Education

1992   B.A. , Department of Biology, Carleton College (Northfield, MN)

1998   Ph.D. , Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA)

Research and Professional Experience

1991-1992 Undergraduate research: Laboratory of John L. Tymoczko, Carleton College. “Biochemical Characterization of the Interaction of In Vitro Translated Human D Protein with U1 snRNA”

1993-1997 Doctoral research: Laboratory of Susumu Tonegawa, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “Examination of Diverse Physiological Functions of Mammalian Heme Oxygenases by Gene Targeting”

1998-2003 Postdoctoral research: Laboratory of Mark T. Keating, Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. “Modeling Disease and Regeneration in Zebrafish”

2003-2009 Assistant Professor, Department of Cell Biology, Duke University

2009- Associate Professor with tenure, Department of Cell Biology, Duke University

2010- Visiting Scientist, Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory

 

Postgraduate honors and awards

1998 Development Traveling Fellowship

1999-2002 Helen Hay Whitney Foundation Fellowship

2003- Whitehead Scholar Award, Duke University Medical Center

2004- Scientist Development Grant, American Heart Association

2005- Basil O'Connor Award, March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation

2006- Pew Scholar Award, The Pew Charitable Trusts

2007- Established Investigator Award, American Heart Association

2009- Early Career Scientist, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

2010- Julie Martin Mid-Career Award, American Federation for Aging Research

2011- Ruth and A. Morris Williams Faculty Research Prize, Duke University Medical Center  

 

Publications

Original Reports

1. Poss, K. D. , Thomas, M. J., Ebralidze, A. K., O'Dell, T. J., and Tonegawa, S. (1995). Hippocampal long-term potentiation is normal in Heme Oxygenase-2 mutant mice. Neuron 15, 867-873.

2. Poss, K. D. , and Tonegawa, S. (1997). Reduced stress defense in Heme Oxygenase-1-deficient cells. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 94, 10925-10930.

3. Poss, K. D. , and Tonegawa, S. (1997). Heme Oxygenase-1 is required for mammalian iron reutilization. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 94, 10919-10924.

4. Zakhary, R., Poss, K. D. , Jaffrey, S. R., Ferris, C. D., Tonegawa, S., and Snyder, S. H. (1997). Targeted gene deletion of Heme Oxygenase-2 reveals neural role for carbon monoxide. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 94, 14848-14853.

5. Burnett, A. L., Johns, D. G., Kriegsfeld, L. J., Klein, S. L., Calvin, D. C., Demas, G. E., Schramm, L. P., Tonegawa, S., Nelson, R. J., Snyder, S. H., and Poss, K. D. (1998). Ejaculatory abnormalities in mice with targeted disruption of the gene for Heme Oxygenase-2. Nature Medicine 4, 84-87.

6. Dennery, P. A, Spitz, D. R., Yang, G., Tatarov, A., Lee, C. S., Shegog, M. L., and Poss, K. D. (1998). Oxygen toxicity and iron accumulation in the lungs of mice lacking Heme Oxygenase-2. Journal of Clinical Investigation 101, 1001-1011.

7. Soares, M., Lin, Y., Anrather, J., Csizmadia, E., Takigami, K., Sato, K., Grey, S. T., Colvin, R. B., Choi, A. M., Poss, K. D. , and Bach, F. H. (1998). Expression of Heme Oxygenase-1 can determine cardiac xenograft survival. Nature Medicine 4, 1073-1077.

8. Ferris C. D., Jaffrey, S. R., Sawa, A., Takahashi, M., Brady, S. D., Barrow, R.K., Tysoe, S. A., Wolosker, H., Baranano, D. E., Dore, S., Poss, K. D. , and Snyder, S. H. (1999). Haem Oxygenase-1 prevents cell death by regulating cellular iron. Nature Cell Biology 1, 152-157.

9. Demas, G. E., Kriegsfeld, L. J., Poss, K. D. , Tonegawa, S., and Nelson, R. J. (1999). Circadian locomotor rhythms in mice with targeted disruption of the gene for the carbon monoxide synthesizing enzyme, Heme Oxygenase-2. Biological Rhythm Research 30, 282-289.

10. Nath, K. A., Haggard, J. J., Croatt, A. J., Grande, J. P., Poss, K. D. , and Alam, J. (2000). The indispensability of Heme Oxygenase-1 in protecting against acute heme protein-induced toxicity in vivo. American Journal of Pathology 156, 1527-1535.

