Meet the Team
Leadership and lab management
Hanns Lochmüller
Professor Hanns Lochmüller is a neurologist and clinical academic specializing in genetic neuromuscular disorders and rare disease. He is Senior Scientist at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) Research Institute and Professor of Neurology in the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine and the Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology at The Ottawa Hospital.
Hugh McMillan
Dr. McMillan is a Pediatric Neurologist with specialization in Clinical Neurophysiology and Neuromuscular medicine at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. He is a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa.
Sally Spendiff
Sally is a Research Associate in the Lochmüller lab, where she leads the basic research team. A senior postdoctoral researcher with experience in Canada and the UK, Sally joined Hanns soon after his appointment in Ottawa and is overseeing the lab setup and expansion.
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.
Amanda Yaworski
Dr. Yaworski is a pediatric neurologist with specialization in clinical neurophysiology and neuromuscular medicine at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa.
Jarred Lau
Jarred is a Research Assistant in the Lochmuller Lab, developing optogenetic zebrafish models for GNE myopathy and CMS. Jarred is also working to streamline a high throughput workflow using zebrafish for the validation of novel genes and therapeutics for neuromuscular disorders.
Daniel O’Neil
Daniel holds a BSc in Biochemistry and a MSc in Neuroscience from the University of Ottawa. He joined the Lochmüller Lab as Research Technician in February 2021.
Ricardo Carmona
Ricardo successfully completed his MSc in Biomedical Sciences within the Cancer & Development program at Memorial University, and holds experience in animal handling, and protocol & force script optimization. As a research technician, he is thrilled to be a part of the lab and helping to conduct research on rare neuromuscular disorders
Catherine Choueiri
Following the completion of her Master’s, Catherine is continuing her work as a Research Assistant in Dr. Lochmüller’s lab. She is developing and employing zebrafish models of RTD and other neuromuscular disorders in the search for novel therapeutic strategies that could revolutionize the clinical journeys of patients with these detrimental diseases.
Aoife Reilly
Aoife is a Research Coordinator with the Lochmüller research group. She assists with lab management and coordinates the administrative operations of the University of Ottawa’s Centre for Neuromuscular Disease (CNMD), co-led by Dr. Lochmüller and Dr. Mireille Khacho.
Postdoctoral fellows
Haley Geertsma
Haley is a postdoctoral fellow examining the use of patient-derived stem cells to discover new drug therapies for myotonic dystrophy.
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.
Kiran Polavarapu
Kiran completed his PhD in 2019 at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in India. His PhD work involved developing next generation sequencing (NGS)-based tests for detection of both copy number variations and point mutations in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. He recently joined the Lochmüller Lab as a postdoctoral fellow.
Rachel Thompson
Rachel completed her PhD at Newcastle University in the UK, where she was involved in the coordination of the RD-Connect data sharing and analysis platform. She is a postdoctoral fellow in the Lochmüller Lab with a research interest in the use of data integration methods for medical genomics and precision medicine in neuromuscular diseases.
Students
Ofosu Adjei-Afriyie
Ofosu Adjei-Afriyie is a Master’s student in Cellular and Molecular Medicine. Ofosu’s research is focused on insulin resistance in Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1 (DM1).
Alexa Derksen
Alexa is an MD/PhD student at the University of Ottawa who will be completing the PhD portion of her degree in the Lochmüller lab, investigating GNE myopathy where she hopes to incorporate both clinical and basic science approaches in her project.
Stephen Holland
Stephen has joined the Lochmüller Lab for his PhD, having completed an MSc degree looking at post-translational modifications affecting pannexin 1 protein channels in neuroblastoma.
Prachi Inamdar
Prachi is a summer student working with Dr. Lochmüller’s clinical trials team at CHEO. She is currently pursuing a post-degree diploma in Clinical Trials Management.
Pierrot Lundimu Tugirimana
Pierrot recently joined the Lochmüller Lab as a Master of Science candidate in Clinical Science and Translational Medicine at the University of Ottawa. He is currently focusing on assessing the utility of Multispectral Optoacoustic Tomography (MSOT) in the quantitative analysis of muscle biomarkers in neuromuscular disorders.
Katelyn Maclellan
Katelyn is a summer student working with Dr. Lochmüller’s clinical trials team at the OHRI. She is currently pursuing a Post-Degree Diploma in Clinical Trials Management through Western University, completing her practicum with the Lochmüller Lab at the Civic Hospital this summer.
Kaela O’Connor
Kaela, a recent MSc graduate, is a PhD student in the Lochmüller lab investigating novel causative genes in congenital myasthenic syndromes. She looks forward to blending bioinformatic and wet lab techniques to identify causative mutations and determine their pathomechanism.
