About Me

I am interested in genes, chromosomes, and genomes: how they contribute to the traits of an organism, how they are transmitted during cell division, and how they can change from generation to generation. My research makes use of the brewer's yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model eukaryotic organism. My students and I are working to understand how a common mistake in cell division--resulting in an extra chromosome--affects phenotype, genome stability, and ultimately, fitness. We devised a way to make yeast cells gain an extra copy of any specific chromosome, and we are using that method to closely examine the molecular connection between genotype and phenotype. See my lab website for more information.

I am also interested in teaching and mentoring students. In class, in the teaching lab, and in my research lab, my aim is to help students understand how science works and how to do science for themselves. The critical and analytical thinking--and especially the creative thinking--that is involved in science is terrific preparation for most anything that students wish to take on after graduation. See: Bacteriophage Genomics Research and research students and getting involved.

I will be on sabbatical leave in the Fall of 2011 and will not be taking any additional students.

Courses
Cell Biology, Genetics/Evolution, Developmental Biology, Molecular Biology, and Bacteriophage Genomics

Education

• Ph.D., Genetics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI. 1997.
• B.A., Biology, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA. 1987.

Professional Experience

• 2009-present. Associate Professor, Dept of Biology, Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA
• 2003-2009. Assistant Professor, Dept of Biology, Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA
• 1997-2003. Postdoctoral Fellow, Laboratory of David Botstein, Dept of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
• 1996-1997. Visiting Instructor, Department of Biology, Hendrix College, Conway, AR
• 1989-1996. Graduate Research Associate, Laboratory of Genetics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
• 1987-1989. Research Technician, Laboratory of Experimental Pathology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA
• 1986. Undergraduate Summer Research Intern, Division of Biology and Biological Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, MO

Publications (* indicates undergraduate author):

Anders, K. R., Kudrna, J.*, Keller, K.*, Kinghorn, B.*, Miller, E. M.*, Pauw, D.*, Peck, A.*, Shellooe, C.*, Strong, I.* (2009) A strategy for constructing aneuploid yeast strains by transient nondisjunction of a target chromosome. BMC Genetics 10:36.

Anders, K. R., and Botstein, D. (2001) Dominant-lethal alpha-tubulin mutants defective in microtubule depolymerization in yeast. Mol Biol Cell 12:3973-3986.

Richards, K. L., Anders, K. R., Nogales, E., Schwartz, K., Downing, K. H., Botstein, D. (2000) Structure-function relationships in yeast tubulins. Mol Biol Cell 11:1887-1903.

Anders, K. R., Grimson, A., Anderson, P. (2003) smg-5 is required for mRNA surveillance in Caenorhabditis elegans and encodes a novel component of protein phosphatase 2A. EMBO J 22:641-650.

Ohnishi, T., Yamashita, A., Kashima, Schell, T., Anders, K. R., Grimson, A., Hachiya, T., Hentze, M. W., Anderson, P., Ohno, S. (2003) Phosphorylation of hUPF1 induces formation of mRNA surveillance complexes containing hSMG-5 and hSMG-7. Mol Cell 12:1187-1200.

Page, M. F., Carr, B., Anders, K. R., Grimson, A., and Anderson, P. (1999) SMG-2 is a phosphorylated protein required for mRNA surveillance in Caenorhabditis elegans and related to Upf1p of yeast. Mol Cell Biol 19:5943-5951.

Spellman, P. T., Sherlock, G., Zhang, M. Q., Iyer, V. R., Anders, K., Eisen, M. B., Brown, P. O., Botstein, D., and Futcher, B. (1998) Comprehensive identification of cell cycle-regulated genes of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae by microarray hybridization. Mol Biol Cell 9:3273-3297.

Durnam, D. M., Anders, K. R., Fisher, L., O'Quigley, I., Bryant, I. M., and Thomas, E. D. (1989) Analysis of the origin of marrow cells in bone marrow transplant recipients using a Y chromosome-specific in situ hybridization assay. Blood 74:2220-2226.

Peters, M. G., Secrist, H., Anders, K. R., Nash, G. S., Rich, S. R., and MacDermott, R. P. (1989) Normal human intestinal B lymphocytes: increased activation compared with peripheral blood. J Clin Invest 83:1827-1833.