11. Shiraishi, F., Curtis, L. M., Truong, L., Poss, K. D. , Visner, G. A., Madsen, K., Nick, H. S., and Agarwal, A. (2000). Heme Oxygenase-1 gene ablation or expression modulates cisplatin-induced renal tubular apoptosis. American Journal of Physiology 278, F726–F736.

12. Poss, K. D. , Shen, J., and Keating, M. T. (2000). Induction of lef1 during zebrafish fin regeneration. Developmental Dynamics 219, 282-286.

13. Poss, K. D. , Shen, J., Nechiporuk, A., McMahon, G., Thisse, B., Thisse, C., and Keating, M. T. (2000). Roles for Fgf signaling during zebrafish fin regeneration. Developmental Biology 222, 347-358.

14. Poss, K. D. , Nechiporuk, A., Hillam, A. M., Johnson, S. L., and Keating, M. T. (2002). Mps1 defines a proximal blastemal proliferative compartment essential for zebrafish fin regeneration. Development 129, 5141-5149.

- see also: Alfred, J. (2003). Regeneration swims into view. Nature Reviews Genetics 4, 6.

15. Poss, K. D. , Wilson, L. G., and Keating, M. T. Heart regeneration in zebrafish. (2002). Science 298, 2188-2190.

- see also: Scott, I. C. and Stainier, D. Y. R. (2002). Fishing out a new heart. Science 298, 2141-2142.

16. Nechiporuk, A., Poss, K. D. , Johnson, S. L., and Keating, M. T. (2003). Positional cloning of a temperature-sensitive mutant emmental reveals a role for Sly1 during cell proliferation in zebrafish fin regeneration. Developmental Biology 258, 291-306.

17. Gillette-Gerguson I., Ferguson, D. G., Poss, K. D. , and Moorman, S. J. (2003). Changes in gravitational force induce alterations in gene expression that can be monitored in the live, developing zebrafish heart. Advances in Space Research 32, 1641-1646.

18. Traver, D., Paw, B. H., Poss, K. D. , Penberthy, W. T., Lin, S., and Zon, L. I. (2003). Transplantation and in vivo imaging of multilineage engraftment in zebrafish bloodless mutants. Nature Immunology 4, 1238-1246.

19. Poss, K. D. , Nechiporuk, A., Stringer, K. F., Lee, C., and Keating, M. T. (2004). Germ cell aneuploidy in zebrafish with mutations in the mitotic checkpoint gene mps1 . Genes and Development 18, 1527-1532.

20. Lee, Y., Grill, S., Sanchez, A., Murphy-Ryan, M., and Poss, K. D. (2005). Fgf signaling instructs position-dependent growth rate during zebrafish fin regeneration. Development 132, 5173-5183.

21. Lepilina, A., Coon, A. N., Kikuchi, K., Holdway, J. E., Roberts, R. W., Burns, C. G., and Poss, K. D. (2006). A dynamic epicardial injury response supports progenitor cell activity during zebrafish heart regeneration. Cell 127, 607-619.

- see also: Curado, S. and Stainier, D. Y. R. (2006). The heArt of regeneration. Cell 127, 462-464.

22. Nechiporuk, A., Linbo, T., Poss, K. D. , and Raible, D. W. (2007). Specification of epibranchial placodes in zebrafish. Development 134, 611-623.

23. Shin, D., Shin, C. H., Tucker, J., Ober, E., Rentzsch, F., Poss, K. D., Hammerschmidt, M., Mullins, M. C., and Stainier, D. Y. R. (2007). Bmp and Fgf signaling are essential for liver specification in zebrafish. Development 134, 2041-2050.

24. Wills, A. A., Holdway, J. E., Major, R. J., and Poss, K. D. (2008). Regulated addition of new myocardial and epicardial cells fosters homeostatic cardiac growth and maintenance in adult zebrafish. Development 135, 183-192.

25. Yin, V., Thompson, J. M., Thummel, R., Hyde, D., Hammond, S., and Poss, K. D. (2008). Fgf-dependent depletion of microRNA-133 promotes zebrafish appendage regeneration. Genes and Development 22, 728-733.

- cover feature

- see also: Tanaka, E. M. and Weidinger, G. (2008). Micromanaging regeneration. Genes and Development 22, 700-705.

26. Wills, A.A., Kidd, A.R., Lepilina, A., and Poss, K. D. (2008). Fgfs control homeostatic regeneration in adult zebrafish fins. Development 135, 3063-3070.

27. Marques, S., Lee, Y., Poss, K. D. , and Yelon, D. (2008) Reiterative roles for Fgf signaling in the establishment of size and proportion of the zebrafish heart. Developmental Biology 321, 397-406.

