Kenneth S. Kosik

About

Kenneth S. Kosik is a Distinguished Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He completed a B.A. and M.A. in English literature from Case Western Reserve University in 1972 and earned an M.D. from the Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1976. Following his medical training, he served as a resident in neurology at Tufts New England Medical Center, where he was Chief Resident in 1980. He held academic appointments at Harvard Medical School beginning in 1980, achieving the rank of full professor in 1996, and also held positions at McLean Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. In 2004, Kosik joined UC Santa Barbara as the Harriman Professor of Neuroscience Research and Co-Director of the Neuroscience Research Institute. He was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2017. His research focuses on fundamental biological processes related to the brain, including its development, diseases, and evolution. His lab emphasizes collaborative, reductionist approaches centered on genes, molecules, and cells, while also incorporating systems-level informatic studies involving genomic, transcriptional, and electrophysiologic data. Key themes include how cells acquire and lose their identities, synaptic plasticity, and proteostasis, with particular interest in how protein translation at the synapse influences learning…

Research topics

• Biology
• Neuroscience
• Biochemistry
• Cell biology
• Computer Science
• Genetics
• Anatomy
• Biophysics
• Chemistry
• Medicine

Selected publications

• Tau PTM Profiles Identify Patient Heterogeneity and Stages of Alzheimer’s Disease

  Cell · 2020 · 691 citations

  DOI

• LRP1 is a master regulator of tau uptake and spread

  Nature · 2020 · 552 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  DOI

• Human neural tube morphogenesis in vitro by geometric constraints

  Nature · 2021 · 241 citations

  DOI

• Functional neuronal circuitry and oscillatory dynamics in human brain organoids

  Nature Communications · 2022 · 220 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Human brain organoids replicate much of the cellular diversity and developmental anatomy of the human brain. However, the physiology of neuronal circuits within organoids remains under-explored. With high-density CMOS microelectrode arrays and shank electrodes, we captured spontaneous extracellular activity from brain organoids derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells. We inferred functional connectivity from spike timing, revealing a large number of weak connections within a skeleton o…

  DOI

• Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation of Tau Driven by Hydrophobic Interaction Facilitates Fibrillization of Tau

  Journal of Molecular Biology · 2020 · 145 citations

  DOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01AG006601

  NIH · $3.0M · 2002

• Project 1: Aberrant neuronal activity and tau distribution in FTD

  NIH · $21.6M · 2016–2023

• NIH Grant R21NS045327

  NIH · $411k · 2005

Frequent coauthors

• Eric M. Reiman

  Arizona Alzheimer’s Consortium

  79 shared

• Dennis J. Selkoe

  Harvard University

  75 shared

• Francisco Lopera

  61 shared

• Yakeel T. Quiroz

  Harvard University

  53 shared

• Anna M. Krichevsky

  Brigham and Women's Hospital

  53 shared

• Juliana Acosta‐Uribe

  Universidad de Antioquia

  44 shared

• Joseph F. Arboleda‐Velásquez

  43 shared

• David Aguillón

  Universidad de Antioquia

  42 shared

Labs

• Kosik LabPI

  Not provided

Education

• B.A., English literature

  Case Western Reserve University

  1972

• M.A., English literature

  Case Western Reserve University

  1972

• M.D.

  Medical College of Pennsylvania

  1976

Awards & honors

• American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow (…

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