Senior Scientist, Regenerative Medicine
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Deputy Scientific Director, Basic Science
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Professor, Medicine
University of Ottawa

Professor, Cellular and Molecular Medicine
University of Ottawa

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.

Dr. Kothary is a Senior Scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) and has served as OHRI’s Deputy Scientific Director since 2012. He received a PhD 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 pre-clinical models to study disease pathology. He has held the University Health Research Chair in Neuromuscular Disorders and is a Professor at the University of Ottawa. His current research focuses on investigating factors important for oligodendrocyte mediated myelination and remyelination of the CNS (in the context of Multiple Sclerosis) and understanding Spinal Muscular Atrophy pathogenesis to identify novel therapeutics for this devastating children’s disease. He currently sits on the SMA Beyond advisory board and on the scientific advisory board for RHU SMART (France), MDA and Cure SMA, and is a reviewer for the CIHR, NIH, Shriners Hospitals, MS Soc, and MDC.

Base editing as a genetic treatment for spinal muscular atrophy. Alves CRR, Ha LL, Yaworski R, Lazzarotto CR, Christie KA, Reilly A, Beauvais A, Doll RM, de la Cruz D, Maguire CA, Swoboda KJ, Tsai SQ, Kothary R, Kleinstiver BP. bioRxiv. 2023 Jan 21:2023.01.20.524978. doi: 10.1101/2023.01.20.524978. Preprint. PMID: 36711797 Free PMC article.

Central and peripheral delivered AAV9-SMN are both efficient but target different pathomechanisms in a mouse model of spinal muscular atrophy. Reilly A, Deguise MO, Beauvais A, Yaworski R, Thebault S, Tessier DR, Tabard-Cossa V, Hensel N, Schneider BL, Kothary R. Gene Ther. 2022 Sep;29(9):544-554. doi: 10.1038/s41434-022-00338-1. Epub 2022 Apr 25. PMID: 35462564

SMN Depleted Mice Offer a Robust and Rapid Onset Model of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. Deguise MO, Pileggi C, De Repentigny Y, Beauvais A, Tierney A, Chehade L, Michaud J, Llavero-Hurtado M, Lamont D, Atrih A, Wishart TM, Gillingwater TH, Schneider BL, Harper ME, Parson SH, Kothary R. Cell Mol Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2021;12(1):354-377.e3. doi: 10.1016/j.jcmgh.2021.01.019. Epub 2021 Feb 2. PMID: 33545428 Free PMC article.

MiRNA-145-5p prevents differentiation of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells by regulating expression of myelin gene regulatory factor. Kornfeld SF, Cummings SE, Fathi S, Bonin SR, Kothary R. J Cell Physiol. 2021 Feb;236(2):997-1012. doi: 10.1002/jcp.29910. Epub 2020 Jun 30. PMID: 32602617

Inhibitory milieu at the multiple sclerosis lesion site and the challenges for remyelination. Galloway DA, Gowing E, Setayeshgar S, Kothary R. Glia. 2020 May;68(5):859-877. doi: 10.1002/glia.23711. Epub 2019 Aug 23. PMID: 31441132 Review.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; Multiple sclerosis; Muscular dystrophy; Neuromuscular disease; Spinal muscular atrophy

Basic research; Disease models; Drug development; Epigenetics; Epigenetics; Gene therapy; Genetics; Imaging; Lipidomics; Model organisms; Molecular and cellular biology; Proteomics; Regenerative medicine; Transgenic/knockout models; Translational research