Kit Neikirk

I’m delighted to announce and share I’ve been selected as a Marshall Scholar! My research will aim to better understand how we can use medical imaging for individualized care to reduce health disparities. So many individuals to thank, especially @phdgprotein86!

My second, solo first-author publication is featured on the September cover of @JCellularPhys doi.org/10.1002/jcp.31…

Fantastic paper on morphological assessment of lipid droplets & mito-interactions in #aging published in ⁦@JCellularPhys⁩ is now in pubmed #FeaturedOnCover Thanks ⁦@phdgprotein86⁩ for including me! pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39138923/

Madam Vice President, we are ready to help.

Our paper on the university-wide mentorship program @bummp_ucsd and its impact on students' sense of belonging, identity, and scientific efficacy is now out on a special DEI issue of Journal of Cellular Physiology! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jc…

Less than a week after the first paper from @drstarbird's postdoc comes out is the first paper from the lab! It's a commentary on an important and timely issue: Special considerations for the use of AI tools by PEERS... Journal of Cellular Physiology onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jc…

In honor of #Juneteenth, @phdgprotein86 discusses the lack of recognition for Black scientists, disparities in funding rates, and the history of racism in science and research. In @CBSNews. ow.ly/sGNq50SiWMA

Systemic changes are needed to acquire and retain autistic adults in STEMM, argue @phdgprotein86, @crabroll, and colleagues. In their commentary, published in @iScience_CP, they present the unique challenges autistic adults face in STEMM and more. 🧑‍🔬 medschool.vanderbilt.edu/basic-sciences…

When a Mentee becomes a Mentor! Congrats to my other postdoc, @HKbeasley on your co-senior with me (@AtHinton) mentoring is so important, and I am so proud of you. You took all three summer students last year under your wing and look what happened! It feels my heart with glee! @BlackinCancer @BlackInPhysio @BlackInCardio @blackinxnetwork @natblackpostdoc Thank you to her funding @TheEndoSociety #FLARE @UNCF @EEJustLSSociety @BWFUND @amays_bwfund Congrats to the co-first @bryanna_ys, Mason, & Ashton! Thank you @WileyGlobal Press @JCellularPhys! Link: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.10… Congrats @HKbeasley on such a high impact review in @CircRes as a co-author with Dr. Kirabo. I cannot wait for your first author with @annetkiraboc1 and @phdgprotein86 to be finished on salt sensitive hypertension. Congrats to @jmafolabi on your first author, @sepiso_masenga and thank you @annetkiraboc1 for your amazing mentorship! Link: ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CI… Thank you to my funding @cziscience @czi @BWFUND @UNCF @EEJustLSSociety

Our paper on Underrepresented Minority #UnderGrad Research training published in ⁦@STARProtocols⁩ ⁦@CellPressNews⁩ is now in pubmed pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38748884/ Huge THANKS ⁦@phdgprotein86⁩ for leading this & Congrats 1st author ⁦@HKbeasley⁩!

Next week I’ll be hosting my dear friend @phdgprotein86 for a seminar visit at @ucsdbiosciences! Please stop by to hear @AtHinton lab’s amazing research on the role of MICOS in mitochondrial integrity!

Happy to share our latest work on hepatic ER and mitochondria structure across liver zonation, in fasting/feeding states and in obesity! Very grateful for everyone involved! @gparlakgul @ghotamis Shan & Song @UCBerkeley @gshlab_ulkerctr @Harvard nature.com/articles/s4146…

This is why I hate when people comment that their students are not “passionate” enough without digging deeper. A lot of the time it’s something like this. It’s also why we have a pantry that I keep stocked in our lab.

Antentor Hinton’s lab (@phdgprotein86), with international collaborators, determines the differences in the 3D morphology of mitochondria and cristae, their inner membrane folds, in brown adipose tissue. asbmb.org/asbmb-today/sc…

Serious problem leading to the general belief that antidepressants are more effective than they really are, which drives overprescribing in clinics, together with societal and scientific inertia

@SterlingCooley When he says this, he actually means he just secured funding for further study into a possible treatment for Alzheimer’s and dementia. That’s all. This is a FAR cry from the “Dementia and Alzheimer’s is as good as cured as of today” claims he made.

