Dr. Kyoko Okada - Postdoctoral researcher

Mutational Analysis of Aip1; Cofilin

e-mail: kokada@brandeis.edu

Kyoko received her B.A., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Chiba University in Japan. As a sophomore, she was fascinated by beautiful images of cells she saw during the thesis defenses she sneaked in on. Since then, she has been interested in understanding the mechanisms of cell motility. She began her undergraduate research in 1992, joining the lab of Takashi Obinata, who works on cofilin. In 1998, she graduated with her Ph.D. degree. Throughout those years, with associate professor Hiroshi Abe as mentor, Kyoko received training in Xenopus embryo manipulation, biochemistry, and mammalian cell biology. Raising frogs as pets from leftover embryos was fun and a consolation during this period, but now they are laborers in Hiroshi's lab, or perhaps they have retired.

Kyoko's favorite protein is actin-interacting protein 1 (Aip1), whose in vivo function is not fully understood. She identified the Xenopus homologue during her Ph.D. thesis and carried out early pioneering work on this protein. During her postdoctoral period in Jim Bamburg's lab and in close collaboration with Tom Pollard, Kyoko dissected aspects of the molecular mechanism of Aip1 function. Now in Bruce Goode's lab, Kyoko is carrying out extensive surface alanine-scan mutagenesis of yeast Aip1 to understand the relationship between the biochemical activities of Aip1 and its in vivo function. As our knowledge of the complex roles of actin increases, Kyoko's future interests continue to lie in the basic understanding of actin cytoskeleton dynamics and function in different types of cells.

Kyoko's major passion outside the lab is food. She loves good food and can sometimes spend hours at a time in the kitchen experimenting, exploring new recipes. She enjoys the instant and lasting rewards, the happy faces around her table.

Selected publications:

Okada K., Blanchoin L., Chen H., Abe H., Pollard T.D., and Bamburg, J.R. (2002). Xenopus Actin Interacting Protein 1(XAip1) Enhances Actin Filament Severing by Cofilin and Caps Filament Ends. J. Biol. Chem. 277(45):43011-43016.

Okada, K., Obinata T., and Abe H. (1999). XAIP1: a Xenopus Homologue of Yeast Actin Interacting Protein 1(AIP1), which Induces Disassembly of Actin Filaments Cooperatively with ADF/cofilin Family Proteins. J. Cell Sci. 112(Pt. 10):1553-1565.

Okada K., Takano-Ohmuro H., Obinata T., and Abe H. (1996). Dephosphorylation of Cofilin in Polymorphonuclear Leukocytes Derived from Peripheral Blood. Exp. Cell Res. 227:116-122.