Photo of Deb Kelly

Deb Kelly

Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Director, Center for Structural Oncology

Affiliation(s):

  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences

506 Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Building

debkelly@psu.edu

814-865-8242

Personal or Departmental Website

Interest Areas:

Cryo-EM, structural biology, In situ TEM, breast cancer, glioblastoma, pancreatic cancer

 
 

 

Education

  • BS, Biochemistry, Old Dominion University, 1994
  • MS, Chemistry, Old Dominion University, 1996
  • Ph D, Molecular Biophysics, Florida State University, 2003

Publications

Journal Articles

  • Deborah F. Kelly, 2020, "Microchip-based structure determination of disease-relevant p53", Analytical Chemistry, 92, pp. 1558-15564
  • Deborah F. Kelly, 2020, "Isolation of Disease-relevant p53 for Cryo-Electron Microscopy Analysis", Nature Protocol Exchange
  • Yanping Liang, William Dearnaley, Nick A Alden, Maria J Solares, Brian L Gilmore, Kevin J Pridham, Varano, A Cameron, Zhi Sheng, Elizabeth Alli and Deborah F. Kelly, 2019, "Correcting errors in the BRCA1 warning system", DNA repair, 73, pp. 120--128
  • Nick A Alden, Varano, A Cameron, William Dearnaley, Maria J Solares, William Y Luqiu, Yanping Liang, Zhi Sheng, Sarah M McDonald, John Damiano, Jennifer McConnell and others, 2019, "Cryo-Electron Microscopy: Cryo-EM-On-a-Chip: Custom-Designed Substrates for the 3D Analysis of Macromolecules (Small 21/2019)", Small, 15, (21), pp. 1970109
  • Mary Hauser, William Dearnaley, Varano, A Cameron, Michael Casasanta, Sarah M McDonald and Deborah F. Kelly, 2019, "Cryo-EM Reveals Architectural Diversity in Active Rotavirus Particles", Computational and structural biotechnology journal, 17, pp. 1178--1183
  • Varano, A Cameron, Nick Alden, William Dearnaley, Michael Casasanta, John Damiano, Jennifer McConnell, Madeline Dukes and Deborah F. Kelly, 2019, "Customizable Cryo-EM Chips Improve 3D Analysis of Macromolecules", Microscopy and Microanalysis, 25, (S2), pp. 1310--1311
  • William Dearnaley, Beatrice Schleupner, Varano, A Cameron, Nick A Alden, Floricel Gonzalez, Michael A Casasanta, Birgit E Scharf, Madeline J Dukes and Deborah F. Kelly, 2019, "Liquid-cell electron tomography of biological systems", Nano letters, 19, (10), pp. 6734--6741
  • K J Pridham, L Le, S Guo, R T Varghese, S Algino, Y Liang, R Fajardin, C Rodgers, G Simonds, Deborah F. Kelly and Z Sheng, 2018, "PIK3CB/p110B is a Selective Survival Factor for Glioblastoma", Neuro-Oncology, 20, (4), pp. -
  • B L Gilmore, A C Varano, W Dearnaley, Y Liang, B C Marcinkowski, M J Dukes and Deborah F. Kelly, 2018, "Preparation of Tunable Microchips to Visualize Native Protein Complexes for Single-Particle Electron Microscopy", Methods in molecular biology, 1764, pp. -
  • Y Liang, W Dearnaley, A C Varano, C E Winton, B L Gilmore, N A Alden, Z Sheng and Deborah F. Kelly, 2017, "Structural Analysis of BRCA1 Reveals Modification Hot Spot", Science Advances, 3, (9), pp. -
  • C E Winton, B L Gilmore, J R Tanner, M J Dukes, Z Sheng and Deborah F. Kelly, 2017, "Tunable substrates improve imaging of viruses and cancer proteins.", Microscopy Today, 25, (4), pp. 22-27
  • Brian L. Gilmore, Yanping Liang, Carly E. Winton, Kaya Patel, Vasilea Karageorge, A. Cameron Varano, William Dearnaley, Zhi Sheng and Deborah F. Kelly, 2017, "Molecular Analysis of BRCA1 in Human Breast Cancer Cells Under Oxidative Stress", Scientific Reports, 7, (1)
  • Lynn M. DiMemmo, Cameron Varano, Jonathan Haulenbeek, Yanping Liang, Kaya Patel, Madeline J. Dukes, Songyan Zheng, Mario Hubert, Steven P. Piccoli and Deborah F. Kelly, 2017, "Real-time observation of protein aggregates in pharmaceutical formulations using liquid cell electron microscopy", Lab on a Chip, 17, (2), pp. 315-322
