Kyle L. Poulsen
- Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology
- Life Science
- 1355 Bogue St. Room B440
- East Lansing MI 48824
- poulsenk@msu.edu
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Our translational research program in the Poulsen lab investigates chronic liver disease. From mechanistic discovery through preclinical therapeutic design, our lab employs state-of-the-art in vitro and in vivo models to test our hypotheses and develop new therapeutic strategies for unmet needs in chronic liver disease. Our pathway of interest, macrophage migration inhibitory factory (MIF) and its cognate receptor, CD74, are a dynamic mechanism of intercellular communication that is implicated in nearly every disease, despite the usual characterization of MIF-CD74 as an immune master switch. Our work in models of chronic ethanol exposure have revealed a time- and context-dependent language of MIF-CD74 between the epithelial cells of the liver and the resident immune cells as well as infiltrating cells of the liver. We have uncovered that MIF can drive both maladaptive and protective mechanisms in the liver via immune cell infiltration and activation, intracellular stress responses, and more recently we discovered that MIF directly decreases function of mitochondria. Current research areas in our lab include 1) deciphering the epithelial-immune language of MIF-CD74 in alcohol-related liver injury 2) studying interference anti-sense therapies against MIF and CD74 in cell-specific contexts 3) developing novel 3D spheroid/organoid models for liver disease in animal and in human stem cells and 4) studies into organellar transplantation as a therapeutic modality.
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Eastern Michigan University, B.S., 2008, Biochemistry & Toxicology
Michigan State University, Ph.D., 2013, Pharmacology & Toxicology, Environmental Toxicology