Kayarat Nair, PhD

Assistant Professor
Department of Ophthalmology
Research Description: 

Sai Nair, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Anatomy. He obtained a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Mumbai, India. During his PhD, Dr. Nair studied the role of cell surface receptors in regulation of neutrophil effector functions. Dr. Nair received his postdoctoral training in Dr. Simon John’s laboratory at The Jackson Laboratory. 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.

Primary Thematic Area: 
Human Genetics
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Neurobiology
Research Summary: 
Genetics and biology of ocular diseases

Websites

Publications: 

GLIS1 regulates trabecular meshwork function and intraocular pressure and is associated with glaucoma in humans.

Nature communications

Nair KS, Srivastava C, Brown RV, Koli S, Choquet H, Kang HS, Kuo YM, Grimm SA, Sutherland C, Badea A, Johnson GA, Zhao Y, Yin J, Okamoto K, Clark G, Borrás T, Zode G, Kizhatil K, Chakrabarti S, John SWM, Jorgenson E, Jetten AM

GLIS1 regulates trabecular meshwork function and intraocular pressure and is associated with glaucoma in humans

bioRxiv

Nair KS, Srivastava C, Brown RV, Koli S, Choquet H, Kang HS, Kuo YM, Sutherland C, Grimm SA, Badea A, Zhao Y, Yin J, Okamoto K, Clark G, Borras T, Zode G, Chakrabarti S, Kizhatil K, John SW, Jorgenson E, and Jetten AM.

A large multiethnic GWAS meta-analysis of cataract identifies new risk loci and sex-specific effects.

Nature communications

Choquet H, Melles RB, Anand D, Yin J, Cuellar-Partida G, Wang W, 23andMe Research Team , Hoffmann TJ, Nair KS, Hysi PG, Lachke SA, Jorgenson E

Genome-wide meta-analysis identifies 127 open-angle glaucoma loci with consistent effect across ancestries.

Nature communications

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, Iglesias A, Siggs OM, Young TL, Vitart V, Thiadens AAHJ, Karjalainen J, Uebe S, Melles RB, Nair KS, Luben R, Simcoe M, Amersinghe N, Cree AJ, Hohn R, Poplawski A, Chen LJ, Rong SS, Aung T, Vithana EN, NEIGHBORHOOD consortium , ANZRAG consortium , Biobank Japan project , FinnGen study , UK Biobank Eye and Vision Consortium , GIGA study group , 23 and Me Research Team , Tamiya G, Shiga Y, Yamamoto M, Nakazawa T, Currant H, Birney E, Wang X, Auton A, Lupton MK, Martin NG, Ashaye A, Olawoye O, Williams SE, Akafo S, Ramsay M, Hashimoto K, Kamatani Y, Akiyama M, Momozawa Y, Foster PJ, Khaw PT, Morgan JE, Strouthidis NG, Kraft P, Kang JH, Pang CP, Pasutto F, Mitchell P, Lotery AJ, Palotie A, van Duijn C, Haines JL, Hammond C, Pasquale LR, Klaver CCW, Hauser M, Khor CC, Mackey DA, Kubo M, Cheng CY, Craig JE, MacGregor S, Wiggs JL