Email

kendalh@bcm.edu

Positions

Professor

Pediatrics-Nutrition
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, TX US

Professor

Molecular and Human Genetics
Baylor College of Medicine

Professor

Program in Integrative Molecular and Biomedical Sciences
Baylor College of Medicine

Professor

USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center
Baylor College of Medicine

Associate Director of Research

Vegetables and Fruit Improvement Center
Texas AandM University

Education

BS from University Of Arizona

01/1984 - Tucson, AZ United States

MS from Arizona State University

01/1988 - Tempe, AZ United States

PhD from University Of Arizona

01/1993 - Tucson, AZ United States

Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research

01/1993 - Cambridge, Massachusetts United States

Professional Interests

• Nutritional improvement of agriculturally important crops

Professional Statement

We study both model systems biology in plants as well as translational research related to agricultural improvement. At the molecular level, our goals are to understand the structure, biological function, and regulation of transporter proteins that control trafficking into and out of the plant vacuole. Many of our molecular approaches use the standard genetic “tool kit”.

Another major goal in our group is to learn how to manipulate the expression and function of these transporters to increase the nutritional content of crop plants, improve plant productivity, and cleanse polluted soils. For this second objective, we collaborate with clinical researchers at the Children's Nutrition Research here at Baylor and faculty at the Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center at Texas AandM. Obtaining help from nutritional scientists, we perform clinical trials addressing how changes in plant architecture alter nutrient bioavailability.

Websites

Selected Publications

• Yang J, Elbaz-Younes I, Primo C, Murungi D, Hirschi KD "Intestinal permeability, digestive stability and oral bioavailability of dietary small RNAs." Sci Rep. 2018 : Pubmed PMID: 29980707
• "The atypical genesis and bioavailability of the plant‐based small RNA MIR2911: Bulking up while breaking down." : Pubmed PMID: 28319645
• "Heterodimerization of Arabidopsis calcium/proton exchangers contributes to regulation of guard cell dynamics and plant defense responses." : Pubmed PMID: 28645169
• "CAX-ing a wide net: Cation/H+ transporters in metal remediation and abiotic stress signaling." : Pubmed PMID: 27061644