Congrats to my amazing graduate student, @CrabRoll Amber Crabtree who holds a 3.9 GPA, has 2 first authors and 3 co-first authors, passed her qual today! @CrabRoll Amber Crabtree know we are all proud of you and thank you @DrDreNeuroWay @ZerVue @HKbeasley for helping to prepare her. Thank you @NeikirkKit & @ScientistsLift for always being helpful in the lab with @CrabRoll I look forward to wrapping up your dissertation with your 3 mechanistic projects with your co-mentor, @annetkiraboc1. @VanderbiltU @VUmedicine @VUBasicSciences @VandyBasicScDEI @VanderbiltMPB I want to thank the @theWondry, Frist Center for Autism & Innovation, Dr. Prof. Keivan Stassun of Vandy Physics and @NSF for funding Amber! She is a blast to have in the laboratory, your resources, time, and mentoring have made the difference. Congrats on your 3 first authors of 8- Link: Crabtree, A., Neikirk, K., Marshall, A. G., Vang, L., Whiteside, A. J., Williams, Q., Altamura, C. T., Owens, T. C., Stephens, D., Shao, B., Koh, A., Killion, M., Lopez, E. G., Lam, J., Rodriguez, B., Mungai, M., Stanley, J., Dean, E. D., Koh, H. J., Gaddy, J. A., … Hinton, A., Jr (2024). Defining Mitochondrial Cristae Morphology Changes Induced by Aging in Brown Adipose Tissue. Advanced biology, 8(1), e2300186. doi.org/10.1002/adbi.2… (cover article) Link: Stephens, D. C., Mungai, M., Crabtree, A., Beasley, H. K., Garza-Lopez, E., Vang, L., Neikirk, K., Vue, Z., Vue, N., Marshall, A. G., Turner, K., Shao, J. Q., Sarker, B., Murray, S., Gaddy, J. A., Davis, J., Damo, S. M., & Hinton, A. O., Jr (2023). Protocol for isolating mice skeletal muscle myoblasts and myotubes via differential antibody validation. STAR protocols, 4(4), 102591. doi.org/10.1016/j.xpro… (co-first) Link: Quantitative Assessment of Morphological Changes in Lipid Droplets and Lipid-Mito Interactions with Aging in Brown Adipose Amber Crabtree, Kit Neikirk, Aaron Whiteside, Jessica McKenzie, Zer Vue, Larry Vang, Trinity Celeste Owens, Ashton Oliver, Faben Zeleke, Heather K. Beasley, Edgar Garza Lopez, Estevão Scudese, Alice Koh, Suzanne Navarro, Jacob Lam, Ben Kirk, Margaret Mungai, Mariya Sweetwyne, Ho-Jin Koh, Elma Zaganjor, Steven M. Damo, Jennifer A. Gaddy, Clintoria Williams, Melanie R. McReynolds, Andrea G. Marshall, Antentor Hinton Jr. bioRxiv 2023.09.23.559135; doi: doi.org/10.1101/2023.0… (will be out shortly) Thank you @cziscience @czi @BWFUND @UNCF @EEJustLSSociety for the funding to keep the lab going! Thank you to my scientific societies for their support and advice. @TheEndoSociety @Endocrine_News @ASCBiology @ASBMB @American_Heart @AHAScience @APSPhysiology @MicroscopySoc

Some of the amazing and strangest mitochondria we have seen, from the leg muscle of a person with a rare mtDNA mutation (m.8344A>G) Notice the regular angles! Work by @AmyV91 Source: nature.com/articles/srep3…

Almost every country in Africa/South Asia has a blood supply crisis For NPR, I write about blood deserts and some solutions — drones, autotransfusion, & walking blood banks It's a story about the tension btw safety/access and whose voice matters in global health — link in bio!

More great work from @AtHinton lab has led to the front cover & inside cover. Thank you @IntMedAbel for your mentorship! Thank you @KattiiPrasanna for being my co-first & thank you, Drs. @brianglancylab & @RePereira Thank you @WileyGlobal Press & the Journal of Cell Physiology