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Research Interests |
As an MD/PhD candidate, I am broadly interested in the regulation of cellular processes at a molecular level that ultimately leads to clinical outcomes. In the past, have made meaningful contributions to understanding how Bordetella pertussis, the causative agent of whooping cough, regulates its genes to survive in different environments, enabling its persistence and transmission from one host to another. I have also dissected the role of eukaryotic Initiation Factor 3 (eIF3), a protein that has been implicated in the development and progression of various human cancers, in mediating the initiation step of protein synthesis. As a graduate student in the Fries Lab, I am studying how Cryptococcus neoformans (Cn), an opportunistic yeast that causes fungal meningoencephalitis, regulates its metabolic processes to promote antifungal resistance. Furthermore, I am investigating how itaconic acid (IA), an immunomodulatory metabolite produced within the TCA cycle, can affect Cn:macrophage interaction to alter the outcome of cryptococcal infection. |
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Publications |
Yoo K., Bhattacharya S., Oliveira N.K., Pereira de Sa N., Matos G.S., Del Poeta M., and Fries B.C. (2024). With age comes resilience: how mitochondrial modulation drives age-associated fluconazole tolerance in Cryptococcus neoformans. mBio, e0184724. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.01847-24 Silva V.K.A., Min S., Yoo K., and Fries BC. (2024). Host-Pathogen Interactions and correlated factors that are affected in replicative-aged Cryptococcus neoformans. Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland), 10(4), 279. https://doi.org/10.3390/jof10040279 Oliveira, N.K., Yoo, K., Bhattacharaya, S., Gambhir, R., Kirgizbaeva, N., Garcia, P.A., Prados, I.P., Fernandes, C.M., Del Poeta, M., and Fries, B.C. (2024). Distinct effect of calorie restriction between congenic mating types of Cryptococcus neoformans. Scientific Reports 14(1): 18187. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-69087-y Ide, N.A., Gentry, R.C., Rudbach, M.A., Yoo, K., Velez, P.K., Comunale, V.M., Hartwick, E.W., Kinz-Thompson, C.D., Gonzalez, R.L., and Aitken, C.E. (2024). A dynamic compositional equilibrium governs mRNA recognition by eIF3. bioRxiv, 2024.04.25.581977. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.04.25.581977 Moon, K., Sim, M., Tai, C.-H., Yoo K., Merzbacher, C., Yu S.-H., Kim, D.D., Lee, J., Förstner, K.U., Chen, Q., Stibitz, S., Knipling, L.G., and Hinton, D.M. (2021). Identification of BvgA-dependent and BvgA-independent small RNAs (sRNAs) in Bordetella pertussis using the prokaryotic sRNA prediction toolkit ANNOgesic. Microbiology spectrum, 9(2), e0004421. https://doi.org/10.1128/Spectrum.00044-21 |
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Presentations |
Yoo, K., Oliveira, N.K., Bhattacharya, S., and Fries, B.C. (2023). Metabolic Changes Contributing to Age-Associated Antifungal Tolerance in Cryptococcus neoformans. IDWeek, Boston, MA. Yoo, K., Bhattacharya, S., and Fries B.C. (2023). Changes in Mitochondrial Function that Contribute to Age-Associated Antifungal Tolerance in Cryptococcus neoformans. 4th Symposium on Infectious Diseases in the Immunocompromised Host, Seattle, WA. Yoo, K., and Aitken, C.E. (2019). Interrogating the Mechanism of Eukaryotic Initiation Factor 3 (eIF3) through Molecular Dissection. American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA. March 2019. Yoo, K., Nguyen, J., Tai, C.H., Kim, D.D., Nasim, R., Chen, Q., Stibitz, S., Hinton, D.M., and Moon, K. (2018). Metabolic Regulation by Hfq-binding sRNA in Human Pathogen B. pertussis. National Institutes of Health Summer Poster Day, Bethesda, MD. August 2018 Yoo, K., Wagh, A., Baniulyte, G., and Wade, J.T. (2018). Possible cis and trans-acting Roles of a Small Protein in Regulation of Spermidine Transport in E. coli. New England Science Symposium at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA. April 2018 |
| Awards |
2023 Immunomycologics Graduate Student Travel Award, MMSA |
