Senior Scientist, Regenerative Medicine
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Professor, Department of Medicine
University of Ottawa

Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology
University of Ottawa

Director of PhD Research, Department of Medicine
The Ottawa Hospital

Co-Director, Éric Poulin Centre for Neuromuscular Disease
University of Ottawa

• Development and characterization of adenoviral vectors for use in gene therapy.
• Exploring exosomes as biomarkers and therapeutic delivery vehicles for motor neuron disease, including spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).  
• Improving the efficacy of adenovirus-based oncolytic viruses for treatment of cancer.  
• Expanding our knowledge of basic adenovirus biology, and identifying novel drugs to combat adenovirus-induced disease.      

Major Research Activities:  

Our research interests range from characterizing various aspects of basic adenovirus (Ad) biology to exploring the efficacy of Ad-based vectors for the delivery of therapeutic genes in animal models of genetic or acquired disease. Ad is the most commonly used gene delivery platform for gene therapy applications, and our goal is to improve our understanding of Ad biology to enhance its safety and efficacy as a gene delivery vehicle. More recently, we explored the use of exosomes, small nano-sized particles released from all cells in the body, as potential biomarkers for motor neuron disease – to aid in disease diagnosis and monitoring response to therapy.  Given that exosomes are naturally involved in cell-to-cell communication, we are also exploring exosomes as a means to deliver therapeutic proteins to diseased cells in cell culture and animal models of human disease.  

Joining the Parks Laboratory Research Team:  

We are always looking for talented and motivated graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to join our research team.  Please send your curriculum vitae and brief statement of research interest to rparks@ohri.ca.

Dr. Parks completed a M.Sc. and Ph.D. in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, University of Guelph (Guelph, Ontario), working on biochemical and genetic characterization of poxvirus replication and recombination. In 1996, Dr. Parks began a Postdoctoral Fellowship with Dr. Frank L. Graham, in the Departments of Biology and Pathology, McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario), working on the development of novel adenoviral vectors for use as gene delivery vehicles for gene therapy applications. Dr. Parks joined the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute in January 1999.

Last 3 Years

2021
114. Del Papa, J., R.G. Clarkin, R.J. Parks (2021) Use of cell fusion proteins to enhance adenoviral vector efficacy as an anti-cancer therapeutic. Cancer Gene Therapy 28:745-756. doi: 10.1038/s41417-020-0192-9.
115. Warman Chardon, J., B.J. Jasmin, R. Kothary and R.J. Parks (2021) Report on the 5th Ottawa International Conference on Neuromuscular Disease and Biology - October 17-19, 2019, Ottawa, Canada. Journal of Neuromuscular Diseases. 8(2):323-334. doi: 10.3233/JND-219001.
116. Saha, B. and R.J. Parks (2021) Identification of human adenovirus replication inhibitors from a library of small molecules targeting cellular epigenetic regulators. Virology 555:102-110. doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2020.07.007.
117. René, C.A. and R.J. Parks (2021) Delivery of therapeutic agents to the central nervous system and the promise of extracellular vesicles. Pharmaceutics 13(4):492. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics13040492.
118. Ard, R., J.-C. Maillet, E. Daher, M. Phan, R. Zinoviev, R.J. Parks, and S.H Gee (2021) PKCα-mediated phosphorylation of the diacylglycerol kinase ζ MARCKS domain switches cell migration modes by regulating interactions with Rac1 and RhoA. J Biol Chem. 296:100516. doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2021.100516.
119. Roberto, J., K.L. Poulin, R.J. Parks and P.O. Vacratsis (2021) Label-free quantitative proteomic analysis of extracellular vesicles released from fibroblasts derived from patients with spinal muscular atrophy Proteomics e2000301. doi: 10.1002/pmic.202000301.
120. Clarkin, R., J. Del Papa and R.J. Parks (2021) The genome position of a therapeutic transgene strongly influences the level of expression in an armed oncolytic human adenovirus vector. Virology 561:87-97.
121. Han, C.Y., D.A. Patten, S.I. Kim, J.J. Lim, D.W. Chan, M.K.Y. Siu, Y. Han, E. Carmona, R.J. Parks, C. Lee, L.-J. Di, Z. Lu, K.K.L. Chan, J.-L. Ku, E.A. Macdonald, B.C. Vanderhyden, A.-M. Mes-Masson, H.Y.S. Ngan, A.N.Y. Cheung, Y.S. Song, R.C. Bast Jr., M.-E. Harper and B.K. Tsang (2021) Nuclear HKII–P-p53 (Ser15) Interaction is a Prognostic Biomarker for Chemoresponsiveness and Glycolytic Regulation in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer. Cancers 13(14):10.3390/cancers13143399.

2023
122. Jennings, M.R. and R.J. Parks (2023) Human adenovirus gene expression and replication is regulated through dynamic changes in nucleoprotein structure throughout infection. Viruses 15(1):161.
123. Smith I.C., S. Chakraborty, P.R. Bourque, M.L. Sampaio, G. Melkus, H. Lochmüller, J. Woulfe, R.J. Parks, B. Brais, and J. Warman-Chardon (2023) Emerging and established biomarkers of oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy. Neuromuscul Disord. 33(11):824-834. doi: 10.1016/j.nmd.2023.09.010.
124. René C.A. and R.J. Parks (2023) Expanding the Availability of Onasemnogene Abeparvovec to Older Patients: The Evolving Treatment Landscape for Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Pharmaceutics 15(6):1764. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics15061764.
125. Boulton S, M.J.F. Crupi, S. Singh, M.E. Carter-Timofte, T. Azad, B.C. Organ, X. He, R. Gill, S. Neault, T. Jamieson, J. Dave, N. Kurmasheva, B. Austin, J. Petryk, R. Singaravelu, B.Z. Huang, N. Franco, K. Babu, R.J. Parks, C.S. Ilkow, D. Olagnier, and J.C. Bell (2023) Inhibition of exchange proteins directly activated by cAMP as a strategy for broad-spectrum antiviral development. J Biol Chem. 299(6):104749. doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2023.104749.

2024
126. René C.A. and R.J. Parks (2024) Bioengineering extracellular vesicle cargo for optimal therapeutic efficiency. Mol Ther Methods Clin Dev. 2024 Apr 26;32(2):101259. doi: 10.1016/j.omtm.2024.101259.

Brain and neuromuscular disease; Cancer; Muscular dystrophy; Neuromuscular disease

Gene therapy; Molecular and cellular biology; Viral therapy