Kenro Kusumi, a genome biologist and professor, Dean of Natural Sciences in The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University.[1]

Early life and education

Kusumi was raised in Raleigh and attended high school at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham, where he was a 1984 national winner of the NASA Space Shuttle Student Involvement Project.[2][3] Kusumi received his AB in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard College in 1988 and PhD[4] in Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1997 with doctoral advisor Eric S. Lander.[5] He was a Hitchings-Elion Fellow of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund in the laboratory of developmental biologist Robb Krumlauf at the National Institute for Medical Research in London.[6]

Career

Kusumi was assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia from 2001 to 2006,[5] where he served as Director of Pediatric Orthopaedic Basic Science Research.[7] He and his collaborators had used genomic approaches to identify the first genetic cause of the congenital spinal disorder, spondylocostal dysostosis, caused by mutations in delta-like 3 (DLL3),[8] and he contributed to subsequent research identifying mutations in the LFNG and HES7 genes for related congenital axial skeletal disorders.[9][10]

Kusumi is Dean of Natural Sciences in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University.[11] Prior, he held the position of Associate Dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University.[12] From 2019 to 2021, he was Director of ASU's School of Life Sciences, the university's first interdisciplinary school established in 2003.[13]

Kusumi is a member of the LGBTQIA+ community.[14] He serves as mentor in ASU's HUES program[15] and GRADient organization for gender and sexual minority graduate students and their allies.[16]

Kusumi's research at ASU uses genome biology to help conserve and study the functional adaptations of reptiles.[17] Kusumi has sequenced the genome of the threatened Mojave desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) as a tool for conservation efforts.[18][19] Kusumi has led the first genome-scale analysis of accelerated evolution associated with the anole lizard's functional adaptations.[20] His group has also uncovered sets of genes that are critical in the ability of anole lizards to adapt and regenerate parts of their bodies.[21]

Personal life

Kusumi is married to Stephen Pratt, professor at Arizona State University.[22]

References

  1. ^ "Kenro Kusumi | iSearch". isearch.asu.edu. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  2. ^ "NASA News: Three Shuttle Student Project Finalists Selected from Langley's Region" (PDF). nasa.gov. July 11, 1984.
  3. ^ Oleck, Joan (January 4, 1987). "Gathering the Gifted Under One Roof". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  4. ^ Kusumi, Kenro (1997). Positional cloning and characterization of the mouse pudgy locus (Thesis thesis). Massachusetts Institute of Technology. hdl:1721.1/49612.
  5. ^ a b "Kenro Kusumi curriculum vitae" (PDF).
  6. ^ "Dr. Kenro Kusumi: Working to Understand Nature's Patterns Gone Awry" (PDF). Burroughs Welcome Fund.
  7. ^ "Report from the Division of Orthopaedic Surgery" (PDF). The University of Pennsylvania Orthopaedic Journal. 2003.
  8. ^ Bulman, Michael P.; Kusumi, Kenro; Frayling, Timothy M.; McKeown, Carole; Garrett, Christine; Lander, Eric S.; Krumlauf, Robb; Hattersley, Andrew T.; Ellard, Sian; Turnpenny, Peter D. (April 2000). "Mutations in the human Delta homologue, DLL3, cause axial skeletal defects in spondylocostal dysostosis". Nature Genetics. 24 (4): 438–441. doi:10.1038/74307. PMID 10742114. S2CID 9284439.
  9. ^ Sparrow, Duncan B.; Chapman, Gavin; Smith, Allanceson J.; Mattar, Muhammad Z.; Major, Joelene A.; O'Reilly, Victoria C.; Saga, Yumiko; Zackai, Elaine H.; Dormans, John P.; Alman, Benjamin A.; McGregor, Lesley; Kageyama, Ryoichiro; Kusumi, Kenro; Dunwoodie, Sally L. (April 13, 2012). "A Mechanism for Gene-Environment Interaction in the Etiology of Congenital Scoliosis". Cell. 149 (2): 295–306. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2012.02.054. PMID 22484060. S2CID 2655141.
  10. ^ Sparrow, D. B.; Chapman, G.; Wouters, M. A.; Whittock, N. V.; Ellard, S.; Fatkin, D.; Turnpenny, P. D.; Kusumi, K.; Sillence, D.; Dunwoodie, S. L. (January 1, 2006). "Mutation of the LUNATIC FRINGE gene in humans causes spondylocostal dysostosis with a severe vertebral phenotype". American Journal of Human Genetics. 78 (1): 28–37. doi:10.1086/498879. ISSN 0002-9297. PMC 1380221. PMID 16385447.
  11. ^ "Kenro Kusumi | iSearch". isearch.asu.edu. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  12. ^ "Graduate programs appointment advances research, education innovation". ASU Now: Access, Excellence, Impact. April 9, 2013. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  13. ^ "School of Life Sciences Fact Sheet" (PDF). School of Life Sciences, asu.edu.
  14. ^ "Kenro Kusumi". 500 Queer Scientists. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  15. ^ "HUES - LGBTQIA+ mentoring program | Graduate College". graduate.asu.edu. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  16. ^ "- SunDevilSync". asu.campuslabs.com. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  17. ^ "Kusumi Lab | Vertebrate Genomics". Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  18. ^ Tollis, Marc; DeNardo, Dale F.; Cornelius, John A.; Dolby, Greer A.; Edwards, Taylor; Henen, Brian T.; Karl, Alice E.; Murphy, Robert W.; Kusumi, Kenro (May 31, 2017). "The Agassiz's desert tortoise genome provides a resource for the conservation of a threatened species". PLOS ONE. 12 (5): e0177708. Bibcode:2017PLoSO..1277708T. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0177708. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 5451010. PMID 28562605.
  19. ^ Dolby, Greer A.; Morales, Matheo; Webster, Timothy H.; DeNardo, Dale F.; Wilson, Melissa A.; Kusumi, Kenro (February 1, 2020). "Discovery of a New TLR Gene and Gene Expansion Event through Improved Desert Tortoise Genome Assembly with Chromosome-Scale Scaffolds". Genome Biology and Evolution. 12 (2): 3917–3925. doi:10.1093/gbe/evaa016. PMC 7058155. PMID 32011707.
  20. ^ Tollis, Marc; Hutchins, Elizabeth D.; Stapley, Jessica; Rupp, Shawn M.; Eckalbar, Walter L.; Maayan, Inbar; Lasku, Eris; Infante, Carlos R.; Dennis, Stuart R.; Robertson, Joel A.; May, Catherine M. (February 1, 2018). "Comparative Genomics Reveals Accelerated Evolution in Conserved Pathways during the Diversification of Anole Lizards". Genome Biology and Evolution. 10 (2): 489–506. doi:10.1093/gbe/evy013. PMC 5798147. PMID 29360978.
  21. ^ Xu, Cindy; Hutchins, Elizabeth D.; Tokuyama, Minami A.; Wilson-Rawls, Jeanne; Kusumi, Kenro (March 1, 2020). "Transcriptional analysis of scar-free wound healing during early stages of tail regeneration in the green anole lizard, Anolis carolinensis". Journal of Immunology and Regenerative Medicine. 7: 100025. doi:10.1016/j.regen.2019.100025. ISSN 2468-4988. S2CID 212975937.
  22. ^ "Kenro Kusumi". 500 Queer Scientists. Retrieved June 8, 2021.