Principal Investigators (PI)

Kelly G. Ten Hagen Ph.D.
Kelly G. Ten Hagen Ph.D.
Senior Investigator
Developmental Glycobiology Section
30 Convent Drive, Bld. 30/Rm 407
Bethesda, MD 20892-4370
Office: 301-451-6318
IC: NIDCR

Dr. Ten Hagen received her B.S. (magna cum laude) from Cornell University and Ph.D. in Genetics from Stanford University in the laboratory of Dr. Stanley Cohen. After obtaining her Ph.D., she worked as a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Rochester.

She moved to the NIH in 2001 and was promoted to Senior Investigator and Chief of the Developmental Glycobiology Section within the NIDCR in 2012. She is very active in the NIH community, previously serving on the Tenure Track Investigators Committee, NIDCR IRP Review Committee, NIH Inquiry Committee, and currently serving on the NIDCR Promotion and Tenure Committee, the NIH Women Scientist Advisors Committee, the NIH Developmental Biology Scientific Interest Group Steering Committee, the Clinical Research Fellows Selection Committee, the Glycobiology Special Interest Group Steering Committee, the NIH Anti-Harassment Steering Committee and the NIH Central Tenure Committee. She has taught in the Special Topics in Glycosciences Course at the NIH and has co-chaired the annual NIH/FDA Glycosciences Research Day. She is active outside of the NIH in the biochemistry/glycobiology fields. She served as an Editorial Board Member for the Journal of Biological Chemistry, as a Board Member for the Society for Glycobiology, and as a Representative to the International Glycoconjugate Organization.

She currently serves on the Editorial Board for the journal Glycobiology and as an ASBMB Council member. The research of her laboratory focuses on elucidating the biological roles of the conserved post-translational modification, mucin-type O-glycosylation, to understand how aberrations in this modification contribute to disease and disease susceptibility.

Cells of the body are decorated with a variety of carbohydrates (sugars) that serve many diverse functions. Alterations in the presence of these sugars are associated with a number of human diseases, including familial tumoral calcinosis and various cancers. Our group studies how sugar addition (O-glycosylation) is regulated and how it influences basic biological processes, to better understand how alterations in glycosylation contribute to disease onset and progression. Through studies examining the effects of O-glycosylation in Drosophila, we have demonstrated it is an essential modification that is required in specific cells and tissues during development. Current research is directed at further defining the role this protein modification in secretion, secretory vesicle formation, cell adhesion and cell signaling, in both Drosophila and mammals. Ultimately, we aim to elucidate how O-glycosylation regulates key cellular processes to further our understanding of the role of this protein modification in both development and disease.