2025
December 5, 2025
Bittersweet farewell to Dr. Sujin Byeon who heads to California for an exciting postdoctoral position in the lab of Dr. Juliet Knowles at Stanford University. Congratulations Sujin!!
October 8, 2025
The amazing new Zeiss ELYRA7 Lattice SIM2 super resolution microscope is finally here in our lab! Generously funded by the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust and support from the University of Washington, we will be exploiting the extraordinary speed and resolution capacity of this system to understand brain development and disorders.
September 27, 2025
Three new undergraduate researchers join the Yadav Lab. Welcome Angel, Caleb and Pratham!!
September 23, 2025
Another wonderful Department of Pharmacology retreat at the Center for Urban Horticulture in Seattle! Josie Sejd gave a talk on her research findings identifying novel NUAK1 kinase substrates using a chemical genetics approach. Moira Cornell presented our collaborative work with Sherry Zhang (Dr. Ning Zheng’s lab) on the cryo-EM structure of TAOK1 kinase.
September 9, 2025
Sujin Byeon and Amy Ferreccio’s paper is out! Through phosphoproteomic analyses of iPSC dervied neuronal progenitors obtained from 16p11.2 deletion and duplication ASD patients, we discovered that ciliary and centrosomal proteins were differentially phosphorylated. This made us closely investigate cilia function in 16p11.2 deletion and duplication patients. We found opposing changes in cilia length, receptor localization and SHH signaling in 16p11.2 CNVs. We then screened genes within this locus and found that TAOK2 kinase regulates in a dose dependent fashion many aspects of ciliary function. This study was a wonderful collaboration with labs of Lauren Weiss and Al Burlingame at UCSF! Notable contributions from undergraduate researchers Siri Manvi and Alison Blencowe from our lab.
August 24, 2025
Sydney Klucas is awarded the UW Molecular Biophysics Training Program Predoctoral Award for her work on PAK1 kinase dysfunction in neurodevelopmental disorders. Congrats Sydney!
June 16, 2025
A beautiful hooding ceremony to celebrate the doctoral degree and accomplishments of Dr. Sujin Byeon!
June 16, 2025
Sujin Byeon successfully defended her PhD thesis on the pleiotropic functions of TAOK2 in neurodevelopment! Congrats Dr. Byeon!
June 12, 2025
Ty Williams graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry! And he is off to doing more science as a research scientist in the Ponnalagu lab! Congrats Ty!
May 16, 2025
Our awesome undergraduate researchers Siri Manvi, Ty Williams and Shreedevi Murugan presented their research at the UW Undergraduate Research Symposium!
May 12, 2025
Dr. Swagatika Paul presented her latest finding on the impact of BRSK2 autism associated mutations at the 2025 annual IHDD research day.
May 6, 2025
Thankful for the award from the John H. Tietze Foundation that will allow us to investigate mechanisms underlying TBCK associated neurodevelopmental disorders using human induced stem cell derived neuronal models.
March 12, 2025
We are excited to bring together clinicians, researchers and families interested in TAOK1 associated neurodevelopmental disorder. TAOK1 Rare Disease Day on March 21, 2025
February 28, 2025
In observance of Rare Disease Day, we want to highlight TAOK1 associated Neurodevelopmental Disorder that has been identified in over 50 children worldwide. Our research is focused on understanding the function of TAOK1 kinase in brain development and how mutations in this gene cause disease. We are organizing a TAOK1 rare disease day on March 21, 2025. Register here to learn more!
Consider supporting our work, your donations are much appreciated and will go towards supporting TAOK1 research. Donate Here!
2024
December 9, 2024
Sarah John presents her findings on TAOK1 associated neurodevelopmental disorder and 3D brain organoid disease model at the 2024 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory meeting on Human Brain Development and Modeling.
October 7, 2024
Check out our latest preprint, TAOK2 Drives Opposing Cilia Length Deficits in 16p11.2 Deletion and Duplication Carriers. We show that human neural progenitor cells derived from 16p11.2 deletion and duplication carriers have reciprocal changes in their cilia length, and that gene dosage of TAOK2 contributes to these opposing changes.
