Former team members
Lab Technicians and Research Management
Jian-Jun Jia
Jian-Jun Jia worked as a Research Assistant in the Lochmüller Lab from 2019-2022, using molecular biology and tissue culturing techniques to study neuromuscular disease.
Heather Howley
Heather is the Director of Precision Health Analytics, advising Hanns and the broader team on funding avenues, research development, academic writing, and grantsmanship. She completed her MS in 2000 and since 2018, has helped secure $8M in peer-reviewed funding for the Lochmüller Lab.
Postdoctoral Fellows
Emily Freeman
Dr. Emily Freeman worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Lochmüller Lab from 2023-2024.
Romane Idoux
Romane Idoux completed her PhD in 2022 at the NeuroMyoGene Institute in Lyon (France). Romane is interested in fundamental research on rare neuromuscular disorders, and has joined the Lochmüller Lab to start a new research project.
Emily O’Connor
Emily O’Connor worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the Lochmüller lab from 2019-2022, investigating new therapeutic strategies for CMS and other neuromuscular diseases.
Anu Mary Varghese
Anu worked as a postdoctoral fellow with the Lochmuller Lab from 2020 – 2022, studying gene therapy for congenital myasthenic syndromes (CMS) and biomarkers for myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1).
Students
Ofosu Adjei-Afriyie
Ofosu Adjei-Afriyie completed his Master’s in Cellular and Molecular Medicine with the Lochmüller lab in December 2025. Ofosu’s research focused on insulin resistance in Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1 (DM1).
Stephen Holland
Stephen completed his PhD in Cellular and Molecular Medicine in 2026 under the supervision of Dr. Lochmüller.
Danny Jomaa
Danny Jomaa joined the Lochmüller Lab as a summer research student in 2020 while completing his medical degree at Queen’s University.
Pierrot Lundimu Tugirimana
Pierrot completed a Master of Science in Clinical Science and Translational Medicine with the Lochmüller Lab in 2025.
Katelyn Maclellan
Katelyn was a summer student who worked with Dr. Lochmüller’s clinical trials team at the OHRI in the summer of 2025.
Alexander Manta
Alex Manta completed a research project with Dr. Lochmüller in 2019, during his medical degree at the University of Ottawa.
Katerina Palacek
Katerina is a medical student at the University of Ottawa. She worked as a summer student in the Lochmüller Lab from 2023-2025 studying optogenetic zebrafish models for novel gene discovery in congenital myasthenic syndromes.
Kaitlyn Quinlan
Kaitlyn Quinlan joined the Lochmüller lab as a summer student in 2019, during her undergraduate degree in Neuroscience and Mental Health at Carleton University.
Clinical Research
Brenda Barasa
Brenda worked as a clinical assistant, coordinating Dr. Lochmüller’s Neuromuscular clinic at The Ottawa Hospital from 2018-2023.
Marc-Olivier Deguise
Marc-Olivier Deguise is a pediatric resident physician at Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. He joined Dr. Lochmüller’s Lab to contribute to the clinical aspect of the research program from 2020-2023.
Astrid Eisenkölbl
Dr. Astrid Eisenkölbl completed a clinical and research fellowship with the Lochmüller group from 2024-2025 while visiting from Kepler University Hospital in Linz, Austria.
Isabelle Fisette-Paulhus
Isabelle worked as a research coordinator and clinical evaluator for various neuromuscular disease trials with Dr. Hanns Lochmüller at CHEO and The Ottawa Hospital from 2019-2022.
Lola Lessard
Dr Lola Lessard completed her neurology residency training at the Neuromuscular Center of Ottawa in 2024 while visiting from Hospices Civils de Lyon, France.
Matthew MacDonald
Matthew worked as a Research Coordinator at CHEO RI from 2021-2022, working on several neuromuscular disease clinical trials for Dr. Lochmüller.
Miriam Maisababi
Miriam worked as a Research Assistant with the Lochmüller clinical research team at CHEO Research Institute from 2022-2023.
Rosa Ramos
Rosa Ramos worked as a Research Coordinator and Research Manager with Dr. Lochmüller and Dr. McMillan’s team at CHEO RI from 2017-2021.
Sydney Zakutney
Sydney worked as a research assistant with the Lochmüller Lab’s clinical research team at the OHRI from 2023-2025.
Jenna Gurniak
Jenna Gurniak worked as a Clinical Administrative Assistant for the division of Neurology at The Ottawa Hospital from 2023-2025.
Johanna Engel
Johanna Engel is a Pediatric Resident. She visited from Germany in 2026 to learn genetic data analysis techniques from the Lochmüller dry lab team.
Networking
James Davis
James Davis was the Communications Coordinator for the Neuromuscular Disease Network for Canada (NMD4C) led by Dr. Lochmüller from 2020-2025.