Research profile

Position: PhD Candidate

Publications: Pubmed

Contact: kae.whiting@radboudumc.nl

I graduated from Saint Mary’s College of California with a BS in biology in 2019, where I was introduced to developmental biology and neuroscience through a ten-week summer research program. Under the supervision of Dr. Vidya Chandrasekaran I studied the effects of miRNAs on BMP-7 induced dendritic growth in rat embryonic sympathetic neurons during the program. Following the Summer Research Program, I continued my work with Dr. Chandrasekaran throughout my undergraduate program, thus solidifying my interest in developmental neurobiology and my desire to continue to graduate school after graduation.

In the fall of 2019, I began my MScR in Integrative Neuroscience at the University of Edinburgh. Here, I completed my dissertation under the supervision of Dr. Thomas Theil, which introduced me to primary cilia and ciliopathies such as Joubert Syndrome. For my Master’s dissertation, I studied the role primary cilia in cortical development over two different projects. My first project focused on understanding how a mutation in the ciliary protein INPP5E affects Sonic Hedgehog signaling and cortical development in human cortical organoids. My second project used a transcriptome analysis to understand how mutations in Inpp5e, Gli3, and Arl13b affect cortical development in mice. Specifically, I determined potential biological pathways and processes that differ between the three mutants, thus causing different phenotypes in the ciliopathies caused by these mutations.

I joined the lab of Prof. Dr. Ronald Roepman in September 2020 as a PhD candidate. My project will use retinal organoids and photoreceptor precursors to study the role of actin dynamics in photoreceptor sensory cilium development.

Personal touch

In my free time I enjoy keeping active by cycling, running, and swimming. Along with this I like to relax with friends, drinking coffee, and playing board games.