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Professor

Research Interests

Worked over the past 15 years to define genetic basis of motile ciliopathies focusing on Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia (PCD) that is a rare, usually autosomal recessive, genetically heterogeneous disorder of abnormal cilia structure, function and biogenesis. Additional interest includes defining possible genetic causes of “idiopathic bronchiectasis.”

Selected Publications

  1. Knowles M, Zariwala M and Leigh M. Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia. Clin Chest Med. 2016 Sep; 37(3):449-61.
  2. Leigh MW, Ferkol TW, Davis SD, Lee H-S, Rosenfeld M, Dell SD, Sagel SD, Milla C, Olivier KN, Sullivan KM, Zariwala MA, Pittman J, Shapiro A, Carson JL, Kricher J, Hazucha MJ, Knowles MR. Clinical features and associated likelihood of primary ciliary dyskinesia in children and adolescents. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2016 Aug; 13(8):1305-13.
  3. Shapiro AJ, Zariwala MA, Ferkol T, Davis SD, Sagel SD, Dell SD, Rosenfeld M, Olivier KN, Milla C, Daniel SJ, Kimple AJ, Manion M, Knowles MR, Leigh MW, the Genetic Disorders of Mucociliary Clearance Consortium. Diagnosis, Monitoring, and Treatment of Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia: PCD foundation consensus recommendations based on state of the art review. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2016 Feb; 51(2):115-32.
  4. Zariwala MA, Knowles MR, Leigh MW. Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia: In: Pagon RA, Adam MP, Ardinger HH, Wallace SE, Amemiya A, Bean LJH, Bird TD, Fong CT, Smith RJH, Stephens K, editors. GeneReviews™ [Internet]. Seattle (WA): University of Washington, Seattle; 1993-2015. Initial posting Jan 24, 2007, update history Jun 13, 2007; Feb 1, 2008; Oct 6, 2009; Sep 15, 2011; Nov 10, 2011; Jan 12, 2012, Mar. 8, 2012; Jun 7, 2012; Feb 13, 2013; Last update: Sep 03, 2015.
  5. Marshall CR, Scherer SW, Zariwala MA, Lau L, Paton TA, Stockley T, Jobling RK, Ray PN, Knowles MR, FORGE Canada Consortium, Hall DA, Dell SD, Kim RH. Whole-exome sequencing and targeted copy number analysis in Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia. G3 Genes Genom Genet. 2015 Jul 2; 5(8):1775-81.
  6. Shapiro AJ, Tolleson-Rinehart S, Zariwala MA, Knowles MR, Leigh MW. The prevalence of clinical features associated with primary ciliary dyskinesia in a heterotaxy population: results of a web-based survey. Cardiol Young. 2015 Apr; 25(4):752-9.
  7. Lobo J, Zariwala MA, Noone PG. Primary ciliary dyskinesia. Semin Respir Crit Care Med. 2015 Apr; 36(2):169-79. Review.
  8. Fedick AM, Jalas C, Treff NR, Knowles MR, Zariwala MA. Carrier frequencies of eleven mutations in eight genes associated with primary ciliary dyskinesia in the Ashkenazi Jewish population. Mol Genet Genomic Med. 2015 Mar; 3(2):137-42.
  9. Davis SD, Ferkol TW, Rosenfeld M, Lee HS, Dell SD, Sagel SD, Milla C, Zariwala MA, Pittman JE, Shapiro AJ, Carson JL, Krischer JP, Hazucha MJ, Cooper ML, Knowles MR, Leigh MW. Clinical features of childhood primary ciliary dyskinesia by genotype and ultrastructural phenotype. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2015 Feb 1; 191(3):316-24.
  10. Lin J, Yin W, Smith MC, Song K, Leigh MW, Zariwala MA, Knowles MR, Ostrowski LE, Nicastro D. Cryo-electron tomography reveals ciliary defects underlying human RSPH1 primary ciliary dyskinesia. Nat Commun. 2014 Dec 4; 5:5727. (Online Journal)
  11. Shapiro AJ, Davis SD, Ferkol T, Dell SD, Rosenfeld M, Olivier KN, Sagel SD, Milla C, Zariwala MA, Wolf W, Carson JL, Hazucha MJ, Burns K, Robinson B, Knowles MR, Leigh MW. Laterality defects other than situs inversus totalis in primary ciliary dyskinesia: Insights into situs ambiguous and heterotaxy. Chest. 2014 Nov; 146(5):1176-86.
