{{Short description|American neurologist}} {{external links|date=June 2018}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Kenneth S. Kosik | image = Kenneth S. Kosik December 2013.jpg | caption = Kosik in 2013 | birth_place = | birth_date = | other_names = | doctoral_advisor = Dennis J. Selkoe | known_for = Neuroscience research | nationality = | alma_mater = Medical College of Pennsylvania | awards = Potamkin Prize (2021) | website = https://www.mcdb.ucsb.edu/people/faculty/kenneth-kosik }} '''Kenneth S. Kosik''' (born July 14, 1950) is an American neuroscientist, author, and professor<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.mcdb.ucsb.edu/people/faculty/kenneth-kosik|title=Kenneth S. Kosik | MCDB | UC Santa Barbara|website=www.mcdb.ucsb.edu}}</ref> whose research focuses on neural plasticity, including the molecular basis of plasticity, the evolution of synapses, and disease-related impairments of plasticity such as occurs in Alzheimer's disease.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ken-kosik.mcdb.ucsb.edu/|title=Kosik Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology Lab | UC Santa Barbara|website=ken-kosik.mcdb.ucsb.edu}}</ref>
Kenneth Kosik holds positions as Harriman Professor of Neuroscience Research and Co-Director of the Neuroscience Research Institute at the University of California.<ref name="auto"/> Kosik laboratory focuses on a range of topics, including stem cell biology, neurodevelopment, cerebral organoids, cellular neurobiology and neuropathology, neurophysiology, and genomics.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ken-kosik.mcdb.ucsb.edu/research|title=Research | Kosik Lab | UC Santa Barbara|website=ken-kosik.mcdb.ucsb.edu}}</ref>
== Research == Kenneth Kosik’s research focuses on the underlying molecular basis of plasticity, particularly how protein translation at the synapse affects learning and how impairments of plasticity lead to neurodegenerative diseases.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kenneth S. Kosik |url=https://www.stemcell.ucsb.edu/people/kosik |website=William K. Bowes Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology and Engineering - UC Santa Barbara}}</ref> Beginning in the early nineties, Kosik contributed toward the characterization of the largest familial Alzheimer kindred in the world, a large family in Colombia with dementia onset at an early age. This began a longterm collaboration with Francisco Lopera in which the family trees were assembled, the neuropathological proof of Alzheimer’s disease obtained, the gene mutation discovered, the first brain imaging performed, and specialized neuropsychological testing devised. Kosik’s work with early onset familial Alzheimer’s disease in Colombia was the basis for a novel prevention trial to treat Alzheimer’s disease.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ramirez Aguilar |first1=Laura |last2=Acosta-Uribe |first2=Juliana |last3=Giraldo |first3=Margarita M. |last4=Moreno |first4=Sonia |last5=Baena |first5=Ana |last6=Alzate |first6=Diana |last7=Cuastumal |first7=Rosario |last8=Aguillón |first8=David |last9=Madrigal |first9=Lucía |last10=Saldarriaga |first10=Amanda |last11=Navarro |first11=Alexander |last12=Garcia |first12=Gloria P. |last13=Aguirre-Acevedo |first13=Daniel C. |last14=Geier |first14=Ethan G. |last15=Cochran |first15=J. Nicholas |date=May 2019 |title=Genetic origin of a large family with a novel PSEN1 mutation (Ile416Thr) |url=https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6511480/ |website=Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association |pages=709–719 |doi=10.1016/j.jalz.2018.12.010 |last16=Quiroz |first16=Yakeel T. |last17=Myers |first17=Richard M. |last18=Yokoyama |first18=Jennifer S. |last19=Kosik |first19=Kenneth S. |last20=Lopera |first20=Francisco}}</ref>