September 25, 2024
Madeline Valentine, a first year graduate student in the Neuroscience Graduate Program joins our lab for the Fall research rotation! Welcome Maddie!
September 20, 2024
Wonderful wrap of the summer with a lovely retreat of the Department of Pharmacology. Sarah gave a talk on her work on brain organoid models of TAOK1 associated neurodevelopmental disorder. Josie, Moira, Sydney and Swagatika presented posters on their work on kinases associated with brain disorders.
August 23, 2024
We say good bye to undergraduate researcher Margaret Endres from Syracuse University who spent 10 weeks this summer in our lab! Keep in touch Maggie.
July 1, 2024
Sarah John presented her findings on the role of TAOK1 at the ISCRM Fellows Symposium!
June 20, 2024
Congratulations to Sarah John for being awarded the 2024 ISCRM Fellowship Award! This award will fund Sarah’s work on building cortical organoid models to study TAOK1 associated neurodevelopmental disorder.
June 16, 2024
We are delighted to have Sydney Klucas join the Yadav lab for her PhD thesis! Welcome to the lab Sydney!
June 10, 2024
Sujin Byeon gave an excellent talk on her work on TAOK2 in neurodevelopmental disorders at the Gordon Research Conference on Phosphorylation and G Protein Signaling. Moira Cornell presented a poster on her research on TLK2 kinase.
May 17, 2024
Yadav lab undergraduate researchers Alison Blencowe, Ty Williams and Yi Zhou presented their research at the UW undergraduate research symposium!
May 16, 2024
Josie Sejd and Swagatika Paul are off to Arlington to present their research at the ASPET annual meeting
May 2, 2024
Sujin Byeon presented her research on the role of autism risk gene TAOK2 at the 17th ISCRM Annual Stem Cell Mini Symposium!
January 4, 2024
First year Pharmacology graduate student Sydney Klucas joins us for her second research rotation. Welcome to the lab Sydney!
January 2, 2024
Sujin Byeon wrote a comprehensive review on TAO kinases and their emerging functions in neurodevelopment and disease. Congratulations Sujin! Check out the review in Science Signaling, https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scisignal.adg0876
2023
October 16, 2023
Swagatika joins us after finishing her PhD in the Pickrell Lab on the role of TBK1 kinase in mitosis. Welcome to the lab Swagatika!
September 27, 2023
We are excited to have Nick Skiados, a first year Pharmacology graduate student join us for the Fall quarter research rotation. Welcome to the lab Nick!
September 22, 2023
Yadav lab had a great time at the Department of Pharmacology annual retreat. Sujin gave an excellent talk on her work on TAOK2 kinase. Moira and Josie gave flask talks, and Josie won the poster prize!
July 1, 2023
Yadav lab welcomes four new undergraduate researchers to our group. Welcome Alison Blencowe, Kristin Koznarsky, Ty Williams and Yixuan Zhou!
July 1, 2023
Smita is tenured and promoted to Associate Professor at UW!
June 19, 2023
Congratulations to Sarah John for being awarded the T32 Pharmacological Sciences Training Program grant!
June 15, 2023
Sarah John presented her research work at the UW IHDD Research Day!
June 14, 2023
Sujin Byeon presented a poster at the FASEB Endoplasmic Reticulum meeting in FL!
June 12, 2023
Josie Sejd and Moira Cornell presented posters at the Protein Phosphorylation Conference in Steamboat, CO!
May 23, 2023
Our work on TAOK1 kinase mutations is the topic of a new review in Trends in Neurosciences!
Read it here!
https://www.cell.com/trends/neurosciences/fulltext/S0166-2236(23)00131-5
March 15, 2023
Yadav Lab is so excited and grateful to have the funding support from National Institute of Mental Health on a new R01 to study kinase dysfunction in autism and neurodevelopmental disorders!
March 9, 2023
Josie Sejd presented her work on NUAK1 kinase at the University of Washington- Kobe University symposium!
