Rebecca is a PhD student under the supervision of Dr. Rashmi Kothary at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI). She began her doctoral degree in neuroscience in 2023 after working as a research assistant with the Kothay lab, supporting projects in multiple sclerosis and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Rebecca received her master’s degree in biochemistry in 2015 under the supervision of Dr. Morgan Fullerton at the University of Ottawa.

Rebecca’s projects involve characterizing the impact of low dose SMN1 gene replacement therapy as well as evaluating the potential of combinatorial therapy in a mouse model of SMA. Her work includes an international collaboration with Dr. Christiano Alves at Harvard University, where together they are exploring the potential of a novel CRISPR-Cas9 base editor for the treatment of SMA.

 

Recent publications:

Reilly, A., Beauvais, A., Al-Aarga, M., Yaworski, R., Sutton, E., Thebaulte, S., Kothary, R. (2024) Peripheral defects precede neuromuscular pathology in the Smn2B/- mouse model of spinal muscular atrophy. J. Neuromuscul.Dis. doi: 10.1177/22143602241288036.

 

Sutton, E. R., Beauvais, A., Yaworski, R., De Repentigny, Y., Reilly, A., Alves de Almeida, M. M., Deguise, M. O., Poulin, K. L., Parks, R. J., Schneider, B. L., & Kothary, R. (2024). Liver SMN restoration rescues the Smn^2B/- mouse model of spinal muscular atrophy. EBioMedicine, doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2024.105444.

 

Kornfeld, S.F., Cummings, S.E., Yaworski, R., De Repentigny, Y., Gagnon, S., Zandee, S., Fathi, S., Prat, A., Kothary, R. (2024) Loss of miR-145 promotes remyelination and functional recovery in a model of chronic central demyelination. Commun Biol. doi: 10.1038/s42003-024-06513-x

 

Alves, C.R.R., Ha, L.L., Yaworski,R., Lazzarotto, C.R., Christie, K.A., Reilly, A., Beauvais, A., Doll, R.M., De la Cruz, Maguire, C.A., Swoboda, K.J., Tsai, S.Q., Kothary, R., Kleinstiver, BP. (2024). Optimization of base editors for the functional correction of SMN2 as a treatment for spinal muscular atrophy. Nat Biomed Eng. doi:10.1038/s41551-023-01132-z

 

Reilly, A., Yaworski R., Beauvais A., Schneider B., Kothary R. (2023) Long term peripheral AAV9-SMN gene therapy promotes survival in a mouse model of spinal muscular atrophy. Hum Mol Genet. doi: 10.1093/hmg/ddad202