Deb Kelly - Penn State Cancer Institute
Researcher Profile

Deb Kelly
Professor and Huck Chair in Molecular Biophysics, Biomedical Engineering
Scientific Program:Next-Generation Therapies
Research Interests
Dr. Deb Kelly's research focuses on innovative approaches to study biological systems, ranging from human viruses to cancer. Central to her work is high-resolution imaging, primarily cryo-Electron Microscopy (EM). Invasive breast cancer threatens the lives of women everywhere and there is no precise treatment for the disease. Her team has developed a tunable microchip toolkit to study mutations in the breast cancer susceptibility protein, BRCA1. Using this new tools, the Kelly lab expects to determine strategic insights for the molecular detection and prevention of BRCA1-related cancers. Her team is on the cutting edge of the burgeoning new field they call structural oncology.
- Electron Microscopy
- Proteins
- Cryoelectron Microscopy
- Neoplasms
- Single Molecule Imaging
- Lipids
- Glioblastoma
- Electrons
- Rotavirus
- Mutation
- Viruses
- Technology
Recent Publications
2022
Dicecco, LA, Berry, S, Jonaid, GM, Solares, MJ, Kaylor, L, Gray, JL, Bator, C, Dearnaley, WJ, Spilman, M, Dressel-Dukes, MJ, Grandfield, K, McDonald Esstman, SM & Kelly, DF 2022, 'Advancing High-Resolution Imaging of Virus Assemblies in Liquid and Ice', Journal of Visualized Experiments, vol. 2022, no. 185, e63856. https://doi.org/10.3791/63856
Jonaid, GM, Casasanta, MA, Dearnaley, WJ, Berry, S, Kaylor, L, Dressel-Dukes, MJ, Spilman, MS, Gray, JL & Kelly, DF 2022, 'Automated Tools to Advance High-Resolution Imaging in Liquid', Microscopy and Microanalysis, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 361-370. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1431927621013921
Solares, MJ & Kelly, DF 2022, 'Complete Models of p53 Better Inform the Impact of Hotspot Mutations', International journal of molecular sciences, vol. 23, no. 23, 15267. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms232315267
Pridham, KJ, Shah, F, Hutchings, KR, Sheng, KL, Guo, S, Liu, M, Kanabur, P, Lamouille, S, Lewis, G, Morales, M, Jourdan, J, Grek, CL, Ghatnekar, GG, Varghese, R, Kelly, DF, Gourdie, RG & Sheng, Z 2022, 'Connexin 43 confers chemoresistance through activating PI3K', Oncogenesis, vol. 11, no. 1, 2. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41389-022-00378-7
Solares, MJ, Jonaid, GM, Luqiu, WY, Berry, S, Khadela, J, Liang, Y, Evans, MC, Pridham, KJ, Dearnaley, WJ, Sheng, Z & Kelly, DF 2022, 'High-Resolution Imaging of Human Cancer Proteins Using Microprocessor Materials', ChemBioChem, vol. 23, no. 17, e202200310. https://doi.org/10.1002/cbic.202200310
Kelly, DF, DiCecco, LA, Jonaid, GM, Dearnaley, WJ, Spilman, MS, Gray, JL & Dressel-Dukes, MJ 2022, 'Liquid-EM goes viral – visualizing structure and dynamics', Current Opinion in Structural Biology, vol. 75, 102426. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbi.2022.102426
2021
Jonaid, GM, Dearnaley, WJ, Casasanta, MA, Kaylor, L, Berry, S, Dukes, MJ, Spilman, MS, Gray, JL & Kelly, DF 2021, 'High-Resolution Imaging of Human Viruses in Liquid Droplets', Advanced Materials, vol. 33, no. 37, 2103221. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202103221
Casasanta, MA, Jonaid, GM, Kaylor, L, Luqiu, WY, Solares, MJ, Schroen, ML, Dearnaley, WJ, Wilson, J, Dukes, MJ & Kelly, DF 2021, 'Microchip-based structure determination of low-molecular weight proteins using cryo-electron microscopy', Nanoscale, vol. 13, no. 15, pp. 7285-7293. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1nr00388g
2020
Dukes, M, Kelly, D & Varano, C 2020, 'Liquid cell TEM imaging techniques and optimization for biological samples', Microscopy and Microanalysis. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1431927620023788
Solares, MJ, Jonaid, GM, Luqiu, WY, Liang, Y, Evans, MC, Dearnaley, WJ, Sheng, Z & Kelly, DF 2020, 'Microchip-Based Structure Determination of Disease-Relevant p53', Analytical Chemistry, vol. 92, no. 23, pp. 15558-15564. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.0c03599
2019
Liang, Y, Dearnaley, WJ, Alden, NA, Solares, MJ, Gilmore, BL, Pridham, KJ, Varano, C, Sheng, Z, Alli, E & Kelly, D 2019, 'Correcting errors in the BRCA1 warning system', DNA Repair, vol. 73, pp. 120-128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dnarep.2018.11.009
Hauser, M, Dearnaley, WJ, Varano, AC, Casasanta, M, McDonald, SM & Kelly, DF 2019, 'Cryo-EM Reveals Architectural Diversity in Active Rotavirus Particles', Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal, vol. 17, pp. 1178-1183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csbj.2019.07.019
Alden, NA, Varano, AC, Dearnaley, WJ, Solares, MJ, Luqiu, WY, Liang, Y, Sheng, Z, McDonald, SM, Damiano, J, McConnell, J, Dukes, MJ & Kelly, DF 2019, 'Cryo-EM-On-a-Chip: Custom-Designed Substrates for the 3D Analysis of Macromolecules', Small, vol. 15, no. 21, 1900918. https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.201900918
Dearnaley, WJ, Schleupner, B, Varano, AC, Alden, NA, Gonzalez, F, Casasanta, MA, Scharf, BE, Dukes, MJ & Kelly, DF 2019, 'Liquid-Cell Electron Tomography of Biological Systems', Nano letters, vol. 19, no. 10, pp. 6734-6741. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b01309