Kirk Mykytyn, PhD

Assistant Professor
Departments of Pharmacology and Internal Medicine
Division of Human Genetics

Degree: University of Utah
Postdoctoral Training: University of Iowa, Dr. Val C. Sheffield

Contact Information
5020 Graves Hall
333 W. 10th Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210 
PHONE: (614) 292-4985
E-MAIL: mykytyn.1@osu.edu  

Link to NLM PubMed publications list for Kirk Mykytyn (last 10 years)

Research Area:

The physiology and pathophysiology of neuronal cilia and ciliary signaling in the mammalian brain.

Current Research:

Primary cilia are cellular appendages that provide important sensory functions. Nearly every cell in the human body possesses a primary cilium, including neurons throughout the brain. Remarkably, their functions on most cells remain unknown. The importance of neuronal cilia is suggested by the fact that several human ciliary disorders, including Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS), Joubert syndrome, and Meckel syndrome, have prominent functional and structural CNS phenotypes. My laboratory utilizes mouse models of BBS to study how ciliary dysfunction leads to disease. We have discovered that the genetic defects associated with BBS appear to affect cilia function through a mechanism that disrupts trafficking of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) onto the cilium. Importantly, this may represent the fundamental mechanism underlying the pathophysiology of the seemingly diverse BBS phenotypes, including obesity, cognitive deficits, hypogenitalism, renal cystic disease, and retinal degeneration. The focus of my laboratory is to elucidate the determinants and mechanisms of ciliary localization and determine the effects of a lack of ciliary localization on neuronal signaling.

Techniques:

• Molecular: PCR, site-directed mutagenesis, cDNA cloning, RNA isolation
• Cell Biology: mammalian cell transfection, primary neuronal cultures, immunocytochemistry, confocal microscopy
• Biochemistry: protein isolation, Western blotting, immunoprecipitation