  • A Cameron Varano, N Harafuji, W Dearnaley, L Guay-Woodford and Deborah F. Kelly, 2017, "Preparation of Disease-Related Protein Assemblies for Single Particle Electron Microscopy", Methods in molecular biology, 1647, pp. -
  • Pratik Kanabur, Sujuan Guo, Cara M. Rodgers, Gary R. Simonds, Deborah F. Kelly, Robert G. Gourdie, Zhi Sheng and Zhi Sheng, 2016, "Patient-derived glioblastoma stem cells respond differentially to targeted therapies", Oncotarget, 7, (52)
  • Cynthia L. Browning, Qin Qin, Deborah F. Kelly, Rohit Prakash, Fabio Vanoli, Maria Jasin and John Wise, 2016, "Prolonged Particulate Hexavalent Chromium Exposure Suppresses Homologous Recombination Repair in Human Lung Cells", Toxicological Sciences, 153, (1), pp. 70-78
  • Robin T. Varghese, Yanping Liang, Ting Guan, Christopher T. Franck, Deborah F. Kelly and Zhi Sheng, 2016, "Survival kinase genes present prognostic significance in glioblastoma", Oncotarget, 7, (15), pp. 20140-20151
  • Pratik Kanabur, Sujuan Guo, Gary R. Simonds, Deborah F. Kelly, Robert G. Gourdie, Scott S. Verbridge and Zhi Sheng, 2016, "Patient-derived glioblastoma stem cells respond differentially to targeted therapies", Oncotarget, 7, (52), pp. 86406-86419
  • C E Winton, B L Gilmore, A C Demmert, V Karageorge, Zhi Sheng and Deborah F. Kelly, 2016, "A microchip platform for structural oncology applications", NPJ breast cancer, 2, pp. -
  • A. Cameron Varano, Amina Rahimi, Madeline J. Dukes, Steven Poelzing, Sarah M. McDonald and Deborah F. Kelly, 2015, "Visualizing virus particle mobility in liquid at the nanoscale", Chemical Communications, 51, (90), pp. 16176-16179
  • Brian L. Gilmore, Carly E. Winton, Andrew C. Demmert, Justin R. Tanner, Sam Bowman, Vasilea Karageorge, Kaya Patel, Zhi Sheng and Deborah F. Kelly, 2015, "A Molecular Toolkit to Visualize Native Protein Assemblies in the Context of Human Disease", Scientific Reports, 5, (1), pp. 2045-2322
  • Cameron Varano, Amina Rahimi, Madeline J. Dukes, Steven Poelzing, Sarah M. McDonald and Deborah F. Kelly, 2015, "Visualizing virus particle mobility in liquid at the nanoscale", Chemical Communications, 51, (90), pp. 16176-16179
  • A Rahimi, A C Varano, A C Demmert, L A Melanson, Sarah M. McDonald and Deborah F. Kelly, 2015, "A Non-Symmetric Reconstruction Technique for Transcriptionally-Active Viral Assemblies.", 2, (1), pp. -
  • Elliot S. Pohlmann, Kaya Patel, Sujuan Guo, Madeline J. Dukes, Zhi Sheng and Deborah F. Kelly, 2015, "Real-Time Visualization of Nanoparticles Interacting with Glioblastoma Stem Cells", Nano Letters, 15, (4), pp. 2329-2335
  • Sujuan Guo, Yanping Liang, Susan F Murphy, Angela Huang, Haihong Shen, Deborah F. Kelly, Pablo Sobrado and Zhi Sheng, 2015, "A rapid and high content assay that measures cyto-ID-stained autophagic compartments and estimates autophagy flux with potential clinical applications", Autophagy, 11, (3), pp. 560-572
  • Crystal E. Boudreaux, Deborah F. Kelly and Sarah M. McDonald, 2015, "Electron microscopic analysis of rotavirus assembly-replication intermediates", Virology, 477, pp. 32-41
  • Diana. L. Delach, Madeline J. Dukes, A. Cameron Varano, Deborah F. Kelly and Albert D. Dukes III, 2015, "Real-time imaging of lead nanoparticles in solution – determination of the growth mechanism", RSC Advances, 5, (126), pp. 104193-104197
  • Sujuan Guo, Yanping Liang, Susan F. Murphy, Angela Huang, Haihong Shen, Deborah F. Kelly, Pablo Sobrado and Zhi Sheng, 2015, "A rapid and high content assay that measures cyto-ID-stained autophagic compartments and estimates autophagy flux with potential clinical applications", Autophagy, 11, (3), pp. 560-572
