Robert Kiss, PhD
cholesterol • intracellular trafficking • cell biology • microscopy
My research focuses on how the body generates the so-called "good cholesterol" or HDL. High levels of good cholesterol prevent heart attacks, while low levels contribute to heart attacks. I study the way that a cell makes HDL and transports the cholesterol into HDL. I am also interested how liver cells store fat. The liver is an extremely important organ for controlling many aspects of metabolism in the body. When the liver gets harmed by storing too much fat, many processes are upset including those regulating sugar use. So, too much fat leads to diabetes. I want to prevent that, so my work focusses on finding how the liver cells can be prevented from being overloaded with fat.
J Clin Invest. 2015 Jul 1;125(7):2748-58. doi: 10.1172/JCI80300. Epub 2015 Jun 15. Apoptotic cells trigger a membrane-initiated pathway to increase ABCA1. Fond AM, Lee CS, Schulman IG, Kiss RS, Ravichandran KS. PMID: 26075824.
J Biomed Res. 2014 May;28(3):169-77. doi: 10.7555/JBR.28.20140029. Epub 2014 Mar 26. Rab proteins implicated in lipid storage and mobilization. Kiss RS1, Nilsson T1. PMCID: PMC4085554.
Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2013 Nov;33(11):2481-90. doi: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.113.301517. Epub 2013 Aug 29. Hepatic cholesterol homeostasis: is the low-density lipoprotein pathway a regulatory or a shunt pathway? Sniderman AD1, Qi Y, Ma CI, Wang RH, Naples M, Baker C, Zhang J, Adeli K, Kiss RS. PMID: 23990208.
J Clin Lipidol. 2013 Mar-Apr;7(2):153-64. doi: 10.1016/j.jacl.2012.02.006. Epub 2012 Feb 22. Cholesterol trapping in Niemann-Pick disease type B fibroblasts can be relieved by expressing the phosphotyrosine binding domain of GULP. Lee CY1, Ruel I, Denis M, Genest J, Kiss RS. PMID: 23415435.
J Biol Chem. 2012 Jun 8;287(24):20636-51. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M111.314997. Epub 2012 Mar 26. Engulfment protein GULP is regulator of transforming growth factor-β response in ovarian cells. Ma CI1, Martin C, Ma Z, Hafiane A, Dai M, Lebrun JJ, Kiss RS. PMID: 22451657.