Kent Nybakken, Ph.D.
Scientist
Email: nybakken at bbri.org

Research Summary
The Hh signaling pathway is an important modulator of animal development, carcinogenesis, and stem cell maintenance.  I am investigating how the Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway functions.  I use vertebrate cell culture and the model system Drosophila to identify new Hh signaling components and determine how these new components regulate the pathway, both in vertebrates and in Drosophila.  I have found many novel regulators of Hh signaling, including the first phosphatase implicated in Hh signaling, an acetylase/deacetylase pair, and specific alternative splicing factors implicated in Hh regulation.

Selected Publications
Dasgupta R, Nybakken K, Booker M, Mathey-Prevot B, Gonsalves F, Changkakoty B, Perrimon N. A case study of the reproducibility of transcriptional reporter cell-based RNAi screens in Drosophila. Genome Biol. 2007; in press

Nybakken K, Vokes SA, Lin TY, McMahon AP, Perrimon N. A genome-wide RNA interference screen in Drosophila melanogaster cells for new components of the Hh signaling pathway. Nat Genet. 2005; 37(12):1323-32.

Nybakken KE, Turck CW, Robbins DJ, Bishop JM. Hedgehog-stimulated phosphorylation of the kinesin-related protein Costal2 is mediated by the serine/threonine kinase fused. J Biol Chem. 2002; 277(27):24638-47.

Ascano M Jr*, Nybakken KE*, Sosinski J, Stegman MA, Robbins DJ. The carboxyl-terminal domain of the protein kinase fused can function as a dominant inhibitor of hedgehog signaling. Mol Cell Biol. 2002; 22(5):1555-66.

*Equal contribution.

PubMed:
Click here for a list of publications (searches the National Library of Medicine's PubMed database.)