Christina King Smith, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Biology

Dr Christina King Smith
Associate Professor
Assistant Chair and Advising Coordinator
Department of Biology
Office - Rm 222 Science Center
Research Lab - Rm 216 Science Center
Phone:   610-660-1118
E-mail: csmith@sju.edu

Education:

    - B.S. (1982) in Biology, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA
    - M.S.(1985) in Marine Studies, University of Delaware
    - Ph.D. (1992) in Biological Sciences, University of Maryland.

Professional Experience:

    - Post-Doctoral Fellow (1992 - 1995), Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California at Berkley.
    - Assistant (1996 - 2002) and Associate (2002 - present) Professor, Assistant Chair and Advising Coordinator (2005 - present), Department of Biology, Saint Joseph's University, Philadelphia, PA.

Courses Taught:

Research Interests:
     My research interests center on understanding the mechanisms of intracellular organelle transport in eukaryotic cells.  As a model system, we use retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells from the eyes of fish.  RPE cells line the back of the vertebrate eye, and contain numerous melanin pigment granules.  In fish, these granules undergo massive migrations throughout the cell in response to light.  Fish RPE cells can be isolated and cultured in vitro, to allow studies of the mechanism of pigment granule movement in individual cells.
     Some of the research questions my students are I are currently addressing include:

    1)  How does the actin cytoskeleton mediate motility of pigment granules?      
    2) Do pigment granules possess myosin motors that interact with actin filaments?
    3) Can isolated pigment granules undergo motility on actin filaments in vitro?

Recent Publications:  (* indicates student author)

  • Burnside, B and C. King-Smith.   2007.  Retinomotor movements In:  The New Encyclopedia of  Neuroscience (in press)
  • McNeil, E.L*, D. Tacelosky*, P. Basciano*, B. Biallas*, R. Williams*, P. Damiani*, S. Deacon*, C. Fox*, B. Stewart*, N. Petruzzi*, C. Osborn*, K. Klinger*, J.R. Sellers, and C. King-Smith.  2004. Actin-dependent motility of melanosomes from fish retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells investigated using in vitro motility assays.  Cell Motility and the Cytoskeleton  58:71-82.
  • Basciano, P.A.* and C. King-Smith.  2002.  Actin-dependent, retrograde motility of surface-attached beads and aggregating pigment granules in dissociated teleost retinal pigment epithelial cells.  Pigment Cell Research 15:162-173.
  • King-Smith, C., P. Basciano*, N. Pham*.  2001.  Effect of the actin stabilizing drug, jasplakinolide, on pigment granule motility in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) of green sunfish, Lepomis cyanellus. Pigment  Cell Research 14:14-22.
  • King-Smith, C., P. Paz, C. W. Lee*, W. Lam*, and B. Burnside.  1997.  Bi-directional pigment granule migration in isolated retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells requires actin but not microtubules.  Cell Motility and the Cytoskeleton 38:229-249.
  • King-Smith, C. and T. W. Cronin.  1996.  Pigment granule migration in crustacean photoreceptors requires calcium.  Visual Neuroscience 13:43-49.
  • King-Smith, C., D. Garcia, P. Chen*, H. Rey, and B. Burnside.  1996.  Calcium-independent regulation of pigment granule aggregation and dispersion in teleost retinal pigment epithelial cells.  Journal of Cell Science 109:33-43.
  • King-Smith, C., L. Bost-Usinger and B. Burnside.  1995.  Expression of kinesin heavy chain isoforms in retinal pigment epithelial cells of teleosts.  Cell Motility and the Cytoskeleton 31:66-81.
  • Cronin, T.W., N. J. Marshall, C. A. Quinn and C. A. King.  1994.  Ultraviolet photoreception in mantis shrimp.  Vision Research 34:1443-1452.
  • King, C. A. and T. W. Cronin.  1994a.  Investigations of pigment granule transport systems in Gonodactylus oerstedii  (Crustacea, Hoplocarida, Stomatopoda) I.  Effects of low temperature on the pupillary response.  Journal of Comparative Physiology A 175:323-329.
  • King, C. A. and T. W. Cronin.  1994b.  Investigations of pigment granule transport systems in Gonodactylus oerstedii  (Crustacea, Hoplocarida, Stomatopoda) II.  Effects of low temperature on pigment granule position and microtubule populations in retinular cells.  Journal of Comparative Physiology A 175:331-342.
  • King, C. A., and T. W. Cronin.  1993.  Cytoskeleton of retinular cells from the stomatopod, Gonodactylus oerstedii:  possible roles in pigment granule migration.  Cell and Tissue Research 274:315-328

Recent Abstracts

  • Gannon, P* and C. King-Smith.  2006.  Concanavalin A inhibits melanosome aggregation in isolated retinal pigment epithelial cells.  Molecular Biology of the Cell 17 (Suppl) L59 (Tuesday).  (Late Abstracts, The American Society for Cell Biology 46th Annual Meeting)
  • Vagnozzi, R* and C. King-Smith.  2006.  Actin filament polarity in retinal pigment epithelial cells of green sunfish, Lepomis cyanellus.  Molecular Biology of the Cell 17 (Suppl) 1653 (CD-ROM)
  • Fox, C.D.*, P. Damiani*, R.V. Williams*, B.M. Biallas*, D. M. Tacelosky*, and C. King-Smith.  2003.  Melanosome motility and identification of the small GTPase, rab27a, in retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells of sunfish (Lepomis spp.) and zebrafish (Danio rerio).  Molecular Biology of the Cell  14 (Suppl) 332a-333a.
  • Barsoum, I.B.* and C. King-Smith.  2003.  Blebbistatin, a myosin II inhibitor, blocks melanosome aggregation but not dispersion in fish retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells.  Molecular Biology of the Cell 14 (Suppl) 332a.
  • Fox, C.* Damiani, P.*, Williams, R.* and  King-Smith, C..  2003.  Using SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting to test cross-reactivity of proteins important in pigment granule transport in retinal pigment epithelial cells of fish.  Proceedings of the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, Salt Lake City, Utah.
  • Tacelosky, D.* and King-Smith, C.  2003. Observing Actin-dependent Motility of Melanosomes Isolated From Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells of Green Sunfish, Lepomis Cyanellus, in a Sliding Filament Assay. Proceedings of the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, Salt Lake City, Utah.
  • King-Smith, C.  2002.  Using the Personal Response System (PRS) for Learning and Assessment in Undergraduate Cell Biology and Genetics Courses.  Molecular Biology of the Cell 13 (Suppl) 414a-415a.
  • McElwee, K*. and C. King-Smith.  2001.  Affects of micromanipulation and microsurgery on pigment granule movement within projections of isolated retinal pigment epithelial cells.  Molecular Biology of the Cell 12 (Suppl):  165a-166a.
  • McNeil, E.L.*, Klinger, C.A. *, Stewart, B.L*., Sellers, J.R., and C. King-Smith.  2001.  Pigment granules from fish retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells undergo plus-end directed motility in assays using the Characean alga, Nitella axillaris.  Molecular Biology of the Cell 12 (Suppl): 165a.
  • Stidham, R.S*., Campbell, A., and C. King-Smith.  2001.  Developing techniques for expression of green fluorescent protein in retinal pigment epithelial cells of Lepomis cyanellus".  In .  Proceedings of the National Conference on Undergraduate Research
  • McNeil, E*., Basciano, P*., Sellers, J.R. and C. King-Smith.  2000.  Isolated pigment granules from teleost retinal pigment epithelial cells move along actin cables of the alga, Nitella axillaris.  Molecular Biology of the Cell 11 (Suppl):355a.

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