Kristin Artinger, PhD

Kristin Bruk Artinger, Ph.D. is currently a Professor in the Department of Diagnostic and Biological Sciences and Associate Dean of Research and Discovery. She previously was Professor in the Department of Craniofacial Biology in the School of Dental Medicine and Graduate Program Director at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. In addition, she served as Vice Chair for the Department of Craniofacial Biology and Chair of the Deans Executive Committee. Dr. Artinger earned a Ph.D. at the University of California in Irvine, California where she also received her B.S. She then completed postdoctoral work at Harvard Medical school in Boston, MA in the labs of Drs. Wolfgang Driever and Mark Mercola. She started her lab at the University of Colorado in 2002 and has built a highly collaborative research laboratory that is focused on understanding of the molecular and genetic mechanisms involved in the development of the neural crest. In particular, she uses the zebrafish model system to study the gene regulatory networks involved in cell fate determination, migration, differentiation of neural crest cells in normal development and in craniofacial birth defects. She currently serves as Deputy Editor of Birth Defects Research and on the editorial board of several scientific journals. In her role as program director, she is committed to mentoring the next generation of scientists. Here, she provides strong mentorship to first year graduate students, led holistic recruiting efforts to support requitement of diverse students, and built strong grant writing workshops to help trainees be competitive for fellowships.

The Artinger lab is a highly collaborative research laboratory that is focused on understanding of the molecular and genetic mechanisms involved in the development of the neural crest. Neural crest cells are born at the neural plate border, and have the extraordinary ability to retain stem cell-like characteristics. Once specified, they migrate through the embryo and give rise to a diverse array of derivatives, including peripheral neurons and glia, pigment cells and craniofacial cartilage, which form most of the vertebrate face. Thus, the neural crest is an attractive model system to study the gene regulatory networks involved in cell fate determination, migration, differentiation and in disease.

Shull LC, Lencer ES, Kim HM, Goyama S, Kurokawa M, Costello JC, Jones K, Artinger KB. PRDM paralogs antagonistically balance Wnt/β-catenin activity during craniofacial chondrocyte differentiation.
Development. 2022 Feb 8:dev.200082. doi: 10.1242/dev.200082. Online ahead of print. PMID: 35132438

Hsu JY, Danis EP, Nance S, O'Brien JH, Gustafson AL, Wessells VM, Goodspeed AE, Talbot JC, Amacher SL, Jedlicka P, Black JC, Costello JC, Durbin AD, Artinger KB, Ford HLSIX1 reprograms myogenic transcription factors to maintain the rhabdomyosarcoma undifferentiated state. Cell Rep. 2022 Feb 1;38(5):110323. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110323.PMID: 35108532 

Lencer E, Prekeris R, Artinger KB. Single-cell RNA analysis identifies pre-migratory neural crest cells expressing markers of differentiated derivatives. Elife. 2021 Aug 16;10:e66078. doi: 10.7554/eLife.66078.PMID: 34397384  PMID: 34397384 

The Artinger lab is funded by NIDCR and NICHD.