Skip to main content Skip to navigation
People

Position:

Research Associate

Education:

  • Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences – Washington State University, Spokane, WA
  • Bachelor in Biology – The Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA

Research Interests:

  • Factors impacting interindividual variability in human metabolism of pharmaceutical and toxicological compounds, the effect of alcohol and other substances (such as cannabinoids) on the expression and activity of drug metabolizing enzymes and transporters, epigenetic modulation of the expression of drug metabolizing enzymes and transporters.

About:

Dr. Kari Gaither obtained her PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences at Washington State University, where she studied cancer biology with the support of a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. Upon completion of a postdoctoral research appointment at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory where she used activity-based proteomics and pharmacokinetics to assess metabolism of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in human liver, she joined the Prasad Lab as a postdoctoral research associate. In her current studies, she uses global proteomics and other techniques to investigate changes in Phase I and II enzymes and transporters in human liver and in hepatocytes induced by chronic alcoholism. Being a first-generation college student, Dr. Gaither realizes the importance of outreach in increasing participation and diversity in STEM fields and is currently affiliated with the Pacific Northwest Association of Toxicologist as the Outreach Coordinator.

Publications:

  1. Gaither KA, Singh, DK, Yue G, Trudeau J, Ponraj K, Davydova NY, Lazarus P, Davydov DR, Prasad B., Effects of alcohol consumption and tobacco smoking on the composition of the ensemble of drug metabolizing enzymes and transporters in human liver. bioRxiv [Preprint.] May 14, 2024. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.05.14.594255.
  2. Gaither KA, Garcia WL, Tyrrell KJ, Wright AT, Smith JN. Activity-Based Protein Profiling to Probe Relationships between Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and Early-Age Metabolism of Two Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs): Phenanthrene and Retene. Chem Res Toxicol. 2024 May 20;37(5):711-722.
  3. Davydova NY, Hutner DA, Gaither KA, Singh DK, Prasad B, Davydov DR. High-Throughput Assay of Cytochrome P450-Dependent Drug Demethylation Reactions and Its Use to Re-Evaluate the Pathways of Ketamine Metabolism. Biology (Basel). 2023 Jul 27;12(8):1055.
  4. Smith JN, Gaither KA, Pande P, 2022, Competitive Metabolism of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs): An Assessment Using In Vitro Metabolism and Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK) Modeling. Int J Environ Res Public Health, 19(14):8266.
  5. Garcia WL, Miller CJ, Lomas GX, Gaither KA, Tyrrell KJ, Smith JN, Brandvold KR, Wright AT, 2022, Profiling How the Gut Microbiome Modulates Host Xenobiotic Metabolism in Response to Benzo[a]pyrene and 1-Nitropyrene Exposure, Chem Res Toxicol, 18;35(4):585-596.
  6. Gaither KA, Watson CJW, Madarampalli B, Lazarus P, 2020, Expression of activating transcription factor 5 (ATF5) is mediated by microRNA-520b-3p under diverse cellular stress in cancer cells, PLoS One, 15(6):e0225044
  7. Yuan Y, Gaither K, Kim E, Liu E, Hu M, Lengel K, Qian D, Xu Y, Wang B, Knipprath H, Liu DX, 2018, SUMO2/3 modification of activating transcription factor 5 (ATF5) controls its dynamic translocation at the centrosome, J Biol Chem., 23;293(8):2939-2948.
  8. Gaither, KA, Little, AA, Zhu, Z, McBride, AA, Garcia, SR, Brar, KK, Zhu, Z, Zhang, F, Meadows, GG, and Zhang, H, 2016, The immunomodulatory, antitumor and antimetastatic responses of melanoma-bearing normal and alcoholic mice to Sunitinib and ALT-803: A combinatorial treatment approach, Cancer Immunol. Immunother., 65(9), 1123-1134.

Posters:

  1. Gaither, KA, Singh, DK, Yue, G, Trudeau, J, Ponraj, K, Lazarus, P, Davydov, DR, Prasad, B, Interplay of Alcohol Intake, Smoking, and Sex on the Protein Abundance of Hepatic Drug Metabolizing Enzymes and Transporters in Humans, ASPET Annual Meeting 2024, Arlington, VA, May 16-19, 2024.
  2. Gaither, KA, Singh, DK, Yue, G, Trudeau, J, Davydova, N, Davydov, DR, Lazarus, P, Prasad, B, Global proteomics reveals associations between heavy alcohol consumption and hepatic drug metabolizing enzyme abundance and composition in humans, Pacific Northwest Association of Toxicologists (PANWAT) 2023 Annual Regional Conference, Portland, OR, Sept 17-18, 2023.
  3. Gaither, KA, Singh, DK, Yue, G, Trudeau, J, Davydova, N, Davydov, DR, Lazarus, P, Prasad, B, Quantitative proteomics identifies significant changes in the abundance and composition of hepatic drug metabolizing enzymes in heavy alcohol drinkers, 25th North American ISSX meeting, Boston, MA, Sept 10-13, 2023.

Contact Details:

Telephone: (509) 368-6535

Email: kari.gaither@wsu.edu

LinkedIn

Office Location: Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences Building, Room # PBS-322, Spokane, WA