Martin Lab Staff
Paul T. Martin, PhD
Principal Investigator
Paul.Martin@NationwideChildrens.org
Paul Martin, PhD, is a principal investigator in the Jerry R. Mendell Center for Gene Therapy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and a professor at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. He also serves as associate director of the NIH Center of Research Translation in Muscular Dystrophy Therapeutic Development at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Dr. Martin's education involved undergraduate studies at Oberlin College, where he studied violin but ultimately majored in chemistry, receiving highest honors, graduate studies at UC Berkeley with Daniel Koshland Jr., and postdoctoral studies at Washington University Medical School with Josh Sanes.
His first faculty position was in the Department of Neurosciences at UC San Diego, where he was for 8 years as an assistant and then as an associate professor with tenure. There, the lab first defined the presence of synaptic beta-GalNAc-containing carbohydrates at the neuromuscular junction and defined the local synthesis of those glycans by Galgt2. They then showed that overexpression of Galgt2 in skeletal muscles could inhibit muscular dystrophy in dystrophin-deficient mdx mice. Dr. Martin moved from UCSD to the Jerry R. Mendell Center for Gene Therapy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in 2004. He was granted tenure as an associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Ohio State and promoted to professor in 2010.
At Nationwide Children's Hospital, Dr. Martin has developed and tested GALGT2 gene therapy in DMD patients. Additional therapies are being developed for Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy R9 (LGMDR9), Congenital muscular dystrophy 1A (MDC1A), GNE myopathy, Lysosomal Acid Lipase Deficiency (LAL-D), and other neurological and neuromuscular disorders.
Patricia Lam, PhD
Research Scientist
Patricia.Lam@NationwideChildrens.org
Patricia Lam, PhD, received her bachelor of science from the University of British Columbia in integrated sciences, and her doctorate from the University of British Columbia in botany. Her doctoral thesis described a novel RNA-silencing mechanism for regulating cuticular wax biosynthesis in plants. Wanting to transition to more translational research, Patricia leveraged her plant biology background for her post-doctoral research at Case Western Reserve University where she investigated using plant viruses as nanoparticles for gene and drug delivery. After a brief stint in industry, Patricia joined the Martin Lab in 2019 as a research scientist. She is currently working on developing gene therapies for rare diseases such as lysosomal acid lipase deficiency and muscular dystrophies.
Deborah Zygmunt
Senior Research Associate
Deborah.Zygmunt@NationwideChildrens.org
Deborah Zygmunt is a senior research associate who has been with the Martin Lab since 2012. She holds a bachelor's of science from the University of Pittsburgh and has 24 years of experience doing biomedical research. Deborah has authored or co-authored 15 publications since joining the Martin Lab. In addition to being lab manager, her current projects include gene therapy projects for FKRP gene mutations (LGMDR9) and GNE myopathy.
Deborah received the 2025 Outstanding Research Assistant/Associate/Coordinator – Basic Research award for the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Carolina Rivera, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Carolina.Rivera@NationwideChildrens.org
Dr. Carolina Rivera's emphasis is on translational research. Her experience involves using animal models to explore conditions to better understand the mechanisms causing diseases, to discover novel biomarkers for diseases, and to develop new therapies. She earned her bachelor’s degree in animal science from New Mexico State University where she also stayed for her master’s degree investigating reproductive effects of steroid treatments. After graduating, she moved to Houston, Texas where she worked at Houston Methodist Research Institute studying bladder dysfunction and spinal cord injury. She then moved to Dallas to work at UT Southwestern Medical Center investigating genetic and chronic kidney diseases before moving to College Station to start her PhD studies at Texas A&M University. During her graduate studies she investigated renal biomarkers and a CRISPR/Cas9 therapy for X-linked Alport syndrome at the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. She continues to work on translational research at Nationwide Children's Hospital by studying a genetic therapy for infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy (INAD).
Macey Bennett
Research Assistant
Macey.Bennett@NationwideChildrens.org
Macey Bennett is a research assistant for the Martin Lab in the Jerry M. Mendell Center for Gene Therapy. She has earned her bachelor's in biology from the College of Wooster (Wooster, OH), where she completed her senior thesis on exploring possible evolutionary effects on the threshold of activity of the arginine kinase found in the Myxococcus xanthus bacteria. During her college career, Macey held several research and teaching assistant positions as well as being a safety monitor for the Biology and Chemistry departments. Upon finishing her degree in May 2023, Macey began working for Nationwide Children's and has aided in projects related to gene therapy development for GNE myopathy and FKRP-related muscular dystrophies.