Kimberly McCall | Profiles RNS

Kim McCall

Professor

Boston University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Biology

PhD, Harvard University
BS, State University of New York, New Paltz

Websites

	ResearchGate
	Google Scholar
	Biology website
	Lab website

ORCID : 0000-0002-9942-2355

Cell death plays a central role in development and in many diseases. The research in my laboratory is focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms of programmed cell death and cell clearance. The model that we are using is the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster, an organism with unique advantages in genetics and cell biology. A major interest of the lab is germline cell death, which can occur at several distinct stages in the fly ovary. The death of nurse cells in late oogenesis is developmentally programmed and occurs rapidly and synchronously in clusters as each oocyte develops. Germline cell death can also occur in response to starvation or other insults. While apoptosis is the major form of cell death occurring in response to starvation, a novel non-apoptotic type of cell death occurs during developmental nurse cell death.

The final step in programmed cell death is the removal of the corpse. Defective dead cell clearance is associated with auto-immune and neurodegenerative diseases in humans. In the fly ovary, “professional” phagocytes like macrophages are limited, and most of the cell clearance is carried out by epithelial follicle cells. Follicle cells synchronously engulf dying nurse cells, providing a powerful in vivo model system for investigating the genetics and cell biology of engulfment. We are also investigating cell clearance mechanisms by glia in the brain.

We are currently using genetic and molecular approaches to identify components of the cell death and cell clearance pathways in the ovary and the brain. Given the high degree of evolutionary conservation of known cell death mechanisms, we expect that pathways that we uncover in Drosophila will be conserved in humans.

BU Research
NIH RePORTER Research

The coordination of cell death and corpse clearance in Drosophila
01/01/2024 - 11/30/2028 (PI)
NIH/National Institute of General Medical Sciences
2R35GM127338-06

The Coordination of Cell Death and Corpse Clearance
01/01/2018 - 12/31/2023 (PI)
NIH/National Institute of General Medical Sciences
5R35GM127338-05

Role of phagocytosis in neurodegeneration
01/01/2018 - 02/28/2021 (PI)
NIH/National Institute on Aging
5R21AG056158-02

Title of Project: Investigation of non-autonomous cell death and corpse clearance
03/15/2016 - 11/30/2018 (Key Person)
NIH/National Institute of General Medical Sciences
5F31GM115177-03

PROGRAMMED CELL DEATH IN DROSOPHILA DEVELOPMENT
04/01/2016 - 03/31/2018 (PI)
NIH/National Institute of General Medical Sciences
4R01GM060574-13

PROGRAMMED CELL DEATH IN DROSOPHILA DEVELOPMENT
08/15/2013 - 03/31/2016 (PI)
NIH/National Institute of General Medical Sciences
4R01GM060574-13

Mechanisms of cell corpse clearance
05/01/2011 - 02/29/2016 (PI)
NIH/National Institute of General Medical Sciences
5R01GM094452-04

Elucidating the effectors of cell clearance in immunoprivileged organs
09/01/2011 - 08/31/2014 (PI)
NIH/National Institute of General Medical Sciences
5F31GM099425-03

Title

Yr	Title	Project-Sub Proj	Pubs
2024	The coordination of cell death and corpse clearance in Drosophila	2R35GM127338-06
2022	The coordination of cell death and corpse clearance	5R35GM127338-05
2021	The coordination of cell death and corpse clearance	5R35GM127338-04	1
2020	The coordination of cell death and corpse clearance	5R35GM127338-03	1
2019	The coordination of cell death and corpse clearance	5R35GM127338-02	1
2019	Role of phagocytosis in neurodegeneration	5R21AG056158-02
2018	The coordination of cell death and corpse clearance	1R35GM127338-01	1
2018	Role of phagocytosis in neurodegeneration	1R21AG056158-01A1
2016	Programmed Cell Death in Drosophila Development	4R01GM060574-13	33
2015	Programmed Cell Death in Drosophila Development	5R01GM060574-12	33

Showing 10 of 30 results. Show All Results

Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.

