Rashmi Kothary
Senior Scientist, Regenerative Medicine Program
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Deputy Scientific Director
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Professor, Medicine
University of Ottawa
Professor, Cellular and Molecular Medicine
University of Ottawa
Research Interests
Our laboratory is interested in understanding the mechanisms which
maintain/alter muscle and nervous system integrity. In parallel, we are
assessing ways to alleviate the pathology of neuromuscular diseases.
Brief Biography
Dr.
Kothary is the Deputy Scientific Director and Senior Scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI). He received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of British
Columbia and pursued postdoctoral research in the laboratories of Dr. Janet
Rossant at the Mount Sinai Hospital Research Institute in Toronto and Dr. Azim
Surani in Cambridge, U.K. It was during these formative years that Dr. Kothary
developed his interests in the use of transgenic mice to model disease
pathology. In 1990, he returned to Canada to begin his independent research
career at the Institut du cancer de Montréal. In 1998, Dr. Kothary joined the
OHRI. He held the University Health Research Chair in Neuromuscular
Disorders and is a Professor at the University of Ottawa. In 1999, he and Dr. Bernard
Jasmin created as co-Directors, the University of Ottawa Centre for
Neuromuscular Disease. His current research focuses on studying the fundamental
role of a cytoskeletal linker protein important for intracellular trafficking,
investigating extrinsic and intrinsic factors important for oligodendrocyte
mediated myelination and remyelination of the CNS, and understanding Spinal
Muscular Atrophy pathogenesis and identifying novel therapeutics for this
devastating children’s disease. He is on the scientific advisory board for MDA
and CureSMA.
Selected Publications
Eshraghi M, McFall E, Gibeault S, Kothary R. (2016) Effect of genetic
background on the phenotype of the Smn2B/- mouse model of spinal
muscular atrophy. Hum Mol Genet.2016 Aug 18. pii: ddw278. [Epub ahead of
print].
Deguise, M.O., Justin G. Boyer, J.G., McFall, E., Yazdani, A., De
Repentigny, Y., Kothary, R. (2016) Differential induction of muscle
atrophy pathways in two mouse models of spinal muscular atrophy.
Scientific Reports. 6:28846.
Michalski,
J-P., and Kothary, R. (2015).
Oligodendrocytes in a nutshell. Frontiers
in Cellular Neuroscience 9: 340.
Murray,
L.M., Beauvais, A., Gibeault, S., Courtney, N.L., and Kothary, R. (2015). Transcriptional profiling of differentially
vulnerable motor neurons at pre-symptomatic stage in the Smn (2b/-) mouse model
of spinal muscular atrophy. Acta
Neuropathol. Comm. 3: 55.
Ferrier,
A., De Repentigny, Y., Lynch-Godrei, A., Gibeault, S., Eid, W., Kuo, D., Zha,
X., and Kothary, R. (2015). Disruption in the autophagic process
underlies the sensory neuropathy in dystonia
musculorum mice. Autophagy
11: 1025-1036.
Diseases, conditions and populations of interest
Research and clinical approaches