  • Diana. L. Delach, Madeline J. Dukes, Cameron Varano, Deborah F. Kelly and Albert D. Dukes Iii, 2015, "Real-time imaging of lead nanoparticles in solution-determination of the growth mechanism", RSC Advances, 5, (126), pp. 104193-104197
  • Madeline J. Dukes, Albert D. Dukes, Kate L. Klein, Rebecca Thomas, Deborah F. Kelly and John Damiano, 2014, "Applications and Design of Reinforced Silicon Nitride Windows for In Situ Liquid Transmission Electron Microscopy", Microscopy and Microanalysis, 20, (S3), pp. 1090-1091
  • Madeline J Dukes, Rebecca Thomas, John Damiano, Kate L Klein, Sharavanan Balasubramaniam, Sanem Kayandan, Judy S Riffle, Richey M Davis, Sarah M McDonald and Deborah F. Kelly, 2014, "Improved Microchip Design and Application for In Situ Transmission Electron Microscopy of Macromolecules", Microscopy and Microanalysis, 20, (02), pp. 338-345
  • Nipon Pothayee, Nikorn Pothayee, Nan Hu, Rui Zhang, Deborah F. Kelly, Alan P. Koretsky and Riffle, 2014, "Manganese graft ionomer complexes (MaGICs) for dual imaging and chemotherapy", Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 2, (8), pp. 1087-1099
  • Gabriella Kiss, Xuemin Chen, Melinda A. Brindley, Patricia Campbell, Claudio L. Afonso, Zunlong Ke, Jens M. Holl, Ricardo C. Guerrero-Ferreira, Lauren A. Byrd-Leotis, John Steel, David A. Steinhauer, Richard K. Plemper, Deborah F. Kelly, Paul W. Spearman and Elizabeth R. Wright, 2014, "Capturing Enveloped Viruses on Affinity Grids for Downstream Cryo-Electron Microscopy Applications", Microscopy and Microanalysis, 20, (01), pp. 164-174
  • Sharavanan Balasubramaniam, Sanem Kayandan, Yin-Nian Lin, Deborah F. Kelly, Michael J. House, Robert C. Woodward, Timothy G. St. Pierre, Judy S. Riffle and Richey M. Davis, 2014, "Toward Design of Magnetic Nanoparticle Clusters Stabilized by Biocompatible Diblock Copolymers for T2-weighted MRI contrast", Langmuir, 30, (6), pp. 1580-1587
  • Nipon Pothayee, Nikorn Pothayee, Nan Hu, Rui Zhang, Deborah F. Kelly, Alan P. Koretsky and J. S. Riffle, 2014, "Manganese graft ionomer complexes (MaGICs) for dual imaging and chemotherapy", Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 2, (8), pp. 1087-1099
  • Joanna Kam, Andrew C. Demmert, Justin R. Tanner, Sarah M. McDonald and Deborah F. Kelly, 2014, "Structural dynamics of viral nanomachines", Technology, 2, (1), pp. 44-48
  • Gabriella Kiss, Xuemin Chen, Melinda A. Brindley, Patricia Campbell, Claudio L. Afonso, Zunlong Ke, Jens M. Holl, Ricardo C. Guerrero-Ferreira, Lauren A. Byrd-Leotis, John Steel, David A. Steinhauer, Richard K. Plemper, Deborah F. Kelly, Paul W. Spearman and Elizabeth R. Wright, 2014, "Capturing enveloped viruses on affinity grids for downstream cryo-electron microscopy applications", Microscopy and Microanalysis, 20, (1), pp. 164-174
  • Madeline J. Dukes, Rebecca Thomas, John Damiano, Kate L. Klein, Sharavanan Balasubramaniam, Sanem Kayandan, Judy S. Riffle, Richey M. Davis, Sarah M. McDonald and Deborah F. Kelly, 2014, "Improved microchip design and application for in situ transmission electron microscopy of macromolecules", Microscopy and Microanalysis, 20, (2), pp. 338-345
  • Deborah F. Kelly, 2013, "In situ TEM of biological assemblies in liquid", Journal of Visualized Experiments, (82)
  • J R Tanner, A C Demmert, M J Dukes, L A Melanson, S M McDonald and Deborah F. Kelly, 2013, "Cryo-SiN – An Alternative Substrate to Visualize Active Viral Assemblies", 1, (1), pp. -
  • Brian L. Gilmore, Justin R. Tanner, Allison O. McKell, Crystal E. Boudreaux, Madeline J. Dukes, Sarah M. McDonald and Deborah F. Kelly, 2013, "Molecular surveillance of viral processes using silicon nitride membranes", Micromachines, 4, (1), pp. 90-102
