Kimberly Butler

Senior Member of the Technical Staff

Author profile picture

Senior Member of the Technical Staff

kimbutl@sandia.gov

(505) 284-7642

Sandia National Laboratories, New Mexico
P.O. Box 5800
Albuquerque, NM 87185-0895

Biography

Kimberly Butler’s major scientific interests relate to detection and separation of normal and disease states and the development of therapeutics for a range of diseases. In the detection realm, she has an interest in the development of sensors and imaging modalities that can both follow normal states in real time and can detect disease states at early stages. The ability to follow both normal and disease states in real time is critical to understanding the development of disease, developing early detection strategies and to develop new therapeutic strategies. Butler’s interest in therapeutics combines with her interests in nanomaterials to focus on the development of strategies to deliver difficult therapeutic cargo, such as CRISPR components, or deliver cargo more specifically to the target of interest. Her research centers on the intersection of nanomaterials and biology, genetics and genome editing, and novel imaging modalities.

Education

Bachelor’s Degree: Biochemistry, Reed College (1996-2001)

Doctoral Degree: Biomedical Sciences, University of New Mexico (2001-2008)

Postdoctoral Fellowships:

  • Department of Pathology, University of New Mexico School of Medicine (2008-2011)
  • Interagency Oncology Taskforce Fellowship, National Cancer Institute and Food and Drug Administration (2011-2013)

During Butler’s graduate work in Biomedical Sciences, she developed methods to examine the role of telomere length, allelic imbalance, and telomere associated proteins in the prognosis of breast and prostate cancer. During her first postdoctoral appointment, she expanded her skills and built on her previous training in cancer biology to include her interests in material sciences and physics as part of an interdisciplinary group looking to detect leukemia, ovarian cancer, breast cancer, and T-cell infiltration in transplant rejection using targeted superparamagnetic nanoparticles and MRI or SQUID imaging. To further expand her education and experience, she applied for and was selected for an IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) Postdoctoral Fellowship in Clinical and Translational Research. During her time as an INBRE fellow, Butler completed a year of coursework in all aspects of Clinical and Translational research, culminating in a certificate of education for the Clinical and Translational Science Center at the UNM School of Medicine. As part of the leukemia research, she acted as part of a group that submitted a Pre- investigational device exemption (IDE) application to the Center for Devices and Radiologic Health at the FDA. At this point, Butler realized the importance of understanding the FDA perspective for development of novel medical and imaging technologies. To gain understanding in this area, she applied for and was selected as one of 5 fellows in Product Research and Review through the Interagency Oncology Task Force fellowship sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and the Food and Drug Administration. This fellowship allowed Butler to perform research and train in regulatory review of medical devices and nanotechnology.  During this fellowship, she focused on researching nanotechnology as applied to medicine and next generation sequencing in disease detection.

Research Interests

Genetics and Genome Editing

Genetic material can be utilized to detect and diagnose disease, develop personalized or infection specific strategies of treatment and genome editing, such as the use of CRISPR technology, can treat or prevent disease. Butler’s work in this area focuses on understanding the use of next generation sequencing technology to detect disease and CRISPR enabled technology to prevent or treat infection.

Representative publications:

  • Butler K.S., Young M.Y.L., Li Z., Elespuru R.K., and Wood S.C. Performance Characteristics of the AmpliSeq Cancer Hotspot Panel v2 in combination with the Ion Torrent Next Generation Sequencing Personal Genome Machine. 2016:  Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology. 74:178-186.

Nanomaterials and Biology

Nanomaterials hold the promise to treat diseases without the use of traditional antibiotics, alter the biodistribution of therapeutic agents and to selectively deliver therapeutic agents to the site of disease. Butler’s research in this area focuses in two areas.

Understanding the interaction of nanomaterials with biology through examination the interactions of nanoparticles with bacteria and with mammalian cells at the cellular and whole organism level.

