Lakshmi P Kotra, PhD

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The focus of my research program is neurosciences, as well as infectious diseases and immune disorders.

(i) Neurodegenerative disorders: We are pursuing new drugs and novel mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS), Alzheimer disease and prodromic symptoms. Our research in diabetic neuropathy has been licensed to WinSanTor Inc (San Diego, CA) and is currently undergoing clinical trials. My laboratory is also working on research in CNS-active controlled drugs substances (including cannabinoids and various psychadelics).

(ii) Infectious diseases: We are interested in the development of novel antiviral agents that target infections of concern in organ transplantation. In collaboration with UHN's multi-organ transplant (MOT) program, we are screening and designing novel nucleoside and non-nucleoside molecules targeting CMV and BK viruses.

(iii) Immune thrombocytopenia: We are collaborating with Dr. Donald Branch to discover novel compounds to replace IVIG therapy with small molecules.

For a list of Dr. Kotra's publications, please visit PubMed, Scopus or ORCID.


Director, Center for Molecular Design and Preformulations, UHN
Associate Professor, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto
Scientific Director (Toronto-based), UHN-Shanghai