Kristin Patrick, PhD

Education and Training

• Hamilton College, BA, 2003
• Yale University, PhD, 2008
• University of California, San Francisco, Postdoc, 2014

Research Interests

• Despite the substantial impact pre-mRNA splicing has on gene expression outcomes, little is known about how the spliceosome itself is modified and regulated during cellular reprogramming. Innate immune cells like macrophages reprogram gene expression when they sense a "danger signal," such as a pathogen, organelle damage, or chemical signal, to combat the detected threat. While changes that occur transcriptionally during macrophage activation are well characterized, almost nothing is known about how pre-mRNA splicing is regulated following immune stimuli. My lab is working to understand how infection modifies the spliceosome and how modification of the splicing machinery impacts innate immune outcomes. We have identified novel roles for a number of RNA binding proteins in regulating gene expression in macrophages. We have also discovered that nuclear structures called paraspeckles aggregate upon macrophage activation. These findings motivate additional studies into how RNA binding proteins receive and respond to extracellular signals like pathogen sensing.