Kurt W. Fisher, MD, PhD

Department Affiliations
Assistant Professor

Interests
Basic and transitional research with the goal of identifying and evaluating novel targets for therapy in gastrointestinal tumors with K-Ras mutations.
GI tract, liver, and solid organ transplant pathology

Education and Training
Fellowship, 2016-2017: Gastrointestinal and Transplant Pathology, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE
Residency, 2013-2016: Anatomic Pathology Residency, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN
MD, PhD 2005-2013: University of Nebraska Medical Center
BS, 2001-2005: University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA, Summa Cum Laude

Teaching Activities
Resident and medical student education

Notable Publications
Frodyma, DE; Troia, TC; Rao, C; Svoboda, RA; Berg, JA; Shinde, DD; Thomas, VC; Lewis, RE; Fisher, KW PGC-1β and ERRα Promote Glutamine Metabolism and Colorectal Cancer Survival via Transcriptional Upregulation of PCK2. Cancers 202214, 4879.

Rao C, Frodyma DE, Southekal S, Svoboda RA, Black AR, Guda C, Mizutani T, Clevers H, Johnson KR, Fisher KW, Lewis RE. KSR1- and ERK-dependent translational regulation of the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. Elife. 2021 May 10;10:e66608. doi: 10.7554/eLife.66608. PMID: 33970103. 

Rao C, Huisman DH, Vieira HM, Frodyma DE, Neilsen BK, Chakraborty B, Hight SK, White MA, Fisher KW, Lewis RE. A Gene Expression High-Throughput Screen (GE-HTS) for Coordinated Detection of Functionally Similar Effectors in Cancer. Cancers (Basel). 2020 Oct 27;12(11):E3143. PMID: 33120942 

Neilsen BK, Kelly DL, Chakraborty B, Kim HS, White MA, Lewis RE, Fisher KW. High-throughput identification of protein functional similarities using a gene-expression-based siRNA screen. Sci Data. 2020 Jan 21;7(1):27. PMID: 31964871.

McMillan EA, Kwon S, Clemenceau JR, Fisher KW, et al.  A genome-wide functional signature ontology map (FuSiOn) and applications to natural product mechanism of action discovery. Cell Chem Biol. 2019 Oct 17;26(10):1380-1392.e6. PMID: 31378711.

Neilsen BK, Frodyma DE, McCall JL, Fisher KW, Lewis RE. ERK-mediated TIMELESS expression suppresses G2/M arrest in colon cancer cells. PLoS One. 2019 Jan 10;14(1). PMID: 30629587.

Neilsen BK, Chakraborty B, McCall JL, Frodyma DE, Sleightholm RL, Fisher KW, Lewis RE. WDR5 supports colon cancer cells by promoting methylation of H3K4 and suppressing DNA damage. BMC Cancer. 2018 Jun 20;18(1):673. PMID: 29925347.

Das B, Neilsen BK, Fisher KW, et al. A Functional Signature Ontology (FUSION) screen detects an AMPK inhibitor with selective toxicity toward human colon tumor cells. Sci Rep. 2018 Feb 28;8(1):3770. PMID: 29491475.

Fisher KW, Das B, Kim HS, et al. AMPK promotes aberrant PGC1β expression to support human colon tumor cell survival. Mol Cell Biol. 2015 Nov 15;35(22):3866-79. PMID: 26351140.

Potts MB#, Kim HS#, Fisher KW#, Hu Y#, Carrasco YP, et al.  Using Functional Signature Ontology (FUSION) to Identify Mechanisms of Action for Natural Products. Sci. Signal. 2013 Oct 15;6(297):ra90.  #co-first author . PMID: 24129700.

Fisher KW, Das B, Robert L. Kortum, Oleg V. Chaika, and Robert E. Lewis. Kinase Suppressor of Ras1 (KSR1) Regulates PGC1α and Estrogen-Related Receptor α To Promote Oncogenic Ras-Dependent Anchorage-Independent Growth. Mol Cell Biol. 2011 Jun;31 (12):2453-61. PMID: 21518958.