Kayarat Nair, PhD
Associate Professor
Ophthalmology
School of Medicine

He worked extensively on characterizing both spontaneous and chemically induced mouse mutants that recapitulate features of human glaucoma. He has identified genes contributing to glaucoma, generated new mouse models of human glaucoma and have utilized them to gain insight into the underlying pathological causes of the disease. The overall goal of his laboratory is to identify the specific genetic risk factors conferring susceptibility towards ocular diseases with a major focus on glaucoma and uncover their mechanisms of action using state of art genetics and genomics techniques. A major aim is to functionally validate candidate glaucoma genes identified through genetic association studies (both rare and common variants) and to uncover the underlying pathogenic processes and identify targets with therapeutic potential. His laboratory employs a multi-disciplinary approach by integrating the use of animal models, genetics, genomics, molecular biology, cell-biology and physiology based experiments to gain mechanistic insight into disease pathogenesis.

• Genome-wide meta-analysis identifies 127 open-angle glaucoma loci with consistent effect across ancestries.
  Nature communications 2021 Gharahkhani P, Jorgenson E, Hysi P, Khawaja AP, Pendergrass S, Han X, Ong JS, Hewitt AW, Segrè AV, Rouhana JM, Hamel AR, Igo RP, Choquet H, Qassim A, Josyula NS, Cooke Bailey JN, Bonnemaijer PWM, …
• Genetic background modifies vulnerability to glaucoma-related phenotypes in Lmx1b mutant mice.
  Disease models & mechanisms 2021 Tolman NG, Balasubramanian R, Macalinao DG, Kearney AL, MacNicoll KH, Montgomery CL, de Vries WN, Jackson IJ, Cross SH, Kizhatil K, Nair KS, John SWM
• A multiethnic genome-wide analysis of 44,039 individuals identifies 41 new loci associated with central corneal thickness.
  Communications biology 2020 Choquet H, Melles RB, Yin J, Hoffmann TJ, Thai KK, Kvale MN, Banda Y, Hardcastle AJ, Tuft SJ, Glymour MM, Schaefer C, Risch N, Nair KS, Hysi PG, Jorgenson E
• Loss of PRSS56 function leads to ocular angle defects and increased susceptibility to high intraocular pressure.
  Disease models & mechanisms 2020 Labelle-Dumais C, Pyatla G, Paylakhi S, Tolman NG, Hameed S, Seymens Y, Dang E, Mandal AK, Senthil S, Khanna RC, Kabra M, Kaur I, John SWM, Chakrabarti S, Nair KS
• Müller glia-derived PRSS56 is required to sustain ocular axial growth and prevent refractive error.
  PLoS genetics 2018 Paylakhi S, Labelle-Dumais C, Tolman NG, Sellarole MA, Seymens Y, Saunders J, Lakosha H, deVries WN, Orr AC, Topilko P, John SW, Nair KS
• A large multi-ethnic genome-wide association study identifies novel genetic loci for intraocular pressure.
  Nature communications 2017 Choquet H, Thai KK, Yin J, Hoffmann TJ, Kvale MN, Banda Y, Schaefer C, Risch N, Nair KS, Melles R, Jorgenson E
• YBR/EiJ mice: a new model of glaucoma caused by genes on chromosomes 4 and 17.
  Disease models & mechanisms 2016 Nair KS, Cosma M, Raghupathy N, Sellarole MA, Tolman NG, de Vries W, Smith RS, John SW
• Using genetic mouse models to gain insight into glaucoma: Past results and future possibilities.
  Experimental eye research 2015 Fernandes KA, Harder JM, Williams PA, Rausch RL, Kiernan AE, Nair KS, Anderson MG, John SW, Howell GR, Libby RT
• Determining immune components necessary for progression of pigment dispersing disease to glaucoma in DBA/2J mice.
  BMC genetics 2014 Nair KS, Barbay J, Smith RS, Masli S, John SW
• ABCC5, a gene that influences the anterior chamber depth, is associated with primary angle closure glaucoma.
  PLoS genetics 2014 Nongpiur ME, Khor CC, Jia H, Cornes BK, Chen LJ, Qiao C, Nair KS, Cheng CY, Xu L, George R, Tan D, Abu-Amero K, Perera SA, Ozaki M, Mizoguchi T, Kurimoto Y, Low S, Tajudin LS, Ho CL, Tham CC, Soto I, …
• Alteration of the serine protease PRSS56 causes angle-closure glaucoma in mice and posterior microphthalmia in humans and mice.
  Nature genetics 2011 Nair KS, Hmani-Aifa M, Ali Z, Kearney AL, Ben Salem S, Macalinao DG, Cosma IM, Bouassida W, Hakim B, Benzina Z, Soto I, Söderkvist P, Howell GR, Smith RS, Ayadi H, John SW
• Mutations in the RNA granule component TDRD7 cause cataract and glaucoma.
  Science (New York, N.Y.) 2011 Lachke SA, Alkuraya FS, Kneeland SC, Ohn T, Aboukhalil A, Howell GR, Saadi I, Cavallesco R, Yue Y, Tsai AC, Nair KS, Cosma MI, Smith RS, Hodges E, Alfadhli SM, Al-Hajeri A, Shamseldin HE, Behbehani A,…
• Interaction of retinal guanylate cyclase with the alpha subunit of transducin: potential role in transducin localization.
  The Biochemical journal 2009 Rosenzweig DH, Nair KS, Levay K, Peshenko IV, Crabb JW, Dizhoor AM, Slepak VZ
• GpnmbR150X allele must be present in bone marrow derived cells to mediate DBA/2J glaucoma.
  BMC genetics 2008 Anderson MG, Nair KS, Amonoo LA, Mehalow A, Trantow CM, Masli S, John SW
• Subunit dissociation and diffusion determine the subcellular localization of rod and cone transducins.
  The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience 2007 Rosenzweig DH, Nair KS, Wei J, Wang Q, Garwin G, Saari JC, Chen CK, Smrcka AV, Swaroop A, Lem J, Hurley JB, Slepak VZ
• Arrestin mobilizes signaling proteins to the cytoskeleton and redirects their activity.
  Journal of molecular biology 2007 Hanson SM, Cleghorn WM, Francis DJ, Vishnivetskiy SA, Raman D, Song X, Nair KS, Slepak VZ, Klug CS, Gurevich VV
• Light-dependent redistribution of arrestin in vertebrate rods is an energy-independent process governed by protein-protein interactions.
  Neuron 2005 Nair KS, Hanson SM, Mendez A, Gurevich EV, Kennedy MJ, Shestopalov VI, Vishnivetskiy SA, Chen J, Hurley JB, Gurevich VV, Slepak VZ
• The presence of a Leu-Gly-Asn repeat-enriched protein (LGN), a putative binding partner of transducin, in ROD photoreceptors.
  Investigative ophthalmology & visual science 2005 Nair KS, Mendez A, Blumer JB, Rosenzweig DH, Slepak VZ
• Direct binding of visual arrestin to microtubules determines the differential subcellular localization of its splice variants in rod photoreceptors.
  The Journal of biological chemistry 2004 Nair KS, Hanson SM, Kennedy MJ, Hurley JB, Gurevich VV, Slepak VZ
• Signal-dependent translocation of transducin, RGS9-1-Gbeta5L complex, and arrestin to detergent-resistant membrane rafts in photoreceptors.
  Current biology : CB 2002 Nair KS, Balasubramanian N, Slepak VZ
• Adhesion of neutrophils to fibronectin: role of the cd66 antigens.
  Cellular immunology 2001 Nair KS, Zingde SM