Kersti K. Linask, Ph.D.
Dr. Linask is a cell and molecular developmental biologist with a focus on early heart development and congenital heart defects. After finishing her postdoctoral fellowship at Thomas Jefferson University School of Medicine, she returned to the University of Pennsylvania as an Assistant Professor in Pediatrics in the Division of Cardiology. Her laboratory was at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She later moved her laboratory across the Delaware River where she became an Associate Professor on the faculty of the Department of Cell Biology at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and was tenured. She joined the faculty at the USF College of Medicine in 2003 and holds the Mason Endowed Chair in Cardiovascular Development. Her current research interests focus on the underlying molecular mechanisms of lithium and homocysteine in the induction of cardiac defects and the basis of folate protection. Another project involves a collaboration with a biomedical engineering group at Case Western Reserve University and at USF using optical coherence tomography to elucidate the role of blood flow and mechanotransduction in heart looping to form a four-chambered heart.
Education & Training
| B.A. | Russell Sage College, Troy, NY; Biology |
| M.A. | UCLA, Los Angeles, CA; Developmental Biology |
| Ph.D. | University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; Molecular and Developmental Biology |
| PostDoc | Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA; Signal Transduction in Development |
Scholarly Interests and Activities
- To define the relationship of lithium and homocysteine with the canonical Wnt pathway and induction of cardiac valve defects and placental abnormalities.
- To define the role of nonmuscle myosin II and mechanotransduction of blood flow forces in heart looping.
- To elucidate the underlying mechanism of ethanol induction of cardiac defects and possible rescue of normal development.
- Techniques used involve tissue culture, cell and molecular techniques, laser capture microdissection, microscopy, and image processing.
Select Publications
Linask, K, K., Yu, X., Chen, Y.P., and Han, M.D. 2002. Directionality of heart looping: Effects of Pitx2c misexpression on flectin asymmetry and midline structures. Developmental Biology 246, 407-417.
Linask, K. K., Han, M.D., Cai, M., Bnt in cellular mechanisms underlying heart tube formation and loopingrauer, P. Manisastry, S. 2005. Cardiac Morphogenesis: MMP-2 involveme. Developmental Dynamics 233:739-753.
Han, M, Trotta, P., Coleman, C. and Linask, K. K. 2006. MCT-4, A511/Basigin and EF5 expression patterns during early chick cardiomyogenesis indicate cardiac cell differentiation occurs in a hypoxic environment. Developmental Dynamics 235: 124- 131.
Manisastry, S.M., Han, M.D., and Linask, K.K., 2006. Early temporal-specific responses and differential sensitivity to lithium and Wnt-3A. exposure during heart development. Developmental Dynamics, 235(8):2160-2174.
Linask, K K. and Michael VanAuker. 2007. A role for the cytoskeleton in heart looping and biomechanical considerations. (Invited Review (KKL). The Scientific World Journal Development & Embryology Special Issue on Cardiac Development, Adriana Gittenberger-de-Groot and Robert Poelmann, Guest Eds. Vol. 2: 29-46.
Chen, J., Han, M., Manisastry, S.M., Trotta, P., Serrano, M.C., Huhta, J.C., and Linask, K. K. 2008. Molecular effects of lithium exposure during mouse and chick gastrulation and subsequent valve dysmorphogenesis. Birth Defects Res Part A: Clin and Mol Teratol. Jul;82(7):508-18.
Lu, W., Seeholzer, S.H., Han, M., Arnold, A.S., Serrano, M., Garita, B., Philp, N. J., Farthing, C., Steele, P., Chen, J., and Linask, K. K. 2008. Cellular nonmuscle myosins NMHC-IIA and NMHC-IIB and vertebrate heart looping. Developmental Dynamics. 237:3577-3590.
