Researchers

Kevin T. Vaughan, Ph.D.

Kevin T. Vaughan, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences

Contact Information

Biography

Professor Vaughan received his B.A. degree in history and biology in 1984 from Hamilton College. He obtained his M.S. degree in natural sciences in 1986 from the State University of New York at Buffalo and his Ph.D. in cell biology/genetics in 1992 from Cornell University. He conducted postdoctoral research at the Worcester Foundation University of Massachusetts Medical School from 1992 to 1998. Subsequently, Professor Vaughan was instructor at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in the Department of Cell Biology. He joined the faculty of the University of Notre Dame in 1998. Professor Vaughan was the recipient of the Muscular Dystrophy Association Postdoctoral Fellowship, the National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellowship, the Medical Foundation Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship, and the Keith Porter Symposia Award. Professor Vaughan's research is supported by the NIH and a Research Scholar Award from the American Cancer Society.

Research Interests

Professor Vaughan research interests focus on the microtubule motor field, in particular how and where cytoplasmic dynein-a motor that plays a role in developmental defects of the nervous system, cancer in epithelial cells, and infertility, and in recovery from spinal injury-interacts with its cargo and how this process is regulated. A focus in Dr. Vaughan's research group is the mechanism by which chromosomes initiate contact with microtubules for transport during mitosis and how defects in this process lead to loss of tumor suppressor genes.

Publications

Vaughan KT. TIP maker and TIP marker; EB1 as a master controller of microtubule plus ends. J Cell Biol 2005; 171: 197-200. link

Vaughan KT. Microtubule plus ends, motors, and traffic of Golgi membranes. Biochim Biophys Acta 2005; 1744: 316-324.

Vaughan KT. Surfing, regulating and capturing: are all microtubule tip-tracking proteins created equal? Trends Cell Biol 2004; 14: 491-496. link

Deacon SW, Serpinskaya AS, Vaughan PS, Fanarraga ML, Vernos I, Vaughan KT, Gelfand VI. Dynactin is required for bidirectional organelle transport. J Cell Biol 2003; 160: 297-301. link

Askham JM, Vaughan KT, Goodson HV, Morrison EE. Evidence that an interaction between EB1 and p150Glued is required for the formation and maintenance of a radial microtubule array anchored at the centrosome. Mol Biol Cell 2002; 13: 3627-3645. link

Susalka SJ, Nikulina K, Salata MJ, Vaughan PS, King SM, Vaughan KT, Pfister KK. The roadblock light chain binds a novel region of the cytoplasmic dynein intermediate Chain. J Biol Chem 2002; 277: 32939-32946. link

Vaughan PS, Miura P, Henderson M, Byrne B, Vaughan KT. A role for regulated binding of p150Glued to microtubule plus ends in organelle transport. J Cell Biol 2002; 158: 305-319. link

Vaughan PS, Leszyk JD,Vaughan KT. Cytoplasmic dynein intermediate chain phosphorylation regulates binding to dynactin. J Biol Chem 2001; 276: 26171-26179. link

Cells