Kim Finley, PhD

Kim Finley, PhD

Co-Investigator, Biomedical Methods Group

Dr. Kim Finley is an Associate Research Professor at the Shiley BioScience Center at SDSU. She received her Doctor of Philosophy from the Department of Medicine at UCSD and was a PostDoctoral Researcher and Staff Scientist in the Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Her work has largely focused on the molecular-genetic mechanisms that regulate neural development, function and age-related degeneration. At SDSU, she leads a team of scientists who investigate the aspects of a key clearance pathway called autophagy. Autophagy is essential for the removal of damaged cellular material and pathological protein aggregates. Her work has shown that autophagic function is critical for longevity and the long-term function of the nervous system. Pathway defects are closely associated with accelerated aging and common degenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s Disease. Recently, Dr. Finley’s work has expanded beyond Drosophila genetics, and has taken an integrative approach to identify factors that slow the progressive decline of the nervous system. Ongoing studies involve transcriptomic profiling following dietary manipulations, drug discovery and an examination of the dynamic physiological processes involved with severe and mild repetitive traumatic brain injury. These studies have largely centered on the ability that autophagy, stress response and inflammatory pathways have on neural aging and traumatic brain injury outcomes.  Dr. Finley also serves as a Co-Investigator on the Research Infrastructure Team at the SDSU HealthLINK Center.

See Dr. Finley’s profile for details on publications and projects.