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Elguero JE, Liu G, Tiemeyer K, Bandyadka S, Gandevia H, Duro L, Yan Z, McCall K. Defective phagocytosis leads to neurodegeneration through systemic increased innate immune signaling. iScience. 2023 Oct 20; 26(10):108052. PMID: 37854687; PMCID: PMC10579427; DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108052;

Dixon C, McCall K. Characterization of female reproductive disturbances post-traumatic injury in Drosophila melanogaster. MicroPubl Biol. 2023; 2023. PMID: 37799197; PMCID: PMC10550377; DOI: 10.17912/micropub.biology.000883;

Serizier SB, Peterson JS, McCall K. Non-autonomous cell death induced by the Draper phagocytosis receptor requires signaling through the JNK and SRC pathways. J Cell Sci. 2022 Oct 15; 135(20). PMID: 36177600; PMCID: PMC10658789; DOI: 10.1242/jcs.250134;

Lebo DPV, McCall K. Murder on the Ovarian Express: A Tale of Non-Autonomous Cell Death in the Drosophila Ovary. Cells. 2021 Jun 10; 10(6). PMID: 34200604; PMCID: PMC8228772; DOI: 10.3390/cells10061454;

Lebo DPV, Chirn A, Taylor JD, Levan A, Doerre Torres V, Agreda E, Serizier SB, Lord AK, Jenkins VK, McCall K. An RNAi screen of the kinome in epithelial follicle cells of the Drosophila melanogaster ovary reveals genes required for proper germline death and clearance. G3 (Bethesda). 2021 Feb 09; 11(2). PMID: 33693600; PMCID: PMC8022946; DOI: 10.1093/g3journal/jkaa066;

Yalonetskaya A, Mondragon AA, Hintze ZJ, Holmes S, McCall K. Nuclear degradation dynamics in a nonapoptotic programmed cell death. Cell Death Differ. 2020 Feb; 27(2):711-724. PMID: 31285547; PMCID: PMC7206136; DOI: 10.1038/s41418-019-0382-x;

Mondragon AA, Yalonetskaya A, Ortega AJ, Zhang Y, Naranjo O, Elguero J, Chung WS, McCall K. Lysosomal Machinery Drives Extracellular Acidification to Direct Non-apoptotic Cell Death. Cell Rep. 2019 Apr 02; 27(1):11-19.e3. PMID: 30943394; PMCID: PMC6613820; DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.03.034;

Yalonetskaya A, Mondragon AA, Elguero J, McCall K. I Spy in the Developing Fly a Multitude of Ways to Die. J Dev Biol. 2018 Oct 22; 6(4). PMID: 30360387; PMCID: PMC6316796; DOI: 10.3390/jdb6040026;

Santoso CS, Meehan TL, Peterson JS, Cedano TM, Turlo CV, McCall K. The ABC Transporter Eato Promotes Cell Clearance in the Drosophila melanogaster Ovary. G3 (Bethesda). 2018 Mar 02; 8(3):833-843. PMID: 29295819; PMCID: PMC5844305; DOI: 10.1534/g3.117.300427;

Serizier SB, McCall K. Scrambled Eggs: Apoptotic Cell Clearance by Non-Professional Phagocytes in the Drosophila Ovary. Front Immunol. 2017; 8:1642. PMID: 29238344; PMCID: PMC5712531; DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2017.01642;

Showing 10 of 56 results. Show More

Timmons AK, Mondragon AA, Meehan TL, McCall K. Control of non-apoptotic nurse cell death by engulfment genes in Drosophila. Fly (Austin). 2017 Apr 03; 11(2):104-111. PMID: 27686122; PMCID: PMC5406165; DOI: 10.1080/19336934.2016.1238993;

Meehan TL, Joudi TF, Timmons AK, Taylor JD, Habib CS, Peterson JS, Emmanuel S, Franc NC, McCall K. Components of the Engulfment Machinery Have Distinct Roles in Corpse Processing. PLoS One. 2016; 11(6):e0158217. PMID: 27347682; PMCID: PMC4922577; DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0158217;

Etchegaray JI, Elguero EJ, Tran JA, Sinatra V, Feany MB, McCall K. Defective Phagocytic Corpse Processing Results in Neurodegeneration and Can Be Rescued by TORC1 Activation. J Neurosci. 2016 Mar 16; 36(11):3170-83. PMID: 26985028; PMCID: PMC4792933; DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1912-15.2016;