Representative publications:

  • Dogra P., Adolphi N.L., Wang Z., Lin Y-S., Butler K.S., Durfee P.N., Croissant J.G., Noureddine A., Coker E.N., Bearer E.L., Cristini V., Brinker C.J. Establishing the effects of mesoporous silica nanoparticle size and surface chemistry on in vivo disposition using imaging-based pharmacokinetics. 2018. Nature Communications. Accepted.
  • Butler K.S., Peeler D.J., Casey B.J., Dair B.J., and Elespuru R.K. Silver Nanoparticles: Correlating NP Size and Cellular Uptake with Genotoxicity. 2015: Mutagenesis. 30(4):577-91
  • Butler K.S., Casey B.J., Garbocauskas G.V.M., Dair B.J. and Elespuru R.K.  Assessment of titanium dioxide nanoparticle effects in bacteria: association, uptake, mutagenicity, co-mutagenicity and DNA repair inhibition 2014: Mutation Research. 768:14-22.

Developing nanomaterial based therapeutic delivery vehicles through careful design and selection of nanomaterials for biocompatible and tailored delivery of therapeutic cargo.

Representative publications:

  • Villegas M.R., Baeza A., Noureddine A., Durfee, P. Butler K.S., Agola J., Brinker C.J., Vallet Regí M. Multifunctional Protocells for Enhanced Penetration in 3D Extracellular Tumoral Matrices. 2018. Chemistry of Materials. 30:112-120.
  • Durfee P.N., Lin Y-S., Dunphy D.R. Muñiz A.J., Butler K.S., Humphrey K.R., Lokke A.J., Agola J.O., Chou S.S., Chen I-M., Wharton W., Townson J.L., Willman C.L., Brinker C.J., Nanoparticle-Supported Lipid Bilayers (Protocells) for Active Targeting and Delivery to Individual Leukemia Cells. 2016. ACS Nano. 10: 8325-45
  • Yao V. J., D’Angelo S., Butler K.S., Theron C., Smith, T.L., Marchiò S., Gelovani, J.G.,   Dobroff, A.S., Brinker, C.J., Bradbury A.M., Arap W., Pasqualini R.   Ligand-targeted theranostic nanomedicines against cancer. Review. 2016: Journal of Controlled Release. 240:267-286.

Novel Imaging Modalities

Butler has an interest in the development of nanoparticle imaging agents and novel imaging strategies to allow early detection of diseases and detection of disease states not currently amenable to detection. Her work in this area has focused in two areas.

Magnetic detection through the development of targeted superparamagentic iron oxide nanoparticles for specific detection of specific cells of interest. These particles were designed to utilize MRI imaging or a new, novel and potentially more sensitive imaging strategy which utilizes Super Conducting Quantum Interference Devices (SQUIDs).

Representative publications:

  • Butler K.S., Adolphi N.L., Bryant H.C., Lovato D.M., Larson R.S., and Flynn E.R.  Modeling the efficiency of a magnetic needle for collecting magnetic cells.  2014: Physics in Medicine & Biology. 59:3319-3335.
  • Butler K.S., Lovato D.M., Adolphi N.L., Belfon R., Tessier T.E., Fegan D.L., Hathaway H.J., Huber D.L., Bryant H.C., Flynn E.R., and Larson R.S.  Development of antibody-tagged nanoparticles for detection of transplant rejection using biomagnetic sensors. 2013: Cell Transplantation. 22:1943-54.
  • Hathaway H.J.*, Butler K.S.*, Adolphi N.L., Lovato D.M., Belfon R., Fegan D.L., Monson T.C., Huber D.L., Jaetao J.E., Tessier T.E., Bryant H.C., Larson R.L., and Flynn E.R.  Detection of breast cancer cells using targeted magnetic nanoparticles and ultra-sensitive magnetic field sensors.  2011: Breast Cancer Research. 13:R108. *Authors contributed equally to this work
  • Jaetao J.E.*, Butler K.S.*, Adolphi N.L., Lovato D.M., Bryant H.C., Rabinowitz I., Winter S.S., Tessier T.E., Hathaway H.J., Bergemann C., Flynn E.R., and Larson R.S.  Enhanced leukemia cell detection using a novel magnetic needle and nanoparticles.  2009: Cancer Research. 69(21):8310-6. *Authors contributed equally to this work

NIR imaging

Through the development of Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) which utilize the second NIR imaging window.  The use of the second NIR window reduces biological interference with imaging, allowing increased sensitivity.