January 25, 2023
Sarah John was selected to participate in the Stanford Brain Organogenesis Workshop 2023! Sarah had a great time and will be the first in lab to venture on making brain organoids to model TAOK1 dysfunction in neurodevelopmental disorders!!
January 19, 2023
Excited to share that our research findings on TAOK1 were featured in the autism newsletter Spectrum. Thanks Holly Barker on an excellent spotlight on our work on TAO kinases.
Mutations in autism-linked gene cause membrane mischief
January 4, 2023
Pharmacology first year graduate student Marta Trzeciak joins the Yadav lab for her second rotation. Welcome Marta!
January 3, 2023
Excited to share our latest findings on how TAOK1 kinase mutations contribute to neurodevelopmental disorders, published today in Science Signaling. Congratulations Neal Beeman!
2022
October 15, 2022
We bid farewell to Dr. Amy Ferreccio as she joins her position as a Senior Scientist at Astellas Inc. Congratulations Amy and all the success to you!
September 22, 2022
The Yadav lab had a great time at the UW Pharmacology annual retreat! Neal gave a talk on his work on TAOK1 kinase. Amy, Josie, and Sarah presented posters on their ongoing work! And both Amy and Josie won the best poster prizes!!
September 20, 2022
Check out this review on regulation of the septin cytoskeleton by protein kinases, beautifully written and illustrated by Bailey Werner.
Phosphoregulation of the Septin Cytoskeleton in Neuronal Development and Disease Bailey Werner and Smita Yadav. Cytoskeleton 2022 Sep 20. doi: 10.1002/cm.21728. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36127729 Link
September 16, 2022
Dr. Amy Ferreccio gave a wonderful talk on her work at the UW ISCRM Fall Symposium.
July 25, 2022
Our newest lab manager is Moira Cornell who is a recent UW graduate majoring in Biochemistry and minoring in Applied Mathematics. Welcome to the lab Moira!
July 7, 2022
Check out the Yadav lab’s latest preprint. Neal Beeman a research scientist in the Yadav lab found that TAOK1 is a plasma membrane remodeling kinase. We characterized neurodevelopmental disorder associated mutations in TAOK1 and found that several variants cluster within the kinase domain and render the kinase catalytically dead. Surprisingly, kinase dead TAOK1 binds the plasma membrane and induces aberrant membrane protrusions that perturb neuronal development. We collaborated with Tanmay Sapre in Shao-En Ong’s lab to find residues that autoregulated membrane association of this unique kinase.
June 30, 2022
We bid farewell to our fearless lab manager Bailey Werner! Bailey accepted a research fellowship at the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. Watch out for this rising star!
June 20, 2022
Sarah John received the Graduate Student Conference Presentation Award to present a poster at the ASBMB Mass Spectrometry in the Health and Life Sciences conference held at the Broad Institute later this summer. Congrats Sarah!!
June 18, 2022
We are so excited for Sujin Byeon who is off to a summer internship at Latigo Biotherapeutics! See you back in Seattle in 3 months 🙂
June 14, 2022
Jodi Elish from UW Bothell will be doing some cool science this summer in the Yadav Lab with her mentor Amy Ferreccio!! Watch out for her presentation later this summer at ISCRM REU summer research symposium!
Welcome to the lab Jodi!
June 14, 2022
Official PhD hooding ceremony to celebrate Kimya Nourbakhsh’s many accomplishments. So happy to have you back in Seattle for the ceremony. Behold the Yadav Lab celebrating their first PhD gradaute Kimya (and her proud PI)!
June 8, 2022
Celebrating Sofia Laden’s graduation! Many congratulations Sofia, looking forward to all the amazing things ahead in your future!
May 4, 2022
Our study led by co-first authors Sujin and Bailey in collaboration with the Ong Lab on phosphorylation dependent interaction of Septin7 with 14-3-3 proteins is published in Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology. Check out the paper below.
March 29, 2022
We are so excited to have Sarah John join us for her thesis work! Welcome to the lab Sarah!
February 14, 2022
Excited to have Sarah John, first year Pharmacology graduate student join us for her third research rotation. Welcome Sarah!