  12. Shapiro AJ, Weck KE, Chao KC, Rosenfeld M, Nygren AO, Knowles MR, Leigh MW, Zariwala MA. Cri du Chat syndrome and primary ciliary dyskinesia: A common genetic cause on chromosome 5p. J Pediatr. 2014 Oct; 165(4):858-61.
  13. Lobo LJ, Zariwala MA, Noone PG. Primary ciliary dyskinesia. QJM. 2014 Sep; 107(9):691-9. Review.
  14. Funkhouser WK III, Niethammer M, Carson JL, Burns KA, Knowles MR, Leigh MW, Zariwala MA, Funkhouser WK Jr. A new tool improves diagnostic test performance for transmission EM evaluation of axonemal dynein arms. Ultrastruct Pathol. 2014 Aug; 38(4):248-55.
  15. Knowles MR, Ostrowski LE, Leigh MW, Sears PR, Davis SD, Wolf WE, Hazucha MJ, Carson JL, Olivier KN, Sagel SD, Rosenfeld M, Ferkol TW, Dell SD, Milla CE, Randell SH, Yin W, Sannuti A, Metjian HM, Noone PG, Noone PJ, Olson CA, Patrone MV, Dang H, Lee HS, Hurd TW, Gee HY, Otto EA, Halbritter J, Kohl S, Kircher M, Krischer J, Bamshad MJ, Nickerson DA, Hildebrandt F, Shendure J, Zariwala MA. Mutations in RSPH1 cause primary ciliary dyskinesia with a unique clinical and ciliary phenotype. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2014 Mar 15; 189(6):707-17.
  16. Kim RH, A Hall D, Cutz E, Knowles MR, Nelligan KA, Nykemp K, Zariwala MA, Dell SD. The role of molecular genetic analysis in the diagnosis of primary ciliary dyskinesia. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2014 Mar; 11(3):351-9.
  17. Leigh MW, Hazucha MJ, Chawla KK, Baker BR, Shapiro AJ, Brown DE, LaVange LM, Horton BJ, Qaqish B, Carson JL, Davis SD, Dell SD, Ferkol TW, Atkinson JJ, Olivier KN, Sagel SD, Rosenfeld M, Milla C, Lee HS, Krischer J, Zariwala MA, Knowles MR. Standardizing nasal nitric oxide measurement as a test for primary ciliary dyskinesia. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2013 Dec; 10(6):574-81.
  18. Knowles MR, Daniels LA, Davis SD, Zariwala MA, Leigh MW. Primary ciliary dyskinesia: Recent advances in diagnostics, genetics and characterization of clinical disease. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2013 Oct 15; 188(8): 913-22. Review.
  19. Daniels ML, Leigh MW, Davis SD, Armstrong MC, Carson JL, Hazucha M, Dell SD, Eriksson M, Collins FS, Knowles MR, Zariwala MA. Founder mutation in RSPH4A identified in patients of Hispanic descent with primary ciliary dyskinesia. Hum Mutat. 2013 Oct; 34(10):1352-6.
  20. Knowles MR, Ostrowski LE, Loges NT, Hurd T, Leigh MW, Huang L, Wolf WE, Carson JL, Hazucha MJ, Yin W, Davis SD, Dell SD, Ferkol TW, Sagel SD, Olivier KN, Jahnke C, Olbrich H, Werner C, Raidt J, Wallmeier J, Pennekamp P, Dougherty GW, Hjeij R, Gee HY, Otto EA, Halbritter J, Chaki M, Diaz KA, Braun DA, Porath JD, Schueler M, Baktai G, Griese M, Turner EH, Lewis AP, Bamshad MJ, Nickerson DA, Hildebrandt F, Shendure J, Omran H, Zariwala MA. Mutations in SPAG1 cause primary ciliary dyskinesia associated with defective outer and inner dynein arms. Am J Hum Genet. 2013 Oct 3; 93(4):711-20.
