Biography

I have worked at the University of Surrey since 2003, first as a post doctoral researcher and more recently as an RCUK Academic Fellow.  My work at Surrey has focussed on changes in gene regulation in response to chemical insult, in particular alterations in the expression of nuclear import factors and drug metabolizing enzymes.

History: I completed my PhD at the University of Nottingham, under the supervision of Dr Garry Morgan, studying gene regulation in the African clawed toad Xenopus laevis.  Prior to arriving at Surrey I held two post doctoral positions; the first was at Guy's Hospital Paediatric Research Unit where I identified a number of causative mutations for the progressive kidney disease Alport Syndrome in the type IV collagen gene COL4A5.   During my second post doctoral position I worked at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology (Oxford) with Professor Nick Proudfoot, studying intergenic transcription in the human β-globin gene cluster.

Research Interests

• Nuclear Import projects:
  Regulation of karyopherin α by xenobiotics
  Translocation of nuclear receptors in hepatoma cells
  Nuclear import of Per3 polymorphic variants: in collaboration with Dr Simon Archer and Dr Malcolm von Schantz
• Mood Stabilizing Drugs: in collaboration with Dr Nick Plant
• Circadian aspects of statin toxicity: in collaboration with Dr Jonathan Johnston and Dr Nick Plant. PhD funded by the British Toxicology Society and the Centre for Toxicology
• Regulation of drug metabolising enzymes: in collaboration with Professor Costas Ioanides and Dr Nick Plant

Publications

PLANT, K.E., ANDERSON, E.A., SIMECEK, N., BROWN, R., FORSTER, S., SPINKS, J., TOMS, N., GIBSON, G.G., LYON, J. & PLANT, N. (2009) The neuroprotective action of the mood stabilizing drugs lithium chloride and sodium valproate is mediated through the activation of the homeodomain protein Six1. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, 235, 124-134

PUSHPARAJAH, D. S., UMACHANDRAN, M., PLANT, K. E., PLANT, N. & IOANNIDES, C. (2008) Up-regulation of the glutathione S-transferase system in human liver by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; comparison with rat liver and lung. Mutagenesis 23: 299-308

PUSHPARAJAH, D. S., UMACHANDRAN, M., PLANT, K. E., PLANT, N. & IOANNIDES, C. (2008) Differential response of human and rat epoxide hydrolase to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure: Studies using precision-cut tissue slices. Mutation Research - Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis 640: 153-161

PUSHPARAJAH, D.S., UMACHANDRAN, M., NAZIR, T., PLANT, K.E., PLANT, N., LEWIS, D.F.V. & IOANNIDES, C. (2008) Up-regulation of CYP1A/B in rat lung and liver, and human liver precision-cut slices by a series of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; association with the Ah locus and importance of molecular size. Toxicology In Vitro 22: 128-145

CHEEMA M.S., PLANT N.J., GIBSON G.G., & PLANT, K.E. (2007) Response of nuclear import factor encoding genes to xenobiotics: Analysis of the human karyopherin alpha 2 promoter. Toxicology, 240, 179-180

PUSHPARAJAH, D. S., UMACHANDRAN, M., PLANT, K. E., PLANT, N. & IOANNIDES, C. (2007) Evaluation of the precision-cut liver and lung slice systems for the study of induction of CYP1, epoxide hydrolase and glutathione S-transferase activities. Toxicology 231: 68-80.

PLANT, K. E., EVERETT, D. M., GIBSON, G. G., LYON, J. & PLANT, N. J. (2006) Transcriptomic and phylogenetic analysis of Kpna genes: a family of nuclear import factors modulated in xenobiotic-mediated liver growth. Pharmacogenetics and Genomics 16: 647-658.

OSKARSSON, A., ULLERAS, E., PLANT, K. E., HINSON, J. P. & GOLDFARB, P. S. (2006) Steroidogenic gene expression in H295R cells and the human adrenal gland: adrenotoxic effects of lindane in vitro. Journal of Applied Toxicology 26: 484-492.

GIBSON, G. G., PHILLIPS, A., AOUABDI, S., PLANT, K. & PLANT, N. (2006) Transcriptional regulation of the human pregnane-X receptor. Drug Metabolism Reviews 38: 31-49.

PLANT, K. E., DYE, M. J., LAFAILLE, C. & PROUDFOOT, N. J. (2005) Strong polyadenylation and weak pausing combine to cause efficient termination of transcription in the human (G)gamma-globin gene. Molecular and Cellular Biology 25: 3276-3285.

CRUNKHORN, S. E., PLANT, K. E., GIBSON, G. G., KRAMER, K., LYON, J., LORD, P. G. & PLANT, N. J. (2004) Gene expression changes in rat liver following exposure to liver growth agents: role of Kupffer cells in xenobiotic-mediated liver growth. Biochemical Pharmacology 67: 107-118.

BOUKOUVALA, S., PRICE, N., PLANT, K. E. & SIM, E. (2003) Structure and transcriptional regulation of the Nat2 gene encoding for the drug-metabolizing enzyme arylamine N-acetyltransferase type 2 in mice. Biochemical Journal 375: 593-602.

PLANT, K. E., ROUTLEDGE, S. J. E. & PROUDFOOT, N. J. (2001) Intergenic transcription in the human beta-globin gene cluster. Molecular and Cellular Biology 21: 6507-6514.

PLANT, K. E., BOYE, E., GREEN, P. M., VETRIE, D. & FLINTER, F. A. (2000) Somatic mosaicism associated with a mild Alport syndrome phenotype. Journal of Medical Genetics 37: 238-239.

TOPALOGLU, R., PLANT, K. E. & FLINTER, F. (2000) A novel G472R mutation in is Turkish family with X-linked Alport syndrome. Pediatric Nephrology 14: 480-481.

FLINTER, F. & PLANT, K. (1998) Why are mutations in COL4A5 not detectable in all patients with Alport's syndrome? Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation 13: 1348-1351.

PLANT, K. E. & MORGAN, G. T. (1998) Stimulation of RNA 3 ' processing by flanking DNA in Xenopus oocytes. Gene 210: 335-344.

PLANT, K. E., VETRIE, D., GREEN, P. & FLINTER, F. A. (1997) Mutation detection in Alport Syndrome: a large scale screen of all 51 exons of COL4A5. American Journal of Human Genetics 61: A343-A343.

PLANT, K. E., HAIR, A. & MORGAN, G. T. (1996) Genes encoding isoforms of transcription elongation factor TFIIS in Xenopus and the use of multiple unusual RNA processing signals. Nucleic Acids Research 24: 3514-3521.

Teaching

Cell Biology: Level 1 (BMS1006) & MSc Toxicology (TOXM001)

Human and Medical Genetics: Level 3 (BMS3038)

Departmental Duties

PGR Mentor for the Division of Biochemical Sciences

Affiliations

Member of the British Toxicology Society

Member of the Editorial Board of Xenobiotica