January 05, 2022
Dropped our latest pre-print by Sujin Byeon, Bailey Werner and Reilly Falter, where we report the proteomic identification of Septin7 interacting partner 14-3-3gamma that binds its C-terminal tail and protects its phosphorylation status thereby promoting dendritic spine stability.
Special thanks to our collaborator Shao-En Ong and his lab! The peptide binding/MS experiments were done by MCB graduate student Kristian Davidsen during his rotation, and Calvin Snyder in the Ong lab.
January 03, 2022
Pharmacology first year graduate student Chrystal Guzman joins us for her winter research rotation. Welcome Chrystal!
2021
December 07, 2021
Check out our new paper in Developmental Cell, where we report that the autism risk gene TAOK2 encodes an ER kinase that tethers the ER to microtubules.
November 30, 2021
Our first graduate student Kimya Nourbakhsh successfully defended her thesis. Congrats Dr. Nourbakhsh!!
November 18, 2021
Smita gave the UW 2021 New Investigator Science in Medicine Lecture!
November 12, 2021
Josie Sejd presented her work at the poster session of the PSTP Symposium 2021! Josie’s work is funded by the PSTP T32 training grant.
November 8, 2021
Sujin Byeon presents her research in the poster session at the Society for Neuroscience Virtual Conference 2021!
November 3, 2021
Welcome Dez! Pharmacology first year graduate student Dez Coleman joins us for her first research rotation.
September 30, 2021
Amy Ferreccio presented her work at the ISCRM Fall Symposium 2021!
September 29, 2021
Andres Fernandez from the UW Molecular and Cellular Biology graduate program starts his rotation in the Yadav Lab. Welcome Andrés!
September 24, 2021
Wonderful to see everyone and meet new graduate students at the Pharmacology Department retreat.
Kimya Nourbakhsh got the best poster award, and Neal Beeman won the best image award!!
July 01, 2021
Excited to have our new lab manager Bailey Werner join the lab!
June 30, 2021
We wish farewell to our Reilly Falter who is heading back to Utah to start graduate school this Fall! Congrats Reilly!
June 17, 2021
Josie Sejd was awarded the Pharmacological Sciences Training Grant for her thesis project in the Yadav Lab. Congratulations Josie!
June 17, 2021
Our fearless undergraduate researcher Sofia Laden was awarded the ISCRM Undergraduate Summer Fellows award to work this summer in our lab with her mentor Amy Ferreccio!
Congrats Sofia and Amy!
June 9, 2021
Lab lunch celebrating Sujin’s successful general exam, and Turner and Bailey’s graduation!
June 4, 2021
Sujin Byeon is officially a neuroscience PhD candidate- Congratulations Sujin on passing your general exam with flying colors!
May 21, 2021
Turner Glenn and Bailey Werner present their research findings at the UW Undergraduate Research Symposium!
Congrats Turner and Bailey!!
April 27, 2021
Kimya Nourbakhsh is invited to give a talk on her research work on a novel ER-microtubule tethering protein at the 2021 ASBMB annual meeting.
Congratulations Kimya!
April 22, 2021
Check out our first pre-print on BioRxiv.
Kimya and Amy are lead authors on our paper showing that TAOK2 is an ER kinase that tethers the endoplasmic reticulum membranes to microtubules.
TAOK2 is an ER-localized Kinase that Catalyzes the Dynamic Tethering of ER to Microtubules
March 19, 2021
Pharmacology graduate student Josie Sejd joins the Yadav lab for her thesis project. Welcome Josie!
February 14, 2021
We are on Twitter (finally!). Follow us at @YadavLabNeuro
February 10, 2021
Check out our review article Kinase Signaling in Dendritic Development and Disease, published in Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience. Congrats Kimya!
January 04, 2021
Excited to have Josie Sejd from the Pharmacology graduate program and Sara Saavedra from the Neuroscience program start their Winter Rotation in our lab. Welcome Josie and Sara!
2020
December 18, 2020
Yadav Lab Holiday Party!
November 01, 2020
We are happy to have three new undergraduate researchers join our Lab! Welcome to the lab, Gavin, Sofia and Victoria!