Timmons AK, Mondragon AA, Schenkel CE, Yalonetskaya A, Taylor JD, Moynihan KE, Etchegaray JI, Meehan TL, McCall K. Phagocytosis genes nonautonomously promote developmental cell death in the Drosophila ovary. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 Mar 01; 113(9):E1246-55. PMID: 26884181; PMCID: PMC4780630; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1522830113;

Meehan TL, Serizier SB, Kleinsorge SE, McCall K. Analysis of Phagocytosis in the Drosophila Ovary. Methods Mol Biol. 2016; 1457:79-95.View Related Profiles.

McCall, Kimberly
Kleinsorge, Sarah

PMID: 27557574; DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-3795-0_6;

Meehan TL, Kleinsorge SE, Timmons AK, Taylor JD, McCall K. Polarization of the epithelial layer and apical localization of integrins are required for engulfment of apoptotic cells in the Drosophila ovary. Dis Model Mech. 2015 Dec; 8(12):1603-14.View Related Profiles.

McCall, Kimberly
Kleinsorge, Sarah

PMID: 26398951; PMCID: PMC4728319; DOI: 10.1242/dmm.021998;

Peterson JS, Timmons AK, Mondragon AA, McCall K. The End of the Beginning: Cell Death in the Germline. Curr Top Dev Biol. 2015; 114:93-119. PMID: 26431565; DOI: 10.1016/bs.ctdb.2015.07.025;

Perkins LA, Holderbaum L, Tao R, Hu Y, Sopko R, McCall K, Yang-Zhou D, Flockhart I, Binari R, Shim HS, Miller A, Housden A, Foos M, Randkelv S, Kelley C, Namgyal P, Villalta C, Liu LP, Jiang X, Huan-Huan Q, Wang X, Fujiyama A, Toyoda A, Ayers K, Blum A, Czech B, Neumuller R, Yan D, Cavallaro A, Hibbard K, Hall D, Cooley L, Hannon GJ, Lehmann R, Parks A, Mohr SE, Ueda R, Kondo S, Ni JQ, Perrimon N. The Transgenic RNAi Project at Harvard Medical School: Resources and Validation. Genetics. 2015 Nov; 201(3):843-52. PMID: 26320097; PMCID: PMC4649654; DOI: 10.1534/genetics.115.180208;

Meehan TL, Yalonetskaya A, Joudi TF, McCall K. Detection of Cell Death and Phagocytosis in the Drosophila Ovary. Methods Mol Biol. 2015; 1328:191-206. PMID: 26324439; DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-2851-4_14;

Kongton K, McCall K, Phongdara A. Identification of gamma-interferon-inducible lysosomal thiol reductase (GILT) homologues in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Dev Comp Immunol. 2014 Jun; 44(2):389-96. PMID: 24491521; DOI: 10.1016/j.dci.2014.01.007;

Peterson JS, McCall K. Combined inhibition of autophagy and caspases fails to prevent developmental nurse cell death in the Drosophila melanogaster ovary. PLoS One. 2013; 8(9):e76046. PMID: 24098761; PMCID: PMC3786910; DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0076046;

Jenkins VK, Timmons AK, McCall K. Diversity of cell death pathways: insight from the fly ovary. Trends Cell Biol. 2013 Nov; 23(11):567-74. PMID: 23968895; PMCID: PMC3839102; DOI: 10.1016/j.tcb.2013.07.005;

Timmons AK, Meehan TL, Gartmond TD, McCall K. Use of necrotic markers in the Drosophila ovary. Methods Mol Biol. 2013; 1004:215-28. PMID: 23733580; DOI: 10.1007/978-1-62703-383-1_16;

Jenkins V, Timmons A, McCall K. Diversity of cell death pathways: insight from the Drosophila ovary. Trends in Cell Biology. 2013; 23:567-574.
McCall K, Klein C. Necrosis Methods and Protocols. Humana Press. 2013; 1004.