  21. Austin-Tse C, Halbritter J, Zariwala MA*, Gilberti RM, Gee HY, Hellman N, Pathak N, Liu Y, Panizzi JR, Patel-King RS, Tritschler D, Bower R, O’Toole E, Porath JD, Hurd TW, Chaki M, Diaz KA, Kohl S, Lovric S, Hwang DY, Braun DA, Schueler M, Airik R, Otto EA, Leigh MW, Noone PG, Carson JL, Davis SD, Pittman JE, Ferkol TW, Atkinson JJ, Olivier KN, Sagel SD, Dell SD, Rosenfeld M, Milla CE, Loges NT, Omran H, Porter ME, King SM, Knowles MR, Drummond IA, Hildebrandt F. Zebrafish ciliopathy screen plus human Mutational analysis identifies C21ORF59 and CCDC65 defects as causing human primary ciliary dyskinesia. Am J Hum Genet. 2013 Oct 3; 93(4):672-86. *co-equal first author
  22. Tarkar A, Loges NT, Slagle CE, Francis R, Dougherty GW, Tamayo JV, Shook B, Cantino M, Schwartz D, Jahnke C, Olbrich H, Werner C, Raidt J, Pennekamp P, Abouhamed M, Hjeij R, Köhler G, Griese M, Li Y, Lemke K, Klena N, Liu X, Gabriel G, Tobita K, Jaspers M, Morgan LC, Shapiro AJ, Letteboer SJ, Mans DA, Carson JL, Leigh MW, Wolf WE, Chen S, Lucas JS, Onoufriadis A, Plagnol V, Schmidts M, Boldt K, UK10K, Roepman R, Zariwala MA, Lo CW, Mitchison HM, Knowles MR, Burdine RD, Loturco JJ, Omran H. DYX1C1 is required for axonemal dynein assembly and ciliary motility. Nat Genet. 2013 Sep; 45(9):995-1003.
  23. Zariwala MA, Gee HY, Kurkowiak M, Al-Mutairi DA, Leigh MW, Hurd TW, Hjeij R, Dell SD, Chaki M, Dougherty GW, Adan M, Spear PC, Esteve-Rudd J, Loges NT, Rosenfeld M, Diaz KA, Olbrich H, Wolf WE, Sheridan E, Batten TF, Halbritter J, Porath JD, Kohl S, Lovric S, Hwang DY, Pittman JE, Burns KA, Ferkol TW, Sagel SD, Olivier KN, Morgan LC, Werner C, Raidt J, Pennekamp P, Sun Z, Zhou W, Airik R, Natarajan S, Allen SJ, Amirav I, Wieczorek D, Landwehr K, Nielsen K, Schwerk N, Sertic J, Köhler G, Washburn J, Levy S, Fan S, Koerner-Rettberg C, Amselem S, Williams DS, Mitchell BJ, Drummond IA, Otto EA, Omran H, Knowles MR, Hildebrandt F. ZMYND10 is mutated in primary ciliary dyskinesia and interacts with LRRC6. Am J Hum Genet. 2013 Aug 8; 93(2):336-45.
  24. Hjeij R, Lindstrand A, Francis R, Zariwala MA, Liu X, Li Y, Damerla R, Dougherty GW, Abouhamed M, Olbrich H, Loges NT, Pennekamp P, Davis EE, Carvalho CM, Pehlivan D, Werner C, Raidt J, Koehler G, Haffner K, Reyes-Mugica M, Lupski JR, Leigh MW, Rosenfeld M, Morgan LC, Knowles MR, Lo CW, Katsanis N, Omran H. ARMC4 mutations cause primary ciliary dyskinesia with randomization of left/right body asymmetry. Am J Hum Genet. 2013 Aug 8; 93(2):357-67.
  25. Ferkol TW, Puffenberger EG, Lie H, Helms C, Strauss KA, Bowcock A, Carson JL, Hazucha M, Morton DH, Patel AC, Leigh MW, Knowles MR, Zariwala MA. Primary ciliary dyskinesia-causing mutations in Amish and Mennonite communities. J Pediatr. 2013 Aug; 163(2):383-7.
  26. Antony D, Becker-Heck A, Zariwala MA*, Schmidts M, Onoufriadis A, Forouhan M, Wilson R, Taylor-Cox T, Dewar A, Jackson C, Goggin P, Loges NT, Olbrich H, Jaspers M, Jorissen M, Leigh MW, Wolf WE, Daniels ML, Noone PG, Ferkol TW, Sagel SD, Rosenfeld M, Rutman A, Dixit A, O’Callaghan C, Lucas JS, Hogg C, Scambler PJ, Emes RD, Uk10k, Chung EM, Shoemark A, Knowles MR, Omran H, Mitchison HM. Mutations in CCDC39 and CCDC40 are the major cause of primary ciliary dyskinesia with axonemal disorganization and absent inner dynein arms. Hum Mutat. 2013 Mar; 34(3):462-72. *Co- equal first authors.
