KAREN A. HICKS

Assistant Professor
Biology Department
Kenyon College
Gambier, OH 43022
(740) 427-5379
hicksk@kenyon.edu

EDUCATION

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. Ph.D. in Biology, September 1993.

Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA. B.A. 1986, special major in Biochemistry.
 

 PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Assistant Professor. Biology Department, Kenyon College. 1999-present. Photoperiodic induction of flowering and circadian regulation of Arabidopsis.

Lecturer/Research Associate. Department of Biology, Vanderbilt University. 1998-1999. Photoperiodic induction of flowering and circadian regulation of Arabidopsis.

Postdoctoral Fellow. Advisor: D. Ry Meeks-Wagner, Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon. 1993-1998. Analysis of photoperiodic induction of flowering in Arabidopsis.

Graduate student. Advisor: Alan D. Grossman, Biology Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1988-1993. Altering the level and regulation of the sigma-A subunit of Bacillus subtilis RNA polymerase affects gene expression and development.

Technician for Donald M. Coen, Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School. 1987-1988. Herpes simplex virus drug resistance and latency.

Technician for Marsha R. Rosner, Department of Applied Biological Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1986-1987. Regulation of the epidermal growth factor receptor.

Undergraduate research thesis. Advisor: Judith G. Voet, Chemistry Department, Swarthmore College. 1985-1986. Attempted Purification of the Naphthylphthalamic Acid-Binding Protein of Curcurbita pepo Hypocotyls using Affinity Chromatography.
 

 TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Senior Seminar: Information and Communication, Kenyon College, Fall 2001.

Experimental Genetic Analysis, Kenyon College, Fall 2001.

Developmental Biology, Kenyon College, Spring 2000 - 2002.

Experiments in Developmental Biology, Kenyon College, Spring 2001.

Plant Biology, Kenyon College, Fall 1999 - 2001.

Laboratory Experience in Plant Biology, Kenyon College, Fall 1999, 2000.

Genetics and Development of Organisms, Kenyon College, Spring 2000 - 2002.

Senior Honors Seminar, Kenyon College, Fall 2001.

Junior Honors Seminar, Kenyon College, Spring, Fall 2000.

Human Biology. Vanderbilt University, Spring 1999.

Freshman Seminar: Biological Clocks. Vanderbilt University, Fall 1998.

Plant Molecular Biology. University of Oregon, Fall 1997. Guest lectures.

Plant Developmental Biology. University of Oregon, Spring 1997. Guest lectures.
 

GRANT SUPPORT
National Science Foundation, RUI: Genetic and Molecular Analysis of Photoperiodic Flowering in Arabidopsis, 8/1/02 - 8/1/05 ($270,000).

Ohio Plant Biotechnology Corsortium, Characterization of Novel Suppressors of an Early Flowering Mutant for Directed Manipulation of Photoperiodic Flowering in Crop Plants, co-PI with David E. Somers, Ohio State Univeristy, 8/15/01 - 8/15/02 ($10,000).

National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellowship, Analysis of signal transduction pathways controlling developmental timing in Arabidopsis thaliana, 10/95-9/97.

National Institutes of Health institutional pre-doctoral training grant 9/88 - 8/90,1/91-9/91.


PUBLICATIONS

Research papers.

Hicks, K.A., Albertson, T.M., and Wagner, D.R. 2001. EARLY FLOWERING 3 encodes a novel protein that regulates circadian clock function and flowering in Arabidopsis, Plant Cell 13:1281-1292.

Hicks, K.A., Millar, A.J., Carré, I.A., Somers, D.E., Straume, M., Meeks-Wagner, D.R., and Kay, S.A. 1996. Conditional circadian dysfunction of the Arabidopsis early-flowering 3 mutant. Science 274:790-792.

Zagotta, M.T., Hicks, K.A., Jacobs, C.I., Young, J.C., Hangarter, R.P., and Meeks-Wagner, D.R. 1996. The Arabidopsis ELF3 gene regulates vegetative photomorphogenesis and the photoperiodic induction of flowering. Plant J. 10:691-702.

Hicks, K.A. and Grossman, A.D. 1996. Altering the level and regulation of the major sigma subunit of RNA polymerase affects gene expression and development in Bacillus subtilis. Mol. Microbiol. 20: 201-212.

Hicks, K.A. and Grossman, A.D. 1995. Characterization of csh203::Tn917lac, a mutation in Bacillus subtilis that makes the sporulation sigma factor sigma-H essential for normal vegetative growth. J. Bacteriol. 177: 3736-3742.

Hicks, K.A. 1993. Altering the level and regulation of the sigma-A subunit of Bacillus subtilis RNA polymerase affects gene expression and development. Ph.D. thesis.

Pelosi, E., Hicks, K.A., Sacks, S.L., and Coen, D.M. 1992. Heterogeneity of a herpes simplex virus clinical isolate exhibiting resistance to acyclovir and foscarnet. In Innovations in antiviral development and the detection of virus infections, T. M. Block, R. L. Crowel, D. L. Jungkind, and L. Walsh, eds. (Plenum Press, New York), pp. 151-158.

Hicks, K., Friedman, B., and Rosner, M.R. 1989. Basic fibroblast-like growth factor is present in the conditioned medium of simian sarcoma virus transformed NRK cells. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm. 164:1323-1330.

Hicks, K., Friedman, B., and Rosner, M.R. 1989. Basic and acidic fibroblast growth factors modulate the epidermal growth factor receptor by a protein kinase C-independent pathway. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm. 164: 796-803.

Leib, D.A., Bogard, C.L., Kosc-Vnenchak, M., Hicks, K.A., Coen, D.M., Knipe, D.M., and Schaffer, P.A. 1989. A deletion mutant of the latency-associated transcript of herpes simplex virus type 1 reactivates from the latent state with reduced frequency. J. Virol. 63:2893-2900.

Leib, D.A., Coen, D.M., Bogard, C.L., Hicks, K.A., Yager, D.R., Knipe, D.M., Tyler, K.L., and Schaffer, P.A. 1989. Immediate-early regulatory gene mutants define different stages in the establishment and reactivation of herpes simplex virus latency. J. Virol. 63:759-768.

Sacks, S.L., Wanklin, R.J., Reece, D.E., Hicks, K.A., Tyler, K.L., and Coen, D.M. 1989. Progressive esophagitis from acyclovir-resistant herpes simplex. Clinical roles for DNA Polymerase mutants and viral heterogeneity? Ann. Intern. Med. 111:893-899.
 

 Review articles and book chapters. Hicks, K.A., Sundås, A., and Meeks-Wagner, D.R. 1996. Arabidopsis early-flowering mutants reveal multiple levels of regulation in the vegetative-to-floral transition. Sem. Cell Dev. Biol. 7:409-418.

Grossman, A.D., Ireton, K., Hoff, E.F., LeDeaux, J.R., Rudner, D.Z., Magnuson R., and Hicks, K.A. 1991. Signal transduction and the initiation of sporulation in Bacillus subtilis. Semin. Dev. Biol. 2:31-36.

The Biology and Gender Study Group: A. Beldecos, S. Bailey, S. Gilbert, K. Hicks, L. Kenschaft, N. Niemczyk, R. Rosenberg, S. Schaertel, and A. Wedel. 1989. The Importance of Feminist Critique for Contemporary Cell Biology. In Feminism & Science, N. Tuana, ed. (Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis), pp. 172-187.