August 24, 2020
Sujin Byeon joins the Yadav Lab for her PhD thesis!
Welcome to the lab, Sujin!
August 10, 2020
Sam Marcotte starts at her new position as Research Assistant in the Dixon lab at Salk Institute! Congrats Sam!
July 1, 2020
Congratulations Daniel Guion for starting a new job at the Seattle based protein design start-up company Good Therapeutics!
June 23, 2020
We are excited to have Sujin Byeon, a first year Neuroscience graduate student start her Summer rotation project in our lab!
June 12, 2020
Many congratulations to the new graduates Sam Marcotte and Daniel Guion!!
April 16, 2020
Research scientist Dr. Neal Beeman joins the Yadav Lab!
Welcome to the lab Neal!
April 3, 2020
Madeline Gish joins the Yadav Lab for Spring rotation.
Welcome Madeline!
March 27, 2020
Daniel Guion received the Mary Gates Research Scholarship to support his undergraduate research project in the Yadav Lab. Congrats Daniel!
March 6, 2020
Amy Ferreccio received the ISCRM travel award to present her work at the ISSCR annual meeting in Boston! Congrats Amy!
January 3, 2020
We are really excited about funding from the Brotman Baty Institute for catalytic collaboration with the SEPS Lab to uncover the molecular mechanisms of autism spectrum disorders. Thank you for the support BBI!
2019
December 27, 2019
Lab Christmas Tree! Holiday Cheers!
December 2, 2019
Yadav lab is awarded its first R01 grant from National Institute of Mental Health!
November 7, 2019
Lab lunch to celebrate Kimya’s successful general exam!
July 1, 2019
Reilly Falter is our new lab manager! Welcome to the lab Reilly!
June 28, 2019
Sending off Matt to grad school with a ‘mile high mud pie’! Farewell Matt, we will miss you!
June 24, 2019
Ananya Srivastava, a junior at Redmond High School joins us for a six week summer research internship! Welcome Ananya!!
June 15, 2019
Kimya Nourbakhsh is awarded funding for 2 years by the Pharmacological Sciences Training Program (PSTP) grant!
Congrats Kimya!!
February 25, 2019
Smita’s latest paper “Glial ensheathment of the somatodendritic compartment regulates sensory neuron structure and activity” is now online at PNAS!
January 30, 2019
Smita received the Jaconette L. Tietze Young Scientist Award. Many thanks to the John H. Tietze Foundation Trust for supporting our research!
January 15, 2019
Our lab research is funded by the University of Washington Research Royalty Fund Award!
January 9, 2019
This quarter we have three graduate students in the lab for their rotation research projects! Gurdeep Sullan and Tim Locke from the Pharmacology graduate program, and Kristian Davidsen from the Molecular and Cell Biology graduate program.
Welcome Kristian, Gurdeep and Tim!
2018
October 15, 2018
We have moved to a new location!
The Yadav Lab is now at Health Sciences Building J159! Come say hello!
October 2, 2018
We are excited to have Emily Brown, a first year student in the Neuroscience Graduate Program start her Fall rotation project in our lab!
August 7, 2018
Smita receives the 2018 NARSAD Young Investigator Award from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation!
June 15, 2018
Kimya Nourbakhsh joins the lab for her PhD thesis!
Welcome Kimya!
June 4, 2018
Smita is invited to give a talk at the 2018 Gordon Research Conference on Phosphorylation and G-protein Mediated Signaling Networks
March 28, 2018
Kimya Nourbakhsh, a first year Pharmacology graduate student will be working on her rotation project in the Yadav lab for the spring quarter.
February 1, 2018
Amy joins the lab as a postdoctoral scholar.
Welcome Amy!
January 23, 2018
The Yadav Lab is funded by an NIMH R00 award.
January 18, 2018
Our report on the EMBO Workshop on the Molecular and Cellular Biology of Septins is published.
January 5, 2018
Matt Bernard joins the lab as a research technician
Welcome Matt!
November 1, 2017
Yadav Lab is open! We are working on understanding the molecular and cellular basis of neurodevelopmental disorders. Come join us!
Yadav Lab | University of Washington 