In 1986, Kosik was one of several groups that independently discovered Tau protein in the Alzheimer neurofibrillary tangle, followed up with many studies on the biology and pathobiology of Tau.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kosik |first1=Kenneth S. |date=1993 |title=The Molecular and Cellular Biology of Tau |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1750-3639.1993.tb00724.x?sid=nlm%3Apubmed |website=Brain Pathology |pages=39–43 |language=en |doi=10.1111/j.1750-3639.1993.tb00724.x}}</ref> Kosik showed the loss of polarity in tangle-bearing neurons and published the first cloning of human tau, identification of its microtubule binding domain, the first description that tau splicing was developmentally regulated, the localization of tau mRNA, and the identification of a human tau promoter.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Andreadis |first1=Athena |last2=Brown |first2=William M. |last3=Kosik |first3=Kenneth S. |date=1 November 1992 |title=Structure and novel exons of the human .tau. gene |url=https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/bi00158a027 |website=Biochemistry |pages=10626–10633 |doi=10.1021/bi00158a027}}</ref> He defined a role for tau in axonal elaboration and neuronal polarity, and he discovered that the inhibition of farnesyl transferase ameliorates tau pathology in animal models.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hernandez |first1=Israel |last2=Luna |first2=Gabriel |last3=Rauch |first3=Jennifer N. |last4=Reis |first4=Surya A. |last5=Giroux |first5=Michel |last6=Karch |first6=Celeste M. |last7=Boctor |first7=Daniel |last8=Sibih |first8=Youssef E. |last9=Storm |first9=Nadia J. |last10=Diaz |first10=Antonio |last11=Kaushik |first11=Susmita |last12=Zekanowski |first12=Cezary |last13=Kang |first13=Alexander A. |last14=Hinman |first14=Cassidy R. |last15=Cerovac |first15=Vesna |date=27 March 2019 |title=A farnesyltransferase inhibitor activates lysosomes and reduces tau pathology in mice with tauopathy |url=https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7961212/ |website=Science Translational Medicine |pages=eaat3005 |doi=10.1126/scitranslmed.aat3005 |last16=Guzman |first16=Elmer |last17=Zhou |first17=Honjun |last18=Haggarty |first18=Stephen J. |last19=Goate |first19=Alison M. |last20=Fisher |first20=Steven K. |last21=Cuervo |first21=Ana M. |last22=Kosik |first22=Kenneth S.}}</ref>
He also discovered the receptor LRP1 is involved in tau uptake and spread, which are looked upon as the basis for target identification and drug discovery.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rauch |first1=Jennifer N. |last2=Luna |first2=Gabriel |last3=Guzman |first3=Elmer |last4=Audouard |first4=Morgane |last5=Challis |first5=Collin |last6=Sibih |first6=Youssef E. |last7=Leshuk |first7=Carolina |last8=Hernandez |first8=Israel |last9=Wegmann |first9=Susanne |last10=Hyman |first10=Bradley T. |last11=Gradinaru |first11=Viviana |last12=Kampmann |first12=Martin |last13=Kosik |first13=Kenneth S. |date=April 2020 |title=LRP1 is a master regulator of tau uptake and spread |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2156-5 |website=Nature |pages=381–385 |language=en |doi=10.1038/s41586-020-2156-5}}</ref> Kosik’s research has also described how RNA moves in neurons as RNA granules called droplets that contain a distinct liquid-liquid phase separated state.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hayashi |first1=Yasunori |last2=Ford |first2=Lenzie K. |last3=Fioriti |first3=Luana |last4=McGurk |first4=Leeanne |last5=Zhang |first5=Mingjie |date=3 February 2021 |title=Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation in Physiology and Pathophysiology of the Nervous System |url=https://www.jneurosci.org/content/41/5/834 |website=Journal of Neuroscience |pages=834–844 |language=en |doi=10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1656-20.2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Knowles |first1=Roger B. |last2=Sabry |first2=James H. |last3=Martone |first3=Maryann E. |last4=Deerinck |first4=Thomas J. |last5=Ellisman |first5=Mark H. |last6=Bassell |first6=Gary J. |last7=Kosik |first7=Kenneth S. |date=15 December 1996 |title=Translocation of RNA Granules in Living Neurons |url=https://www.jneurosci.org/content/16/24/7812.long |website=Journal of Neuroscience |pages=7812–7820 |language=en |doi=10.1523/JNEUROSCI.16-24-07812.1996}}</ref> Furthermore, he has identified a role for miRNAs in exit from pluripotency and discovered a set of cellular programs that harbinger a neuro-ectodermal fate.