Kaitlyn Venneman
Graduate Student - Apte Lab
Professional Background
I completed my Bachelor of Arts in creative writing with a double minor music theory and biology at Knox College in 2012. Prior to seeking a Ph.D. in the biological sciences, I received my Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Eastern Washington University in 2014. In 2017, I received my Master of Arts in English literature and rhetoric from the University of Missouri – Kansas City. For the next six years, I taught discourse and composition at UMKC and MCC, respectively, and worked as the writing tutor for KCKCC’s Trio program. Looking to shift to a career in the sciences, I began research in the lab of Dr. Leonard Dobens in 2018, where I investigated the role of a suspected PEST domain in the Drosophila melanogaster Tribbles protein. I was accepted into the IGPBS program at KUMC in 2021, and I joined the lab of Dr. Udayan Apte in the summer of 2022.
Research
Overview
Acetaminophen (APAP) overdose is the leading cause of liver failure in the US and the UK today. As such, it is important to understand the mechanisms behind acute APAP-induced liver injury and regeneration. My current project is focused on the impact of APAP-induced liver injury on matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and tissue inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinases (TIMPs). Liver injury and regeneration are both linked to complex extracellular matrix (ECM) related pathways, and MMPs play a pivotal role in in the turnover of matrix proteins. TIMPs, on the other hand, serve to inhibit the MMPs. I am interested in the careful balance maintained between these proteins, how APAP overdose might disrupt this balance, and what impacts that could have on the ECM and liver regeneration.