Current Members
Julianna J. Tomlinson, PhD
[Sr. Research Associate] Dr. Tomlinson has a
background in biochemistry and molecular biology. Since 2012, she has been
involved in project development and co-leads the research activities of the lab.
Her own scientific focus is to develop mouse models of autosomal dominant
PD-linked genes with the long-term goal of better modeling PD as a complex
disease. She received a Parkinson Society Canada Basic Research Fellowship
(2008-2010) and has been supported by their Pilot Project Grant (2010-2011).
She was a co-investigator on a MJF Foundation funded grant on LRRK2 (2010-2012)
and served as Principal Investigator on grants obtained from the Weston Brain
Institute (2014-2016).
Earl Brown, PhD
[Professor Emeritus] Dr. Brown is a virologist
and semi-retired Professor, who works with the Schlossmacher team since 2013.
His expertise in virology and immune function and his experimental models to
test virus-host interactions are critical to our study of the role of Parkinson-linked
genes in host defenses.
Qiubo Jiang, PhD
[Sr. Research Associate] Dr. Jiang has a strong
background in electrophysiology, animal studies, molecular biology and
characterization of recombinant proteins. She is involved in several ongoing
research projects as well as being the lab manager since 2012.
Michaela Lunn, MSc
[Ph.D. Candidate] Michaela received her M.Sc. under the joint supervision of Drs. Shawn Hayley at Carleton University and Michael Schlossmacher (2017-2019) with the thesis: Elucidating the Role of LRRK2 in Innate Immunity. Her Ph.D. studies in the Schlossmacher lab have continued to expand on this work, demonstrating a clear role for PD-linked LRRK2 (and disease-linked mutations) in host defences against pathogens. Interestingly, this role is demonstrated specifically in the periphery, and with a female sex bias. Thesis: Role of LRRK2 in Neuropathology Following Pathogenic Infections. Michaela is supported by the CIHR Banting Best Scholarship Award 2020.
Nathalie Lengacher, MSc
[Senior Research Technician]. Ms. Lengacher joined our team in 2016 and has applied her experience from an industry laboratory to optimizing existing- and creating new ELISA-based technical platforms to quantify alpha-synuclein and other PD-linked proteins. She completed her MSc in our lab in 2021: Investigating the subcellular localization of parkin in human Substantia nigra. She is involved in the pathological analysis of human autopsy material as well as the analysis of mouse modelling studies performed in the Schlossmacher lab.
Kelsey Grimes, MSc
[Clinical Research Coordinator] Kelsey joined the team in 2021 after completing her MSc at Queen's. She currently coordinates the pilot study titled the PREDIGT Score: A Questionnaire to Distinguish PD Patients from Other Subjects in the Clinic Setting at The Ottawa Hospital and the Elizabeth Bruyère Hospital. She works jointly with the Schlossmacher group at OHRI and the Tanuseputro group at the Bruyère Research Institute.
Juan Li, PhD
[Postdoctoral Fellow/ Senior Methodologist I] Dr. Li has background in statistics, psychometrics, and data science; petroleum engineering; and applied mathematics. She joined the lab since 2018 and has been working on assessing and validating the PREDIGT Score to predict the risk of developing PD in still healthy population. She is the co-investigator of the observational study that pilot the PREDIGT Score using self-report online questionnaire and serves as the co-applicant on the grant for this study (Parkinson Research Consortium (PRC) Ottawa, 2021-2023). She has received Parkinson Society Canada Basic Research Fellowship (2019-2021), Crabtree Family Fellowship (PRC Ottawa, 2020-2021), and MDS Junior Award (International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders (MDS), 2019, Nice, France).
Karim Zahr Eddin, MSc
[Technician] Karim graduated from the Biomedical Sciences program at the University of Ottawa in early 2021 and joined the Schlossmacher lab soon after to gain hands-on experience in the immunohistochemical field and learn more about the pathological aspects and molecular-biological variations in PD-related proteins in an infected mouse model. Thesis: The role of viral infections as seeding events in changes in α-synuclein metabolism and neuropathological outcomes in the olfactory circuitry of mice. Karim is supported by a Parkinson's Research Consortium Fellowship Award.
Josee Coulombe, PhD
Dr. Coulombe graduated with a PhD from UofO then went on to complete a Post-doc in neurobiology in France. She returned to Ottawa where she has been working as a research associate at the OHRI, first in Molecular Medicine then in the Cancer Therapeutics Program for the last 16 years. She recently joined the Schlossmacher group as a Sr. Research Associate.
Ajanta Chatterji, MSc
[PhD Candidate] Ajanta completed her M.Sc. studies in Biotechnology with thesis in redox-biochemistry studying the role of S-nitrosylation and S-glutathionylation in health and diseases from India, under the supervision of Dr. R. Sengupta. At Schlossmacher lab, she is interested in investigating the neuroprotective role of human parkin against dopamine toxicity-mediated oxidative damage to neurons. She has recently received the 2022-2023 Shelby Hayter two-year Fellowship award from Parkinson’s Research Consortium, and is also supported by International Doctoral Scholarships from University of Ottawa.
Priya Suman, MSc
[Ph.D. Candidate] Priya received her second MSc. in Biochemistry from the University of Ottawa in 2022 with her thesis on the Uptake of Polymeric Nanoparticles on Cellular Homeostasis. She also worked on developing nano therapy targeting neuroinflammation for Alzheimer’s and Stroke. She completed her first MSc. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Delhi, India (2017-2019) with her thesis on Analyzing the role of Activating Transcription Factor 3 (ATF3) in patients with Hippocampal Sclerosis under the supervision of Dr. Aparna Dixit. She did her dissertation project at the Centre of Excellence for Epilepsy, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, India. At Schlossmacher lab, she is looking at the role of alpha-synuclein in host defence mechanisms against infections. She has received the University of Ottawa Financial Aid Bursary (for International students) and is supported by International Doctoral Scholarship.