  • C. E. Boudreaux, D. C. Vile, B. L. Gilmore, J. R. Tanner, Deborah F. Kelly and S. M. McDonald, 2013, "Rotavirus core shell subdomains involved in polymerase encapsidation into virus-like particles", Journal of General Virology, 94, (Pt 8), pp. 1818-1826
  • Brian Gilmore, Justin Tanner, Allison McKell, Crystal Boudreaux, Madeline Dukes, Sarah McDonald and Deborah F. Kelly, 2013, "Molecular Surveillance of Viral Processes Using Silicon Nitride Membranes", Micromachines, 4, (1), pp. 90-102
  • Madeline J. Dukes, Benjamin W. Jacobs, David G. Morgan, Harshad Hegde and Deborah F. Kelly, 2013, "Visualizing nanoparticle mobility in liquid at atomic resolution", Chemical Communications, 49, (29), pp. 3007-3009
  • Gyanesh Sharma, Jesper Pallesen, Sanchaita Das, Robert Grassucci, Robert Langlois, Cheri M. Hampton, Deborah F. Kelly, Amedee des Georges and Joachim Frank, 2013, "Affinity grid-based cryo-EM of PKC binding to RACK1 on the ribosome", Journal of Structural Biology, 181, (2), pp. 190-194
  • Brian L. Gilmore, Shannon P. Showalter, Madeline J. Dukes, Justin R. Tanner, Andrew C. Demmert, Sarah M. McDonald and Deborah F. Kelly, 2013, "Visualizing viral assemblies in a nanoscale biosphere", Lab Chip, 13, (2), pp. 216-219
  • MJ Dukes, BL Gilmore, JR Tanner, Sarah M. McDonald and Deborah F. Kelly, 2013, "In situ molecular microscopy of biological assemblies", Journal of Visual Experimentation, pp. -
  • Madeline J Dukes, Brian L Gilmore, Justin R Tanner, Sarah M McDonald and Deborah F. Kelly, 2013, "In situ TEM of biological assemblies in liquid.", Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE, (82)
  • Justin R. Tanner, Katherine Degen, Brian L. Gilmore and Deborah F. Kelly, 2012, "Capturing RNA-dependent pathways for cryo-EM analysis", Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal, 1, (1)
  • Katherine Degen, Madeline Dukes, Justin R. Tanner and Deborah F. Kelly, 2012, "The development of affinity capture devices—a nanoscale purification platform for biological in situ transmission electron microscopy", RSC Advances, 2, (6), pp. 2408-2412
  • Po-Lin Chiu, Deborah F. Kelly and Thomas Walz, 2011, "The use of trehalose in the preparation of specimens for molecular electron microscopy", Micron, 42, (8), pp. 762-772
  • Julie E. Norville, Deborah F. Kelly, Thomas F. Knight, Angela M. Belcher and Thomas Walz, 2011, "Fast and easy protocol for the purification of recombinant S-layer protein for synthetic biology applications", Biotechnology Journal, 6, (7), pp. 807-811
  • Deborah F. Kelly, Robert J. Lake, Teije C. Middelkoop, Hua-Ying Fan, Spyros Artavanis-Tsakonas and Thomas Walz, 2010, "Molecular structure and dimeric organization of the notch extracellular domain as revealed by electron microscopy", PLoS ONE, 5, (5)
  • Deborah F. Kelly, Danijela Dukovski and Thomas Walz, 2010, "Strategy for the Use of Affinity Grids to Prepare Non-His-Tagged Macromolecular Complexes for Single-Particle Electron Microscopy", Journal of Molecular Biology, 400, (4), pp. 675-681
  • Deborah F. Kelly, Danijela Dukovski and Thomas Walz, 2010, "Strategy for the use of affinity grids to prepare non-his-tagged macromolecular complexes for single-particle electron microscopy", Journal of Molecular Biology, 400, (4), pp. 675-681
  • Danijela Dukovski, Zongli Li, Deborah F. Kelly, Eric Mack and Thomas Walz, 2009, "Structural and functional studies on the stalk of the transferrin receptor", Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 381, (4), pp. 712-716
