Ky'Era Actkins is a graduate student in Biomedical Sciences at Meharray Medical College in Nashville, TN. Ky'Era earned a Bachelor's of Science at the University of Alabama majoring in Biology. Ky'Era is a graduate student in the laboratory of Dr. Lea Davis at Vanderbilt University Medical Center as part of the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance, and she is interested in using computational genomics to study health disparities with a focus on reproductive health. Her research currently focuses on polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), where she as part of the electronic Medical Records & Genomics (eMERGE) Network have developed computable phenotyping approaches to identify cases of PCOS for downstream genomic studies. Ky'Era is also interested in diversity in research, and she is currently a member of the American Society of Human Genetics Diversity & Inclusion Task Force.
Recent Publications
- Major Depressive Disorder Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. Electronic address: andrew.mcintosh@ed.ac.uk, Major Depressive Disorder Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. Trans-ancestry genome-wide study of depression identifies 697 associations implicating cell types and pharmacotherapies. Cell 2025; 188 (3): 640-652.e9. PubMed PMID:39814019 PubMed Central PMC11829167.
- Lake, AM, Zhou, Y, Wang, B, Actkins, KV, Zhang, Y, Shelley, JP, Rajamani, A, Steigman, M, Kennedy, CJ, Smoller, JW et al.. Sexual Trauma, Polygenic Scores, and Mental Health Diagnoses and Outcomes. JAMA Psychiatry 2025; 82 (1): 75-84. PubMed PMID:39475956 PubMed Central PMC11581726.
- Carmona-Berrio, D, Adarve-Rengifo, I, Marshall, AG, Vue, Z, Hall, DD, Miller-Fleming, TW, Actkins, KV, Beasley, HK, Almonacid, PM, Barturen-Larrea, P et al.. SOX6 expression and aneurysms of the thoracic and abdominal aorta. iScience 2024; 27 (9): 110436. PubMed PMID:39262802 PubMed Central PMC11388018.
- Vue, Z, Murphy, A, Le, H, Neikirk, K, Garza-Lopez, E, Marshall, AG, Mungai, M, Jenkins, B, Vang, L, Beasley, HK et al.. MICOS Complex Loss Governs Age-Associated Murine Mitochondrial Architecture and Metabolism in the Liver, While Sam50 Dictates Diet Changes. bioRxiv 2024; : . PubMed PMID:38979162 PubMed Central PMC11230271.
- Burns, K, Mullin, BH, Moolhuijsen, LME, Laisk, T, Tyrmi, JS, Cui, J, Actkins, KV, Louwers, YV, Estonian Biobank Research Team, Davis, LK et al.. Body mass index stratified meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of polycystic ovary syndrome in women of European ancestry. BMC Genomics 2024; 25 (1): 208. PubMed PMID:38408933 PubMed Central PMC10895801.
- Meng, X, Navoly, G, Giannakopoulou, O, Levey, DF, Koller, D, Pathak, GA, Koen, N, Lin, K, Adams, MJ, Rentería, ME et al.. Multi-ancestry genome-wide association study of major depression aids locus discovery, fine mapping, gene prioritization and causal inference. Nat Genet 2024; 56 (2): 222-233. PubMed PMID:38177345 PubMed Central PMC10864182.
- Mbarek, H, Gordon, SD, Duffy, DL, Hubers, N, Mortlock, S, Beck, JJ, Hottenga, JJ, Pool, R, Dolan, CV, Actkins, KV et al.. Genome-wide association study meta-analysis of dizygotic twinning illuminates genetic regulation of female fecundity. Hum Reprod 2024; 39 (1): 240-257. PubMed PMID:38052102 PubMed Central PMC10767824.
- Beasley, HK, Actkins, KV, Marshall, AG, Garza-Lopez, E, Wanjalla, C, Scudese, E, Kirabo, A, Liu, K, Hinton, A Jr. A quick guide to networking for scientists. Trends Pharmacol Sci 2024; 45 (1): 1-4. PubMed PMID:37968220 .
- Vue, Z, Neikirk, K, Vang, L, Garza-Lopez, E, Christensen, TA, Shao, J, Lam, J, Beasley, HK, Marshall, AG, Crabtree, A et al.. Three-dimensional mitochondria reconstructions of murine cardiac muscle changes in size across aging. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 2023; 325 (5): H965-H982. PubMed PMID:37624101 PubMed Central PMC10977873.
- Actkins, KV, Jean-Pierre, G, Aldrich, MC, Velez Edwards, DR, Davis, LK. Sex modifies the effect of genetic risk scores for polycystic ovary syndrome on metabolic phenotypes. PLoS Genet 2023; 19 (5): e1010764. PubMed PMID:37256887 PubMed Central PMC10259776.