About

Professor Samuel Kunes is affiliated with the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at Harvard University. He leads the Kunes Laboratory, where his research focuses on molecular and cellular mechanisms, as indicated by the laboratory's name and departmental association. The laboratory's work involves studying biological structures and processes, as evidenced by images such as the calyx of the mushroom body in the Drosophila brain. Professor Kunes's contact information is available through Harvard's Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, located in Room 2011 at 16 Divinity Avenue, with a phone number of 617-496-3806 and email kunes@fas.harvard.edu.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Bioinformatics
• Biology
• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Genetics
• Computational biology

Selected publications

• A research proposal to study the life cycle of COV

  Journal of Student Research · 2021

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Computer Science
  • Computational biology
  • Biology

  SARS-CoV2 continues to affect the lives of the majority of the world, and although vaccines are beginning to become available, much of the world will still be unable to obtain them. Furthermore, some studies have suggested that there may have to be annual vaccines and as strains of the virus continue to increase, it is essential for us to move to the next stage of research and attempt to better understand the virus.
 By utilizing a chemical genetics approach where numerous ligands of distinct chemical libraries are screened through high-throughput screening, we may be able to form an ordered viral cycle of metabolic events that could help identify drug targets more efficiently and coordinate drug use to improve efficacy. A modified version of the virus (to decrease its ability of infection) along with the URA3 protein is then inserted into yeast cells (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and screened. A simple assay involving the addition of 5’- fluoroorotic acid helps to determine ligand interference and after identifying the compounds, we can order their action into specific steps in the lifecycle and order the events of the life cycle.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Social isolation modulates appetite and defensive behavior via a common oxytocinergic circuit in larval zebrafish

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2020 · 14 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Neuroscience
  • Biology
  • Psychology

  ABSTRACT Animal brains have evolved to encode social stimuli and transform these representations into advantageous behavioral responses. The commonalities and differences of these representations across species are not well-understood. Here, we show that social isolation activates an oxytocinergic (OXT), nociceptive circuit in the larval zebrafish hypothalamus and that chemical cues released from conspecific animals are potent modulators of this circuit’s activity. We delineate an olfactory to subpallial pathway that transmits chemical social cues to OXT circuitry, where they are transformed into diverse outputs simultaneously regulating defensive and feeding behaviors. Our data allow us to propose a model through which social stimuli are integrated within a fundamental neural circuit to mediate diverse adaptive behaviours.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Author response: A bidirectional network for appetite control in larval zebrafish

  2019-05-13 · 1 citations

  peer-reviewOpen accessSenior author

  Brain imaging and behavioral analysis reveal two opposing states of hunger, represented by anti-correlated lateral and caudal hypothalamic dynamics that are important for the homeostatic control of feeding in zebrafish.

  PublisherDOI

• A bidirectional network for appetite control in larval zebrafish

  eLife · 2019-10-17 · 83 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Medial and lateral hypothalamic loci are known to suppress and enhance appetite, respectively, but the dynamics and functional significance of their interaction have yet to be explored. Here we report that, in larval zebrafish, primarily serotonergic neurons of the ventromedial caudal hypothalamus (cH) become increasingly active during food deprivation, whereas activity in the lateral hypothalamus (LH) is reduced. Exposure to food sensory and consummatory cues reverses the activity patterns of these two nuclei, consistent with their representation of opposing internal hunger states. Baseline activity is restored as food-deprived animals return to satiety via voracious feeding. The antagonistic relationship and functional importance of cH and LH activity patterns were confirmed by targeted stimulation and ablation of cH neurons. Collectively, the data allow us to propose a model in which these hypothalamic nuclei regulate different phases of hunger and satiety and coordinate energy balance via antagonistic control of distinct behavioral outputs.

  PublisherDOI

• Author response: A bidirectional network for appetite control in larval zebrafish

  2019-05-13

  peer-reviewOpen accessSenior author

  Brain imaging and behavioral analysis reveal two opposing states of hunger, represented by anti-correlated lateral and caudal hypothalamic dynamics that are important for the homeostatic control of feeding in zebrafish.

  PublisherDOI

• A novel proteolytic event controls Hedgehog intracellular sorting and distribution to receptive fields

  Biology Open · 2017-01-01 · 7 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  The patterning activity of a morphogen depends on secretion and dispersal mechanisms that shape its distribution to the cells of a receptive field. In the case of the protein Hedgehog (Hh), these mechanisms of secretion and transmission remain unclear. In the developing Drosophila visual system, Hedgehog is partitioned for release at opposite poles of photoreceptor neurons. Release into the retina regulates the progression of eye development; axon transport and release at axon termini trigger the development of postsynaptic neurons in the brain. Here we show that this binary targeting decision is controlled by a C-terminal proteolysis. Hh with an intact C-terminus undergoes axonal transport, whereas a C-terminal proteolysis enables Hedgehog to remain in the retina, creating a balance between eye and brain development. Thus, we define a novel mechanism for the apical/basal targeting of this developmentally important protein and posit that similar post-translational regulation could underlie the polarity of related ligands.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Mitochondrial chaperone TRAP1 activates the mitochondrial UPR and extends healthspan in Drosophila

  Mechanisms of Ageing and Development · 2014-09-26 · 38 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Determinants of the Drosophila Odorant Receptor Pattern

  Developmental Cell · 2012-02-01 · 34 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Reph, a Regulator of Eph Receptor Expression in the Drosophila melanogaster Optic Lobe

  PLoS ONE · 2012-05-16 · 9 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Receptors of the Eph family of tyrosine kinases and their Ephrin ligands are involved in developmental processes as diverse as angiogenesis, axon guidance and cell migration. However, our understanding of the Eph signaling pathway is incomplete, and could benefit from an analysis by genetic methods. To this end, we performed a genetic modifier screen for mutations that affect Eph signaling in Drosophila melanogaster. Several dozen loci were identified on the basis of their suppression or enhancement of an eye defect induced by the ectopic expression of Ephrin during development; many of these mutant loci were found to disrupt visual system development. One modifier locus, reph (regulator of eph expression), was characterized in molecular detail and found to encode a putative nuclear protein that interacts genetically with Eph signaling pathway mutations. Reph is an autonomous regulator of Eph receptor expression, required for the graded expression of Eph protein and the establishment of an optic lobe axonal topographic map. These results reveal a novel component of the regulatory pathway controlling expression of eph and identify reph as a novel factor in the developing visual system.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Optimizing Drosophila olfactory learning with a semi-automated training device

  Journal of Neuroscience Methods · 2010-02-15 · 10 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R01EY010112

  NIH · $2.7M · 2006

• Mechanisms of Morphogen Secretion in Visual System Development and Disease

  NIH · $2.1M · 2014–2019

• Regulation of Memory by the microRNA/RISC Pathway

  NIH · $2.0M · 2009–2014

Frequent coauthors

• Hermann Steller

  Rockefeller University

  5 shared

• Mark A. Fox

  Durham University

  4 shared

• David Botstein

  4 shared

• C. M. Wilson

  Goddard Space Flight Center

  4 shared

• Caroline Lei Wee

  Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology

  4 shared

• Maxim Nikitchenko

  Harvard University

  3 shared

• Richard E. Dearborn

  Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

  3 shared

• T. Ming Chu

  Harvard University

  3 shared

Labs

• Kunes LaboratoryPI