  • Deborah F. Kelly, Priyanka D. Abeyrathne, Danijela Dukovski and Thomas Walz, 2008, "The Affinity Grid: A Pre-fabricated EM Grid for Monolayer Purification", Journal of Molecular Biology, 382, (2), pp. 423-433
  • Deborah F. Kelly, Priyanka D. Abeyrathne, Danijela Dukovski and Thomas Walz, 2008, "The Affinity Grid: A Pre-fabricated EM Grid for Monolayer Purification", Journal of Molecular Biology, 382, (2), pp. 423-433
  • Deborah F. Kelly, Danijela Dukovski and Thomas Walz, 2008, "Monolayer purification: A rapid method for isolating protein complexes for single-particle electron microscopy", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105, (12), pp. 4703-4708
  • Dianne W. Taylor, Deborah F. Kelly, Anchi Cheng and Kenneth A. Taylor, 2007, "On the freezing and identification of lipid monolayer 2-D arrays for cryoelectron microscopy", Journal of Structural Biology, 160, (3), pp. 305-312
  • Julie E. Norville, Deborah F. Kelly, Thomas F. Knight, Angela M. Belcher and Thomas Walz, 2007, "7Å projection map of the S-layer protein sbpA obtained with trehalose-embedded monolayer crystals", Journal of Structural Biology, 160, (3), pp. 313-323
  • Deborah F. Kelly, Dianne W. Taylor, Constantina Bakolitsa, Andrey A. Bobkov, Laurie Bankston, Robert C. Liddington and Kenneth A. Taylor, 2006, "Structure of the a-actinin-vinculin head domain complex determined by cryo-electron microscopy", Journal of Molecular Biology, 357, (2), pp. 562-573
  • Deborah F. Kelly and Kenneth A. Taylor, 2005, "Identification of the ß1-integrin binding site on a-actinin by cryoelectron microscopy", Journal of Structural Biology, 149, (3), pp. 290-302
  • Rana C. Morris, Bonnie J. Brooks, Panayota Eriotou, Deborah F. Kelly, Sandeep Sagar, K. Lenore Hart and Mark S. Elliott, 1995, "Activation of transfer RNA-guanine ribosyltransferase by protein kinase C", Nucleic Acids Research, 23, (13), pp. 2492-2498
  • Deborah F. Kelly, , "Microchip-based structure determination of low-molecular weight proteins using Cryo-Electron Microscopy", Nanoscale, (13), pp. 7285-7293
  • Deborah F. Kelly, , "High-resolution imaging of human viruses in liquid droplets", Advanced Materials, 33, pp. 2103221
  • Deborah F. Kelly, , "Automated Tools to Advance High-Resolution Imaging in Liquid"
  • Deborah F. Kelly, , "Harnessing the Power of Structural Oncology", Microscopy Today
  • Deborah F. Kelly, , "High-resolution imaging of human cancer proteins using microprocessor materials."
  • Deborah F. Kelly, , "Advancing high-resolution imaging of virus assemblies in liquid and ice", Journal of Visualized Experiments
  • Deborah F. Kelly, , "Liquid-EM Goes Viral – Visualizing Structure and Dynamics", Current Opinion in Structural Biology
  • Deborah F. Kelly, , "Structural Insights of the SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid Protein: implications for the inner-workings of rapid antigen tests", Microscopy and Microanalysis
  • Deborah F. Kelly, Maria Solares and William Dearnaley, , "Elucidating structural variability in p53 conformers using combinatorial refinement strategies and molecular dynamics", Cancer Biology & Therapy
  • Deborah F. Kelly, GM Jonaid, Liam Kay andor, , , "Delineating Conformational Variability in Small Protein Structures Using Combinatorial Refinement Strategies", Micromachines
  • Deborah F. Kelly, , "Liquid Transmission Electron Microscopy for Probing Collagen Biomineralization", Nano Letters
  • Deborah F. Kelly, , "Rotavirus Core Shell Protein Sites that Regulate Intra-Particle Polymerase Activity", Journal of Virology
  • Deborah F. Kelly, , "The Glioblastoma Landscape: Hallmarks of Disease, Therapeutic Resistance, and Treatment Opportunities", Medical Research Archives