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Xu |first1=Na |last2=Papagiannakopoulos |first2=Thales |last3=Pan |first3=Guangjin |last4=Thomson |first4=James A. |last5=Kosik |first5=Kenneth S. |date=15 May 2009 |title=MicroRNA-145 Regulates OCT4, SOX2, and KLF4 and Represses Pluripotency in Human Embryonic Stem Cells |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867409002529 |website=Cell |pages=647–658 |doi=10.1016/j.cell.2009.02.038}}</ref> Kosik has also identified one of the earliest expression dysfunctions in Williams syndrome using induced pluripotent stem cells,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lalli |first1=Matthew A. |last2=Jang |first2=Jiwon |last3=Park |first3=Joo-Hye C. |last4=Wang |first4=Yidi |last5=Guzman |first5=Elmer |last6=Zhou |first6=Hongjun |last7=Audouard |first7=Morgane |last8=Bridges |first8=Daniel |last9=Tovar |first9=Kenneth R. |last10=Papuc |first10=Sorina M. |last11=Tutulan-Cunita |first11=Andreea C. |last12=Huang |first12=Yadong |last13=Budisteanu |first13=Magdalena |last14=Arghir |first14=Aurora |last15=Kosik |first15=Kenneth S. |date=1 April 2016 |title=Haploinsufficiency of BAZ1B contributes to Williams syndrome through transcriptional dysregulation of neurodevelopmental pathways |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26755828/ |website=Human Molecular Genetics |pages=1294–1306 |doi=10.1093/hmg/ddw010}}</ref> and his detailed studies of delta-catenin all directly from the Kosik lab revealed a remarkable set of findings.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kosik |first1=Kenneth S. |last2=Donahue |first2=Christine P. |last3=Israely |first3=Inbal |last4=Liu |first4=Xin |last5=Ochiishi |first5=Tomoyo |date=1 March 2005 |title=δ-Catenin at the synaptic–adherens junction |url=https://www.cell.com/trends/cell-biology/fulltext/S0962-8924(05)00018-8?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0962892405000188%3Fshowall%3Dtrue |website=Trends in Cell Biology |pages=172–178 |language=English |doi=10.1016/j.tcb.2005.01.004}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Bauer |first1=Karl E. |last2=Queiroz |first2=Bruna R. de |last3=Kiebler |first3=Michael A. |last4=Besse |first4=Florence |date=1 July 2023 |title=RNA granules in neuronal plasticity and disease |url=https://www.cell.com/trends/neurosciences/fulltext/S0166-2236%2823%2900104-2 |website=Trends in Neurosciences |pages=525–538 |language=English |doi=10.1016/j.tins.2023.04.004}}</ref>
==Awards== {{BLP unreferenced section|date=July 2023}} * NASA Group Achievement Award to the Neurolab Science Team * Potamkin Prize (2021)
==Publications== * {{cite book |last=Kosik |first=Kenneth S. |title=Outsmarting Alzheimer's: What You Can Do to Reduce Your Risk |date=2015-12-29 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-62145-245-4 |publication-place=New York, NY}} * {{cite book |last1=Kosik |first1=Kenneth S. |title=The Alzheimer Epidemic: How Today's Care Is Failing Millions- and How We Can Do Better |last2=Clegg |first2=Ellen |date=2010 |publisher=Prometheus Books |isbn=978-1-59102-728-7}} * {{cite book |last1=Grollman |first1=Earl A. |title=When Someone You Love Has Alzheimer's: The Caregiver's Journey |last2=Kosik |first2=Kenneth S. |date=1997-11-30 |publisher=Beacon Press |isbn=978-0-8070-2721-9 |publication-place=Boston}} * {{cite web |title=Selected publications of K.S. Kosik, M.D. |url=https://labs.mcdb.ucsb.edu/kosik/kenneth/publications}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://ken-kosik.mcdb.ucsb.edu/ Kosik Lab Website at UCSB]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kosik, Kenneth S.}} Category:Living people Category:American neurologists Category:Drexel University alumni Category:Harvard Medical School faculty Category:University of California, Santa Barbara faculty Category:1950 births