28. Waxman, J. S., Keegan, B. R., Roberts, R. W., Poss, K. D. , and Yelon, D. (2008). Hox5b acts downstream of retinoic acid signaling in the forelimb field to restrict heart field potential in zebrafish. Developmental Cell 15, 923-934.

29. Lee, Y., Hami, D., De Val, S., Kagermeier-Schenk, B., Wills, A. A., Black, B. L., Weidinger, G., and Poss, K. D. (2009). Maintenance of blastemal proliferation by functionally diverse epidermis in regenerating zebrafish fins. Developmental Biology 331, 270-280.

30. Gonzalez-Quevedo, R., Lee, Y., Poss, K. D. , and Wilkinson, D. G. (2010). Neuronal regulation of the spatial patterning of neurogenesis. Developmental Cell 18, 136-147.

31. Kikuchi , K., Holdway, J. E., Werdich , A. A., Anderson , R. M. , Fang, Y., Egnaczyk, G. F., Evans T. , MacRae, C. A., Stainier, D. Y. R., and Poss , K. D. (2010). Primary contribution to zebrafish heart regeneration by gata4 + cardiomyocytes. Nature 464, 601-605.

32. Lee, Y., Nachtrab, G., Klinsawat, P. W., Hami, D., and Poss, K. D. (2010). Ras controls melanocyte expansion during zebrafish fin stripe regeneration. Disease Models and Mechanisms 3, 496-503.

33. Yin, C., Kikuchi, K., Hochgreb, T., Poss, K. D. , and Stainier, D. Y. R. (2010). Hand2 regulates extracellular matrix remodeling essential for gut-looping morphogenesis in zebrafish. Developmental Cell 18, 973-984.

34.  Liu, J., Bressan, M., Hassel, D., Huisken, J., Staudt, D., Kikuchi, K., Poss, K.D., Mikawa, T. and Stainier, D.Y.R. (2010).  A dual role for ErbB2 signaling in cardiac trabeculation.  Development 137, 3867-3875.

35.  Shin, D., Lee, Y., Poss, K. D., and Stainier, D. Y. R.  (2011).  Restriction of hepatic competence by Fgf signaling.  Development 138, 1339-1348.

36.  Kikuchi, K., Holdway, J. E., Major, R. J., Blum, N., Dahn, R. D., Begemann, G., and Poss, K. D.  (2011). Retinoic acid production by endocardium and epicardium is an injury response essential for zebrafish heart regeneration.  Developmental Cell 20, 397-404.

37.  Kikuchi, K., Gupta, V., Wang, J., Holdway, J. E., Wills, A. A., Fang, Y., and Poss, K. D.  (2011).  tcf21+ epicardial cells adopt non-myocardial fates during zebrafish heart development and regeneration.  Development 138, 2895-2902.

 

Invited Reviews

1. Poss, K. D. (2003). Zebrafish fin and heart regeneration. Cell Technology 23, 41-44.

2. Poss, K. D. , Keating, M. T., and Nechiporuk, A. (2003). Tales of regeneration in zebrafish. Developmental Dynamics 226, 202-210.

3. Poss, K. D. (2004). A zebrafish model of germ cell aneuploidy. Cell Cycle 3, 1225-1226.

4. Poss, K. D. (2007). Getting to the heart of regeneration in zebrafish. Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology (in press)

5. Major, R. J. and Poss, K. D. (2007). Zebrafish heart regeneration as a model for cardiac tissue repair. Drug Discovery Today: Disease Models 4, 219-225.

6. Yin, V. and Poss, K. D. (2008). New regulators of vertebrate appendage regeneration. Current Opinion in Genetics and Development 18, 381-386.

7. Nachtrab, G. and Poss, K. D. (2009). Genetic DISC-section of regeneration in Drosophila. Developmental Cell 16, 777-778.

8. Poss, K. D. (2010).  Advances in understanding tissue regenerative capacity and mechanisms in animals.  Nature Reviews Genetics 11, 710-722.

 

Book Chapters

1. Poss, K. D. (2009). Cardiac regeneration in the zebrafish model system. In “Heart Development and Regeneration”, edited by R. P. Harvey and N. Rosenthal, (Elsevier, Inc.)

2. Major, R. J. and Poss, K. D. (2010). Zebrafish heart regeneration. In "Heart regeneration: stem cells and beyond", edited by F. Engel, (World Scientific Publishing Co., Pte. Ltd.)