Educational Background

B.S., University of Michigan, 1997

Ph.D., University of California, San Francisco 2006

Postdoctoral Fellowship, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL

Professional Experience

Associate Professor, Florida Institute of Technology, 2020 - present

Assistant Professor, Florida Institute of Technology, 2014-2020 

Co-organizer - Annual Florida Worm Meeting

Current Courses

BIO 3220 - Developmental Biology

BIO 4102 - Eukaryotic Molelcular Biology

BIO 4990 - Undergraduate Research

BIO 5576 - Molecular Genetics

BIO 5995 - Graduate Research

Selected Publications

Mossiah I, Perez SM, Stanley TR, Foley MK, Kim Guisbert KS, Guisbert E.
Geranylgeranylacetone Ameliorates Beta-Amyloid Toxicity and Extends Lifespan
via the Heat Shock Response in Caenorhabditis elegans. Front
Aging. 2022 Apr 27;3:846977. doi: 10.3389/fragi.2022.846977. PMID: 35821801;
PMCID: PMC9261441.

Golden NL, Foley MK, Kim Guisbert KS, Guisbert E. Divergent regulatory roles
of NuRD chromatin remodeling complex subunits GATAD2 and CHD4 in Caenorhabditis
elegans. Genetics. 2022 May 5;221(1):iyac046. doi: 10.1093/genetics/iyac046.
PMID: 35323946; PMCID: PMC9071545.

Stanley TR, Guisbert KSK, Perez SM, Oneka M, Kernin I, Higgins NR, Lobo A,
Subasi MM, Carroll DJ, Turingan RG, Guisbert E. Stress response gene family
expansions correlate with invasive potential in teleost fish. J Exp Biol. 2022
Mar 8;225(Suppl_1):jeb243263. doi: 10.1242/jeb.243263. Epub 2022 Mar 8. PMID:
35258619; PMCID: PMC8987736.

Plagens RN, Mossiah I, Kim Guisbert KS, Guisbert E. Chronic temperature
stress inhibits reproduction and disrupts endocytosis via chaperone titration in
Caenorhabditis elegans. BMC Biol. 2021 Apr 15;19(1):75. doi:
10.1186/s12915-021-01008-1. PMID: 33858388; PMCID: PMC8051109.

Kim Guisbert KS, Mossiah I, Guisbert E. Titration of SF3B1 Activity Reveals
Distinct Effects on the Transcriptome and Cell Physiology. Int J Mol Sci. 2020
Dec 17;21(24):9641. doi: 10.3390/ijms21249641. PMID: 33348896; PMCID:
PMC7766730.

Golden NL, Plagens RN, Kim Guisbert KS, Guisbert E. Standardized Methods for
Measuring Induction of the Heat Shock Response in Caenorhabditis elegans. J Vis
Exp. 2020 Jul 3;(161). doi: 10.3791/61030. PMID: 32716378.

Qin G, Johnson C, Zhang Y, Zhang H, Yin J, Miller G, Turingan RG, Guisbert E,
Lin Q. Temperature-induced physiological stress and reproductive characteristics
of the migratory seahorse <i>Hippocampus erectus</i> during a thermal stress
simulation. Biol Open. 2018 Jun 25;7(6):bio032888. doi: 10.1242/bio.032888.
PMID: 29764809; PMCID: PMC6031341.

Guruge C, Rfaish SY, Byrd C, Yang S, Starrett AK, Guisbert E, Nesnas N. Caged
Proline in Photoinitiated Organocatalysis. J Org Chem. 2019 May
3;84(9):5236-5244. doi: 10.1021/acs.joc.9b00220. Epub 2019 Apr 3. PMID:
30908906; PMCID: PMC6510250.

Kim Guisbert KS, Guisbert E. SF3B1 is a stress-sensitive splicing factor that
regulates both HSF1 concentration and activity. PLoS One. 2017 Apr
26;12(4):e0176382. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0176382. PMID: 28445500; PMCID:
PMC5406028.

Ma J, Grant CE, Plagens RN, Barrett LN, Kim Guisbert KS, Guisbert E.
Cellular Proteomes Drive Tissue-Specific Regulation of the Heat Shock Response.
G3 (Bethesda). 2017 Mar 10;7(3):1011-1018. doi: 10.1534/g3.116.038232. PMID:
28143946; PMCID: PMC5345702.

Recognition & Awards

SGA Faculty of the Year, 2021

ACS Postdoctoral Fellowship 2009-2011

Keystone Travel Scholarship Award 2009

NIH Training Grant NIH-TG-AG000260-10S1 2007-2008

NSF Predoctoral Fellowship 1998-2001

Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society 1997

Research

My primary research focus is the heat shock response.  The heat shock response is a universal stress response that is also critical for normal growth and associated with a number of human diseases.  The heat shock response activates a protective transcriptional program during sudden temperature increases, but it primarily senses protein misfolding and activates molecular chaperones that assist protein refolding.  

The central role of protein folding in the cell explains the requirement for the heat shock response during normal growth, aging and development. Furthermore, the heat shock response is intimately associated with a wide variety of human diseases. For example, many cancers demonstrate strong induction of the heat shock response in the absence of increased temperature. In contrast, activation of the heat shock response appears to be beneficial in many models of neurodegenerative diseases.

We have completed a genome-wide screen to identify new regulators of the heat shock response. Many of these genes were previously associated with neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. Now, our primary focus is to characterize these new regulatory pathways and explore their roles in disease. Our research has revealed that regulation of the heat shock response is customized for each tissue and we are also exploring the molecular basis of this discovery.