human Rett Syndrome Brain Bio-Repository Laboratory” at the University of Manitoba, located at the The Children's Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM). This new lab is the sole Canadian site for Human Rett Syndrome post-mortem brain donations from human patients, and has been developed via donations arranged through ORSA.

Dr. Rastegar research is focused on epigenetics and Rett Syndrome (RTT). RTT is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder caused by MECP2 gene mutations. Her lab focuses on fundamental concepts in disease mechanisms, with the goal of finding a cure for RTT. These include identifying differences between the human RTT and normal brains to characterize the specific key cell types that contribute to RTT pathobiology. Her lab is targeting impaired cellular pathways in RTT, using commonly used FDA-approved drugs. Her research has been supported by national, international, and local funding, with >50 peer-reviewed publications, 2 patents, >120 published abstracts, and key presentations in US, Europe, and Canada.