Karan Thakur, Bsc
[MSc. Candidate] Karan is co-supervised by Dr. Jagdeep Sandhu at NRC. Karan is studying neuroinflammation in the context of PD progression. Specifically, he is investigating how the ASC adaptor protein of the NLRP3 inflammasome triggers proinflammatory responses, leading to chronic NLRP3 inflammasome activation in microglia and neurodegeneration. He is supported by the Ontario Graduate Scholarship and Special Merit Scholarship from the Faculty of Medicine at uOttawa.
Irina Alecu, Ph.D.
[Postdoctoral Fellow] Dr. Alecu is a lipid biochemist and Silverstein Fellow working with Prof. Michael Schlossmacher and Prof. Steffany Bennett. Her work focuses on developing novel liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry methods to understand the mechanistic role played by lipids in Parkinson’s disease, as well as to develop diagnostic and prognostic lipid panels. Dr. Alecu earned her PhD from the University of Zurich during which she discovered previously unidentified lipids and elucidated a novel metabolic pathway of 1-deoxysphingolipids, toxic lipids thought to be dead-end metabolites. Dr. Alecu has received a number of fellowships and grants including a Swiss National Science Foundation Scientific Exchange Grant (2020), a Parkinson Research Consortium Crabtree Family Fellowship (2019), and a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship (2018).
Nasia Hassan
Nazia joined the Schlossmacher lab in 2023 and is currently pursuing a combined Honours/Masters degree in Translational and Molecular Medicine/Neuroscience. Her project focuses on exploring the redox-protective role of parkin following dopamine stress, primarily using immunofluorescence techniques in in-vitro cell models.
Past lab members
Recent Graduates and Lab Members:
Karim Eddin Zahr, M.Sc. - Thesis: Investigating α-Synuclein Changes in the Olfactory Circuitry and Inflammatory Responses in Mice Nasally Inoculated by a Neurotropic Virus, 2021-2024
Allison MacDonald, M.Sc. - Thesis: Investigating Parkinson Disease-Linked Alpha-Synuclein as an Anti-Viral Protein, 2022-2024
Nathalie Lengacher, M.Sc. - Thesis: Investigating the subcellular localization of parkin in human Substantia nigra, 2020-2021.
Jacqueline M. Tokarew, Ph.D - Thesis: A novel role for the Parkinson disease-linked and neuromelanin-associated parkin protein as a cysteine-dependent redox-state regulator. 2013-2021.
Quinton Hake-Volling M.Sc - Thesis: Exploring a Role for the Parkinson Disease-Linked GBA1 Gene in Host Responses to Infections. 2019-2021.
Travis Fehr, M.Sc. - Thesis: Characterizing cysteine modifications in Parkinson’s-linked parkin and their influence on dopaminergic cell health. 2019-2021.
Daniel N. El Kodsi, Ph.D - Thesis: Role of Parkin as an anti-oxidant. 2013-2020.
Christopher Ruosso, M.Sc. - Thesis: Characterization of alpha-synuclein as an anti-microbial protein. 2017- 2019.
Mansoureh Hakimi, Ph.D. – Thesis: Exploring the role of Parkinson’s-linked leucine-rich repeat kinase-2 in the immune system. 2009-2017.
Megan Fitzpatrick, M.Sc. – Co-supervised by Dr. Diane Lagace. Thesis: Motor deficits in an alpha-synuclein mouse model of Parkinson’s disease are not exacerbated by Gba1 mutation. 2014-2016; Graduated in 2016. Ms. Fitzpatrick was recognized with the Excellence in Graduate Studies, MSc Neuroscience Award from the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine in 2016.
Chantal Jagow, M.Sc. – Thesis: Quantification of a-synuclein in a new Parkinson’s disease model. 2014-2015. Ms. Jagow graduated with her M.Sc. from the University TU Darmstadt (Germany, EU) in 2015. All laboratory work for her thesis was carried out in our lab.
Hei S. (Mabel) Ao, M.Sc. – Co-supervised by Dr. Paul Albert. Thesis: Investigation of cis- and trans-acting transcriptional elements and signaling pathways that regulate the expression of Parkin. 2009-2014.
Priyanka Singh, M.Sc. – Co-supervised by Dr. Steffany Bennett. Thesis: The Role of Neutral Sphingolipids in the Pathogenesis of Parkinson Disease and Dementia with Lewy Bodies. 2010-2012. Graduated in 2012.
Undergraduate Fourth Year Honour’s Students:
Mounir El-Hakim B.Sc. (2021-2022)
Rayhane Mejlaoui, B.Sc. (2021-2022)
Jasmine Khan, B.Sc. (2017-2018)
Quinton Hake-Volling, B.Sc. (2017-2018)
Irene Harmsen, B.Sc. (2014-2015)
Emma Grigor, B.Sc. (2013-2014)
Adel Farah, B.Sc. (2009-2010)
Erika Swinton, B.Sc. (2008-2009)
Former lab members include (in alphabetical order): Heather Boston, M.Sc.; Carolina Cieniak, Ph.D.; Hoda Chams El Dine; Dina Elleithy, B.Sc.; Kelsey Grimes B.Sc.; Tohru Kitada, M.D., Ph.D; Peter Kolodziej, B.Sc.; Paul Manninger, B.Sc.; Fanyi Meng, M.D.; Juliana Ng, B.Sc.; Angela P. Nguyen, Alp Ozgun, PhD, MSc; Saba Samet, Bojan Shutinoski, PhD; B.Sc.; Nour Yahfoufi, PharmD., M. Med. Sc.; Yi-Yuan Zhou, M.D., M.Sc.
