Kim D. Finley, Ph.D.

Research Professor

Education/Training

Ph.D., Biomedical Sciences (Molecular Biology), 1993, UCSD, Department of Medicine, La Jolla, CA

M.S., Biology (Physiology), 1984, San Diego State University, Biology Department, San Diego, CA

B.S., Biology (Science), 1978, Bowling Green State University, Biology Department, Bowling Green, OH

Research Experience

Visiting Scientist, Summer 2007, Center for Cancer Biomedicine, The Norwegian Radium Hospital, Montebello, 0310 Oslo, Norway. Coordinate an ongoing project that examins protein aggregate formation linked to aging, autophagic and endosomal defects employing genetic, biochemical and imaging techniques.

Staff Scientist, non-tenure faculty, 2001 to present, Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory, The Salk Institute. Identification and cloning of autophagic/lysosomal genes, including blue cheese that regulate longevity, protein aggregate formation and neurodegeneration. Developed qualitative (lifespan, confocal, TEM) and quantitative (Western, qRT-PCR) assays to assess age- and stress-related neural defects that involve macroautophagy.

Postdoctoral Fellow, 1994 to 2001, Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory, The Salk Institute. Coordinated genetic screens and cloned genes involved with Drosophila behaviors including the nuclear receptor, dissatisfaction. Developed behavioral assays and imaging techniques to detect neural defects.

Graduate Research Assistant, 1987 to 1993, UCSD Cancer Center, La Jolla, CA. Cloned and characterized the mCAT-2 amino acid transporter's regulation during T-cell activation and stress.

Staff Research Associate III, 1983 to 1987, Department of Medicine, UCSD, La Jolla, CA. Coordinated a gene therapy project for the treatment of Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome that included the production of retroviral vectors, assays to detect viral insertions and isolation-infection of hematopoietic stem cells.

Teaching Experience

Faculty Lecturer, Fall 2007, Biology 590, Physiology of Human Systems, SDSU.
Graduate Teaching Assistant, 1988 to 1990 Medical Physiology and Pharmacology Lab. UCSD.
Graduate Teaching Assistant, 1980 to 1982, Undergraduate Biology, SDSU.

Memberships, Honors, and Awards

Pending research support: NIH Research Grants. R21AG030187-01A1 Genetic Analysis of Autophagy in the Drosophila Nervous System & R21AG031522-01 The Role of Autophagy in Regulating Neuronal Aging and Behavior in Drosophila.
The Salk Institute Pioneer Fund Fellowship, Salk Institute La Jolla, CA, 1998-1999.
NIH Postdoctoral NRSA Fellowship, dissatisfaction, a gene controlling sex-specific behavior, Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA. 1996-1998.
NIH Postdoctoral Training Grant, Cell Reg., Diff. & Cancer, Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA, 1995-1996.
NIH Predoctoral Training Grant, Pharmacology/Physiology, UCSD Cancer Center, La Jolla, CA, 1987-1993.

Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications

1. Malcolm Wood, Pamela Maher and Kim Finley. Progressive autophagic defects in neurons are associated with functional loss of the Drosophila blue cheese gene. (In preparation: Autophagy).


2. Anne Simonsen, Pauline Isakson, Maria Filimonenko, Bryan Bartlett and Kim Finley. Quantitative assessment of macroautophagic activity and pathway flux using detergent fractionation and Western analysis of substrates. (In preparation: Nature Biotechniques).


3. Anne Simonsen, Pauline Isakson, Maria Filimonenko Kim Finley and Ai Yamamoto. The Alfy protein promotes the autophagic clearance of Huntingtin protein aggregates. (In preparation, Nature Cell Biology).


4. Ioannis Nezis, Anne Simonsen, Antonia Sagona, Kim Finley, Tor Erik Rusten, Harald Stenmark and Andreas Brech Ref(2)P, the Drosophila homologue of the mammalian p62, is required for the formation of protein aggregates in Drosophila adult brain (Submitted: Journal of Cell Biology).


5. Karine Lindmo, Andreas Brech, Kim Finley, Tor Erik Rusten and Harald Stenmark. (Under review: Autophagy. The PI-3-kinase regulator Vps15 is required for autophagic protein clearance.


6. Daniel J. Klionsky, et al., Kim D. Finley, et al. (in press, Autophagy). Guidelines for Monitoring Autophagy in Higher Eukaryotes.


7. Anne Simonsen, Robert Cumming, Andreas Brech, Pauline Isakson, David Schubert and Kim Finley (in press, Autophagy). Promoting Basal Levels of Autophagy in the Nervous System Enhances Longevity and Oxidant Resistance in Adult Drosophila.


8. Simonsen, A. Cumming, R.C. and Finley, K.D. Linking lysosomal trafficking defects with changes in aging and stress response in Drosophila. Autophagy. 2007 Sep-Oct;3(5):499-50.


9. Simonsen, A., Cumming, R.C., Karine Lindmo, K., Galavis V., Cheng S., Rusten T.E., and Finley, K.D. Genetic modifiers of the Drosophila blue cheese gene link defects in lysosomal transport with decreased life span and altered ubiquitinated-protein profiles. Genetics. 2007 Jun;176(2):1283-97.


10. Lindmo, K., Simonsen, A., Brech, A., Finley, K., Rusten, T.E., and Stenmark, H. (2006). A dual function for Deep orange in programmed autophagy in D. melaogaster fat body. Exper. Cell. Res. Jul 1;312(11):2018-27.