Katerina Palacek
Katerina is a medical student at the University of Ottawa. She is working as a summer student in the Lochmüller Lab studying optogenetic zebrafish models for novel gene discovery in congenital myasthenic syndromes.
Caroline Part
Caroline Part is a PhD student working on the Brain-Heart Interconnectome project to investigate the systemic nature of Myotonic Dystrophy Type I using iPSCs.
Malaichamy Sivasankar
Malaichamy Sivasankar is enrolled as a PhD student in Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Ottawa under the supervision of Dr. Lochmüller, where he is elated to research on exploring novel genes and mechanisms implicated in undiagnosed neuromuscular disorders.
Josh Zeldin
Josh is currently finishing his final semester of his undergraduate degree in Translational and Molecular Medicine (TMM) and transitioning into a summer studentship with the Lochmüller lab. His interests lie in rare disease research, with an emphasis on neuromuscular and neurological diseases.
Clinical research
Ozge Aksel-Kilicarslan
Ozge earned her MD degree from Ege University in 2011 and completed her Medical Genetics residency in 2016 at Dokuz Eylul University. After working as a staff clinical geneticist in Turkey, she joined Dr. Lochmuller’s team as a research associate in October 2022.
Eva Anderson
Eva is a Research Associate at CHEO RI. She coordinates and manages multispectral optoacoustic tomography (MSOT) for Dr. Lochmuller’s clinical trials.
Tamara Burgess
Tamara is a clinical research coordinator at CHEO RI and OHRI and currently coordinates academic studies for Dr. Lochmüller, including patient registries and natural history studies.
Marc-Olivier Deguise
Marc-Olivier Deguise is currently a pediatric resident physician at Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and has been involved with the SMA community through a research lens for the past eight years. He recently joined Dr. Lochmüller’s Lab to contribute to the clinical research aspect of the research program.
Astrid Eisenkölbl
Dr. Astrid Eisenkölbl is a pediatric neurologist with specialization in neuromuscular medicine at the Department for Paediatric and Adolescent Medicine at the Kepler University Hospital in Linz, Austria.
Jenna Gurniak
Jenna Gurniak is a Clinical Administrative Assistant for the division of Neurology at The Ottawa Hospital, managing Dr. Lochmüller’s adult neuromuscular clinic at the Civic Hospital.
Mahsa Haghighi
Mahsa is a Clinical Research Assistant at the Neuromuscular Centre, where she works closely with Dr. Lochmüller’s team at the OHRI.
Emilie Hill-Smith
Emilie is a Research Coordinator at the CHEO RI. She currently coordinates various neuromuscular disease trials for Dr. Lochmüller.
Lola Lessard
Dr Lola Lessard is currently finishing her residency training at the Neuromuscular Center of Ottawa. Lola is interested in fundamental, translational and clinical research on rare neuromuscular disorders, and has joined the Lochmüller Lab to contribute to the clinical research aspect of the research program.
Jessica MacGregor
Jessica MacGregor is a Certified Clinical Research Professional (CCRP) and works as a Clinical Research Coordinator at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) in Ottawa, ON.
Joaquín Machado
Joaquín is an adult neurologist who is currently completing a fellowship in neuromuscular diseases at The Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus.
Laura Thompson
In September 2020 Laura joined the CHEO RI as a research coordinator in Neurology. She currently coordinates neuromuscular disease trials with Dr. Hugh McMillan and Dr. Hanns Lochmuller.
Sydney Zakutney
Sydney is a research assistant with the Lochmüller Lab’s clinical research team. Prior to this role she completed a summer internship at the Ottawa Neuromuscular Center in 2023.
Networking
Erin Beattie
Erin is the Network Manager for NMD4C, the neuromuscular disease network for Canada. She graduated with a BSc in microbiology & immunology and an MSc in pharmacology from Dalhousie University, and a PhD in laboratory medicine & pathobiology from the University of Toronto.
James Davis
James Davis is the Communications Coordinator for the Neuromuscular Disease Network for Canada (NMD4C) led by Dr. Lochmüller. James holds a Masters Degree in Human Kinetics, and brings experience in network creation from his past work building and facilitating a sport safety network across Canada.
Associated/visiting scientists
Andreas Roos
Andreas Roos is Scientific Officer in the Department of Neuropediatrics of University Hospital Essen in Germany. Thanks to his longstanding collaboration with Hanns and the Lochmüller Lab team, he now holds an adjunct professorship at the University of Ottawa and is a visiting member of the lab.
Cynthia Gagnon
Cynthia Gagnon is a professor at the School of Rehabilitation at the University of Sherbrooke and a researcher at the Centre de recherche Charles-Le Moyne-Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean sur les innovations en santé. For 2020 she holds a visiting professorship with the University of Ottawa. Her work aims at improving clinical care and speeding up trial readiness in the most prevalent neuromuscular diseases in Canada.