Kris Noel Dahl
Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering and BioMedical Engineering

Office: DH A222
Phone: (412) 268-9609
Fax:
Email: krisdahl@cmu.edu
Secretary: Laura Shaheen
    (412) 268-6344
    lr23@andrew.cmu.edu

Biography
Research Interests
Highlights
Awards and Honors
Publications

Research Group Site

Biography

Prof. Kris N. Dahl joined Carnegie Mellon University in 2006. She received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon in 1998 and her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 2004. Her thesis research was on the mechanics and architecture of composite membrane systems under the supervision of Dennis Discher. Prof. Dahl then completed a postdoctoral appointment at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the Department of Cell Biology where she focused on the biochemical and functional analysis of spectrin-repeat complexes at the nuclear envelope under Katherine L. Wilson.

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Research Interests

Professor Dahl uses rheological, biophysical and optical techniques to understand the structure and organization of the cell nucleus. These studies are relevant to dissecting the molecular pathology of diseases caused by defects in nuclear structure.

Diseases of the nuclear lamina.
Many diseases result from the loss or mutation of lamins and other structural proteins at the nuclear envelope and in the nuclear interior. Diseases include Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (premature aging), Emery-Dreifuss Muscular Dystrophy and Dilated Cardiomyopathy. Nuclear mechanical integrity is significantly altered in some cells of these patients. Professor Dahl's studies compare normal cells with cells in which structural proteins are either chronically absent (as in knockout animals or disease patient cells) or rapidly down-regulated (as by RNAi-mediated gene silencing). These studies reveal the adaptations made by nuclei to altered mechano-structural environments in order to restore function.

Stem cell differentiation and cancer progression.
Nuclear shape and chromosome positioning change dramatically during stem cell differentiation and cancer progression. However, these changes have not been quantified and their downstream effects are poorly understood. Fluorescence techniques are being combined with quantitative biophysics to track recruitment of transcription factors or cell cycle regulators to differentiationspecific or cancer-specific genes while cells or nuclei are under well-defined imposed forces.

Mechanotransduction
Mechanotransduction allows cells to sense mechanical forces and adapt by changing gene expression. Signal transduction to the nucleus plays a significant role in gene expression, but mechanical forces may also propagate through the cell to the nucleus. Combining molecular biology and mechanical measurements with computational continuum mechanical modeling allows determination of the range of forces that can be transduced into the nucleus. Simultaneously, molecular force-induced changes in gene expression can be examined for any system of interest. These studies are central to tissue and cellular engineering to provide cells in an artificial environment with the correct mechanical information.

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Highlights

• Invitation as a keynote speaker to the Microcirculation Society Annual meeting.

• Two graduate students attained independent funding.

• Chaired sessions at IEEE-EMBC (Engineering in Medicine and Biology Conference) and BMES

• Organized the first Biomechanics Day for the Pittsburgh area, a major success.

• Received the Kun Li Award for excellence in education, awarded by graduating seniors of Chemical Engineering.

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Awards and Honors

• National Science Foundation CAREER Award 2010

• Kun Li Award for excellence in education, awarded by graduating seniors of Chemical Engineering

• Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award: Post-doctoral research fellowship from the NIH

• American Society of Cell Biology 2004 annual society meeting Press Book as one of twelve of the most "newsworthy, significant or highly intriguing" research projects of the year

• Whitaker Graduate Fellowship: Graduate research fellowship for biotechnology research

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Publications

       Recent Publications

       Selected Publications

       Full Publications

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Recent Publications

KN Dahl, A Kalinowski, K Pekkan “Mechanobiology and the microcirculation: cellular, nuclear and fluid mechanics” Microcirculation 17 179-191 (2010).

JT Philip and KN Dahl (2008) "Nuclear mechanotransduction: response of the lamina to extracellular stress with implications in aging", Journal of Biomechanics 41(15):3164-70

GK Rohde, AJS Ribeiro, KN Dahl, RF Murphy (2008) "Deformation-based nuclear morphometry: Capturing nuclear shape variation in HeLa cells", Cytometry A; 73(4):341-350.

JD Pajerowski, KN Dahl, FL Zhong, PJ Sammak, DE Discher (2007) "Physical plasticity of the nucleus in stem cell differentiation", Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA; 104:15619-24

KN Dahl, AJS Ribeiro, J Lammerding (2008) "Nuclear shape, mechanics, and mechanotransduction", Circulation Research;102(11):1307-18. (Review)

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Selected Publications

Dahl KN, Kahn SM, Wilson KL and Discher DE (2004) The nuclear envelope lamina network has elasticity and incompressibility suggestive of a molecular shock absorber. Journal of Cell Science; 117:4779-4786 with Editor’s Highlight and Research highlight in October 7, 2004 issue of Nature.

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Full Publications

1. Subramanian A, Ma H, Dahl KN, Zhu J and Diamond SL (2002) Adenovirus or HA-2 fusogenic peptide-assisted lipofection increases cytoplasmic levels of plasmid in nondividing endothelium with little enhancement of transgene expression. The Journal of Gene Medicine; 4: 75-83

2. Dahl KN, Westhoff CM, and Discher DE (2003) Fractional attachment of CD47 (IAP) to the erythrocyte cytoskeleton and visual co-localization with Rh protein complexes. Blood; 101:1194-1199

3. Dahl KN, Parthasarathy R, Westhoff CM, Layton DM and Discher DE (2004) Protein 4.2 is critical to the CD47-membrane skeleton attachment in the human red cell. Blood 2004; 103:1131-1136

4. Dahl KN, Kahn SM, Wilson KL and Discher DE (2004) The nuclear envelope lamina network has elasticity and incompressibility suggestive of a molecular shock absorber. Journal of Cell Science; 117:4779-4786 with Editor’s Highlight and Research highlight in October 7, 2004 issue of Nature

5. Dahl KN, Engler AJ, Pajerowski JD and Discher DE (2005) Power-law rheology of isolated nuclei with deformation mapping of nuclear sub-structures. Biophysical Journal; 89: 2855-2864

6. Subramanian S, Tsai R, Sen S, Dahl KN, Discher DE (2006) Membrane mobility and clustering of Integrin Associated Protein (IAP, CD47)-Major differences between mouse and man and implications for signaling Blood Cells, Molecules and Diseases; 36(3):364-72

7. Dahl KN, Scaffidi P, Islam MF, Yodh AG, Wilson KL, Misteli T (2006) Distinct structural and mechanical properties of the nuclear lamina in Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA; 103(27):10271-6

8. Lammerding J, Dahl KN, Discher DE, Kamm RD (2007) Nuclear mechanics and methods Methods in Cell Biology 2007; 83: 269-94

9. JD Pajerowski, KN Dahl, FL Zhong, PJ Sammak, DE Discher (2007) Physical plasticity of the nucleus in stem cell differentiation Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA; 104:15619-24

10. KN Dahl, AJS Ribeiro, J Lammerding (2008) Nuclear shape, mechanics, and mechanotransduction. Circulation Research;102(11):1307-18. (Review)

11. JT Philip and KN Dahl (2008) Nuclear mechanotransduction: response of the lamina to extracellular stress with implications in aging Journal of Biomechanics 41(15):3164-70

12. GK Rohde, AJS Ribeiro, KN Dahl, RF Murphy (2008) Deformation-based nuclear morphometry: Capturing nuclear shape variation in HeLa cells Cytometry A; 73(4):341-350.

13. KN Dahl, A Kalinowski, K Pekkan (2009) “Mechanobiology and the microcirculation: cellular, nuclear and fluid mechanics” Microcirculation 17 179-191 (2010).

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