Etchegaray JI, Timmons AK, Klein AP, Pritchett TL, Welch E, Meehan TL, Li C, McCall K. Draper acts through the JNK pathway to control synchronous engulfment of dying germline cells by follicular epithelial cells. Development. 2012 Nov; 139(21):4029-39. PMID: 22992958; PMCID: PMC3472587; DOI: 10.1242/dev.082776;

Pritchett TL, McCall K. Role of the insulin/Tor signaling network in starvation-induced programmed cell death in Drosophila oogenesis. Cell Death Differ. 2012 Jun; 19(6):1069-79. PMID: 22240900; PMCID: PMC3354059; DOI: 10.1038/cdd.2011.200;

Tanner EA, McCall K. Mitochondrial regulation of cell death in the Drosophila ovary. Autophagy. 2011 Jul; 7(7):793-4. PMID: 21494096; PMCID: PMC3149701; DOI: 10.4161/auto.7.7.15695;

Wonglapsuwan M, Chotigeat W, Timmons A, McCall K. RpL10A regulates oogenesis progression in the banana prawn Fenneropenaeus merguiensis and Drosophila melanogaster. Gen Comp Endocrinol. 2011 Sep 01; 173(2):356-63. PMID: 21726559; DOI: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2011.06.012;

Tanner EA, Blute TA, Brachmann CB, McCall K. Bcl-2 proteins and autophagy regulate mitochondrial dynamics during programmed cell death in the Drosophila ovary. Development. 2011 Jan; 138(2):327-38. PMID: 21177345; PMCID: PMC3005606; DOI: 10.1242/dev.057943;

Bakhrat A, Pritchett T, Peretz G, McCall K, Abdu U. Drosophila Chk2 and p53 proteins induce stage-specific cell death independently during oogenesis. Apoptosis. 2010 Dec; 15(12):1425-34. PMID: 20838898; PMCID: PMC3047510; DOI: 10.1007/s10495-010-0539-z;

McCall K. Genetic control of necrosis - another type of programmed cell death. Curr Opin Cell Biol. 2010 Dec; 22(6):882-8. PMID: 20889324; PMCID: PMC2993806; DOI: 10.1016/j.ceb.2010.09.002;

Pritchett TL, Tanner EA, McCall K. Cracking open cell death in the Drosophila ovary. Apoptosis. 2009 Aug; 14(8):969-79. PMID: 19533361; PMCID: PMC2810646; DOI: 10.1007/s10495-009-0369-z;

Bass BP, Tanner EA, Mateos San Martín D, Blute T, Kinser RD, Dolph PJ, McCall K. Cell-autonomous requirement for DNaseII in nonapoptotic cell death. Cell Death Differ. 2009 Oct; 16(10):1362-71. PMID: 19557011; PMCID: PMC2770252; DOI: 10.1038/cdd.2009.79;

McCall K, Peterson JS, Pritchett TL. Detection of cell death in Drosophila. Methods Mol Biol. 2009; 559:343-56. PMID: 19609768; DOI: 10.1007/978-1-60327-017-5_24;

Hou YC, Chittaranjan S, Barbosa SG, McCall K, Gorski SM. Effector caspase Dcp-1 and IAP protein Bruce regulate starvation-induced autophagy during Drosophila melanogaster oogenesis. J Cell Biol. 2008 Sep 22; 182(6):1127-39. PMID: 18794330; PMCID: PMC2542474; DOI: 10.1083/jcb.200712091;

Baum JS, Arama E, Steller H, McCall K. The Drosophila caspases Strica and Dronc function redundantly in programmed cell death during oogenesis. Cell Death Differ. 2007 Aug; 14(8):1508-17. PMID: 17464325; DOI: 10.1038/sj.cdd.4402155;

Bass BP, Cullen K, McCall K. The axon guidance gene lola is required for programmed cell death in the Drosophila ovary. Dev Biol. 2007 Apr 15; 304(2):771-85. PMID: 17336958; PMCID: PMC1905497; DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2007.01.029;

Peterson J, Bass B, Jue D, Rodriguez A, Abrams J, McCall K. Non-canonical cell death pathways function in Drosophila oogenesis. Genesis. 2007; 45:396-404.

Baum JS, St George JP, McCall K. Programmed cell death in the germline. Semin Cell Dev Biol. 2005 Apr; 16(2):245-59. PMID: 15797835; DOI: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2004.12.008;

McCall K. Programmed cell death in development. Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology. 2005; 16:213.