11. Ditch L.M., Shirangi T., Pitman J., Latham K.L., Finley K.D., Edeen P.T., Taylor B.J., and McKeown M. (2005). Drosophila retained/dead ringer is necessary for neuronal pathfinding, female receptivity and repression of fruitless independent male courtship behaviors. Development 132(1):155-64.


12. Finley K.D., Edeen, P.T., Cumming, R.C., Mardahl-Dumensnil, M.D., Taylor, B.J., Rodriguez, M.H., Hwang, C.E., Benedetti, M. and McKeown,M. (2003). blue cheese Mutations Define a Novel, Conserved Gene Involved in Progressive Neural degeneration. Journal of Neuroscience 23(4)1254-1264.


13. Pitman J.L., Tsai, C.C., Edeen, P.T., Finley, K.D., Evans, R.M. and McKeown, M. (2002). Dsf Nuclear Receptor Acts as a Repressor in Culture and in vivo. Developmental Biology 245:315-328.


14. Finley, K.D., Edeen, P.T., Taylor, B.J., Gross, E.A., Ghbeish, N., Palmer, R. and McKeown, M.B. (1998). dissatisfaction Encodes a Tailless-like Nuclear Receptor Expressed in a Subset of CNS Neurons Controlling Drosophila Sexual Behavior. Neuron 21:1363-1374.


15. Kakuda, D.K., Finley, K.D., Maruyama, M. and MacLeod, C.L. (1998). Stress differentially induces cationic amino acid transporter gene expression. Biochem. Biophys. Acta. 1414(1-2):75-84.


16. Finley, K.D., Taylor, B.J., Milstein, M and McKeown, M. (1997). dissatisfaction, a gene involved in sex-specific behavior & neural development of Drosophila melanogaster. PNAS 94:913-918.


17. Finley, K.D., Kakuda, D.K., Barrieux, A., Kleeman, J., Huynh, P.D. and MacLeod, C.L. (1995) A Mammalian Arginine/Lysine Transporter Uses Multiple Promoters. PNAS 92:9378-9382.


18. MacLeod, C.L., Finley, K.D. and Kakuda, D.K. (1994). y+-Type Cationic Amino Acid Transport: Expression and Regulation of the mCAT Genes. J. Exper. Bio. 196: 109-121.


19. Kakuda, D.K., Finley, K.D., Dionne, V.E. and MacLeod, C.L. (1993) Two Distinct Gene Products Mediate y+ Type Cationic Amino Acid Transport in Xenopus Ooctyes and Show Different Tissue Expression Patterns. Transgen. 1: 91-101.


20. Reizer, J., Finley, K., Kakuda, D., MacLeod, C.L., Reizer, A. and Saier, M.H. (1993). Mammalian Intregral Membrane Receptors are Homologous to Facilitators and Antiporters of Yeast, Fungi and Eubacteria. Protein Science 2: 20-30.


21. MacLeod, C.L., Finley, K.D., Kakuda, D., Kozak, C.A. and Wilkinson, M.F. (1990). Activated T Cells Express a Novel Gene on Chromosome 8 That Is Closely Related to the Murine Ecotropic Retroviral Receptor. Molecular Cellular Biology 10(7): 3663-3674.


22. Glicklich D., Gruber H.E., Finley K., Salem C., Soberman R., Seegmiller J.E. (1988). Dihydroxyadenine urolithiasis: report of a case first diagnosed after renal transplant. Q. J. Med. 68(258):785-93.


23. Gruber, H.E., Finley, K.D., Luchtman, L.A., Hershberg, R.M., Katzman, S.S., Laikind, P.K., Meyers, E.N., Seegmiller, J.E., Friedmann, T., Yee, J.K., and Jolly, D.J. (1986). Insertion of Hypoxanthine Phospho-ribosyltransferase cDNA into Bone Marrow Cells by Retrovirus. Adv. Exp. Med. Biol. 195 Pt A:171-5.


24. Gruber, H.E., Finley, K.D., Hershberg, R.M., Katzman, S.S., Laikind, P.K., Seegmiller, J.E., Friedmann, T., Yee, J.K., and Jolly, D.J. (1985). Retroviral Vector-Mediated Gene Transfer into Human Hematopoietic Progenitor Cells. Science. 230: 1057-1061.

Recent Talks and Abstracts

1. 49th Annual Drosophila Research Conference (ADRC, March, 2008).


2. 2nd GSA Model Organisms to Human Biology (January, 2008).


3. Norwegian Cancer Symposium: (May 2007) Intracellular Transport & Signal Transduction.


4. Keystone Symposia: (April, 2007). Autophagy in Health and Disease.


5. 48th Annual Drosophila Research Conference (ADRC, March, 2007).


6. 1st GSA Model Organisms to Human Biology (2006). Autophagy's Role in Neuronal Aggregate Formation.


7. 46th ADRC (2005). Autophagy's Role in Drosophila Neural Degeneration.


8. Keystone Symposia: Ubiquitin and Signaling (2005). Defects in Autophagy and clearance of ubiquitinated-proteins are associated with progressive neural degeneration in Drosophila.


9. 45th ADRC (2004). Blue cheese's role in protein trafficking and turnover in the Drosophila nervous system.


10. Gordon Conference: Autophagy in Stress, Development and Disease (2003). The role of the blue cheese gene in neural degeneration of Drosophila.


11. 44th ADRC (2003). Progressive neural degeneration and protein aggregate formation in bchs mutants.


12. 43th ADRC (2002). The blue cheese gene identifies a novel progressive neural degererative pathway.


13. 40th ADRC (1999). Co-chair Behavioral workshop sesssion. dissatisfaction (dsf) a nuclear receptor's role in reproductive behavior.