  27. Knowles MR, Leigh MW, Ostrowski LE, Huang L, Carson JL, Hazucha MJ, Yin W, Berg JS, Davis SD, Dell SD, Ferkol TW, Rosenfeld M, Sagel SD, Milla CE, Olivier KN, Turner EH, Lewis AP, Bamshad MJ, Nickerson DA, Shendure J, Zariwala MA; Genetic Disorders of Mucociliary Clearance Consortium. Exome sequencing identifies mutations in CCDC114 as a cause of primary ciliary dyskinesia. Am J Hum Genet. 2013 Jan 10; 92(1):99-106.
  28. Horani A, Druley TE, Zariwala MA, Patel AC, Levinson BT, Van Arendonk LG, Thornton KC, Giacalone JC, Albee AJ, Wilson KS, Turner EH, Nickerson DA, Shendure J, Bayly PV, Leigh MW, Knowles MR, Brody SL, Dutcher SK, Ferkol TW. Whole-exome capture and sequencing identifies HEATR2 mutation as a cause of primary ciliary dyskinesia. Am J Hum Genet. 2012 Oct 5; 91(4):685-93.
  29. Nakhleh N, Francis R, Giese RA, Tian X, Li Y, Zariwala MA, Yagi H, Khalifa O, Kureshi S, Chatterjee B, Sabol SL, Swisher M, Connelly PS, Daniels MP, Srinivasan A, Kuehl K, Kravitz N, Burns K, Sami I, Omran H, Barmada M, Olivier K, Chawla KK, Leigh M, Jonas R, Knowles M, Leatherbury L, Lo CW. High prevalence of respiratory ciliary dysfunction in congenital heart disease patients with heterotaxy. Circulation. 2012 May 8; 125(18):2232-42.
  30. Knowles MR, Leigh MW, Carson JL, Davis SD, Dell SD, Ferkol TW, Olivier KN, Sagel SD, Rosenfeld M, Burns KA, Minnix SL, Armstrong MC, Lori A, Hazucha MJ, Loges NT, Olbrich H, Becker-Heck A, Schmidts M, Werner C, Omran H, Zariwala MA; Genetic Disorders of Mucociliary Clearance Consortium. Mutations of DNAH11 in patients with primary ciliary dyskinesia with normal ciliary ultrastructure. Thorax. 2012 May; 67(5):433-41.
  31. Lobo LJ, Zariwala MA, Noone PG. Primary Ciliary Dyskinesias in Adults. In Welte T, Floto RA, Haworth CA (Eds), Bronchiectasis, European Respiratory Monograph book Series. Latimer Trend & Co. Ltd, Plymouth, UK, 2011, Chapter 9, pp. 130-149.
  32. Berg JS, Evans JP, Leigh MW, Omran H, Bizon C, Mane K, Knowles MR, Weck KE , Zariwala MA. Next generation massively parallel sequencing of targeted exomes to identify genetic mutations in primary ciliary dyskinesia: Implications for application to clinical testing. Genetics in Medicine. 2011 Mar; 13(3):218-29.
  33. Lie H, Zariwala MA, Helms C, Bowcock AM, Carson JL, Brown DE 3rd, Hazucha MJ, Forsen J, Molter D, Knowles MR, Leigh MW, Ferkol TW. Primary ciliary dyskinesia in Amish Communities. J Pediatr. 2010 Jun; 156(6):1023-5.
  34. Knowles MR, Morillas HN, Leigh M, Zariwala MA. Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia. In McCormack FX, Panos RJ, Trapnell BC (Eds), Molecular Basis of Pulmonary Disease, Respiratory Medicine Series. Humana Press, Totowa, New Jersey, USA, 2010, Chapter 14, pp. 293-324.
  35. Loges NT, Olbrich H, Becker-Heck A, Haffner K, Heer A, Reinhard C, Schmidts M, Kispert A, Zariwala MA, Leigh MW, Knowles MR, Zentgraf H, Seithe H, Nurnberg G, Reinhardt R, Omran H. Deletions and point mutations of LRRC50 cause primary ciliary dyskinesia due to dynein arm defects. Am J Hum Genet. 2009 Dec; 85(6):883-9.
  36. Zariwala MA, Leigh MW, Ceppa F, Kennedy MP, Noone PG, Carson JL, Hazucha MJ, Lori A, Horvath J, Olbrich H, Loges NT, Bridoux AM, Pennarun G, Duriez B, Escudier E, Mitchison HM, Chodhari R, Chung EM, Morgan LC, de Iongh RU, Rutland J, Pradal U, Omran H, Amselem S, Knowles MR. Mutations of DNAI1 in primary ciliary dyskinesia: evidence of founder effect in a common mutation. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2006 Oct 15; 174(8):858-66.