Magazines/Trade Publications

  • Deborah F. Kelly, , "Liquid-Electron Microscopy: Making Waves in Structural Biology", Biotechniques

Research Projects

Honors and Awards

  • President-elect, Microscopy Society of America, December 2020 - December 2023
  • President, Microscopy Society of America, January 2022 - January 2023
  • Chair of MSFB study section, National Institutes of Health, July 2020 - June 2022
  • Co-Chair, Liquid Phase Electron Microscopy, Gordon Research Conference, June 2020 - February 2022
  • Vice Chair, Liquid Phase Electron Microscopy, Gordon Research Conference, October 2018 - January 2020
  • Director of Biological Sciences, Microscopy Society of America, January 2017 - September 2019
  • Session Chair, 3D-Electron Microscopy, Gordon Research Conference, June 2017
  • Young Investigator Award, Conquer Cancer Now! Concern Foundation, May 2014 - April 2016
  • Editor-in-Chief, Critial Insights in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Taylor and Francis Publishing, August 2023

Service

Service to Penn State:

Service to External Organizations:

 


 

About

The Department of Biomedical Engineering administers the bachelor of science, master of science, and doctorate degree programs in biomedical engineering. Our work combines traditional engineering principles with medicine and technology for the betterment of human health and society. 

Department of Biomedical Engineering

122 Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Building

The Pennsylvania State University

University Park, PA 16802-4400

Phone: 814-863-6614

Email: bme@engr.psu.edu