Cullen K, McCall K. Role of programmed cell death in patterning the Drosophila antennal arista. Dev Biol. 2004 Nov 01; 275(1):82-92. PMID: 15464574; DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2004.07.028;

McCall K. Eggs over easy: cell death in the Drosophila ovary. Dev Biol. 2004 Oct 01; 274(1):3-14. PMID: 15355784; DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2004.07.017;

McCall K, Peterson JS. Detection of apoptosis in Drosophila. Methods Mol Biol. 2004; 282:191-205. PMID: 15105566; DOI: 10.1385/1-59259-812-9:191;

McCall Kimberly, Baum Jason, Cullen Kristen, Peterson Jeanne . Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 247: Drosophila Cytogenetics Protocols. Visualizing Apoptosis. 2004; 431-442.

Laundrie B, Peterson JS, Baum JS, Chang JC, Fileppo D, Thompson SR, McCall K. Germline cell death is inhibited by P-element insertions disrupting the dcp-1/pita nested gene pair in Drosophila. Genetics. 2003 Dec; 165(4):1881-8. PMID: 14704173; PMCID: PMC1462893; DOI: 10.1093/genetics/165.4.1881;

Peterson JS, Barkett M, McCall K. Stage-specific regulation of caspase activity in drosophila oogenesis. Dev Biol. 2003 Aug 01; 260(1):113-23. PMID: 12885559; DOI: 10.1016/s0012-1606(03)00240-9;

Goyal L, McCall K, Agapite J, Hartwieg E, Steller H. Induction of apoptosis by Drosophila reaper, hid and grim through inhibition of IAP function. EMBO J. 2000 Feb 15; 19(4):589-97. PMID: 10675328; PMCID: PMC305597; DOI: 10.1093/emboj/19.4.589;

Bergmann A, Agapite J, McCall K, Steller H. The Drosophila gene hid is a direct molecular target of Ras-dependent survival signaling. Cell. 1998 Oct 30; 95(3):331-41. PMID: 9814704; DOI: 10.1016/s0092-8674(00)81765-1;

McCall K, Steller H. Requirement for DCP-1 caspase during Drosophila oogenesis. Science. 1998 Jan 09; 279(5348):230-4. PMID: 9422696; DOI: 10.1126/science.279.5348.230;

McCall K, Steller H. Facing death in the fly: genetic analysis of apoptosis in Drosophila. Trends Genet. 1997 Jun; 13(6):222-6. PMID: 9196327; DOI: 10.1016/S0168-9525(97)01126-8;

Song Z, McCall K, Steller H. DCP-1, a Drosophila cell death protease essential for development. Science. 1997 Jan 24; 275(5299):536-40. PMID: 8999799; DOI: 10.1126/science.275.5299.536;

McCall K, Bender W. Probes of chromatin accessibility in the Drosophila bithorax complex respond differently to Polycomb-mediated repression. EMBO J. 1996 Feb 01; 15(3):569-80. PMID: 8599940; PMCID: PMC449975

McCall K, O'Connor MB, Bender W. Enhancer traps in the Drosophila bithorax complex mark parasegmental domains. Genetics. 1994 Oct; 138(2):387-99. PMID: 7828822; PMCID: PMC1206157; DOI: 10.1093/genetics/138.2.387;

Perrimon N, Noll E, McCall K, Brand A. Generating lineage-specific markers to study Drosophila development. Dev Genet. 1991; 12(3):238-52. PMID: 1651183; DOI: 10.1002/dvg.1020120309;

Bier E, Vaessin H, Shepherd S, Lee K, McCall K, Barbel S, Ackerman L, Carretto R, Uemura T, Grell E, et al. Searching for pattern and mutation in the Drosophila genome with a P-lacZ vector. Genes Dev. 1989 Sep; 3(9):1273-87. PMID: 2558049; DOI: 10.1101/gad.3.9.1273;

This graph shows the total number of publications by year, by first, middle/unknown, or last author.

Bar chart showing 56 publications over 26 distinct years, with a maximum of 5 publications in 2013 and 2016