Representative publications:

  • Sava Gallis D.F., Butler, K.S., Rohwer, L.E.S., McBride, A.A., Vincent, G., Chong, C.V., Pearce, C.J., Luk, T.S. Biocompatible MOFs with High Absolute Quantum Yield for Bioimaging in the Second Near Infrared Window. 2018. CrystEngComm. 20:5919-5924.
  • Sava Gallis D.F., Rohwer, L.E.S., Rodriguez, M.A., Barnhart-Dailey M.C., Butler K.S., Luk, T.S., Timlin, J.A., Chapman, K.W. Multifunctional, Tunable Metal-Organic Framework Materials Platform for Bioimaging Applications. 2017. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. 9:22268-77.

Awards, Honors, and Memberships

  • University of New Mexico Innovation Award, University of New Mexico, (March 2016)
  • Interagency Oncology Task Force (IOTF) Fellowship in Oncology Product Research and Review, National Cancer Institute and Food and Drug Administration, (November 2011)
  • IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) Postdoctoral Fellowship in Clinical and Translational Research, University of New Mexico, (December 2009)

Publications

Dorina Sava Gallis, Kimberly Butler, Charles Pearce, N. Valdez, M. Rodriguez, (2022). Programmable Photoluminescence via Intrinsic and DNA-Fluorophore Association in a Mixed Cluster Heterometallic MOF ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.1c24477 Publication ID: 80501

Jacob Deneff, Lauren Rohwer, Kimberly Butler, N. Valdez, M. Rodriguez, Ting Luk, Dorina Sava Gallis, (2022). Covert MOF-Based Photoluminescent Tags via Tunable Linker Energetics ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.1c20432 Publication ID: 80502

Jacob Deneff, Kimberly Butler, Paul Kotula, Elizabeth Nail, Braden Rue, Dorina Sava Gallis, (2021). Targeted Synthesis of ZIF Nanoparticles for Biological Applications https://doi.org/10.2172/1882134 Publication ID: 75233

Jacob Deneff, Kimberly Butler, Lauren Rohwer, Charles Pearce, N. Valdez, M. Rodriguez, Ting Luk, Dorina Sava Gallis, (2021). Optical Encoding Via Rational Design of Heterometallic Rare-Earth MOFs https://doi.org/10.2172/1882470 Publication ID: 75254

Matthew Hirakawa, Nikki Tjahjono, Yooli Light, Prem Chintalapudi, Steven Branda, Kimberly Butler, Raga Krishnakumar, (2021). Augmentation of Antibacterial Activity in Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Through Systems-Level Analysis and CRISPR-mediated Activation of CD14 https://doi.org/10.2172/1868446 Publication ID: 78467

Jacob Deneff, Kimberly Butler, Lauren Rohwer, Charles Pearce, N. Valdez, M. Rodriguez, Ting Luk, Dorina Sava Gallis, (2021). Encoding Multilayer Complexity in Anti-Counterfeiting Heterometallic MOF-Based Optical Tags Angewandte Chemie – International Edition https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202013012 Publication ID: 71623

Dorina Sava Gallis, Jacob Deneff, Kimberly Butler, Lauren Rohwer, M. Rodriguez, N. Valdez, Ting Luk, Charles Pearce, (2020). Structure-Function Versatility in Metal-Organic Frameworks: Molecular Insights at the Nanoscale https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1833500 Publication ID: 71972

Jacob Deneff, Kimberly Butler, Lauren Rohwer, Charles Pearce, N. Valdez, M. Rodriguez, Ting Luk, Dorina Sava Gallis, (2020). Encoding Multilayer Complexity in MOF-Based Optical Tags https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1834471 Publication ID: 72031

Jimin Guo, Jacob Agola, Rita Serda, Stefan Franco, Qi Lei, Lu Wang, Joshua Minster, Jonas Croissant, Kimberly Butler, Wei Zhu, C. Brinker, (2020). Biomimetic Rebuilding of Multifunctional Red Blood Cells: Modular Design Using Functional Components ACS Nano https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.9b08714 Publication ID: 73839

Matthew Hirakawa, Raga Krishnakumar, Jerilyn Timlin, James Carney, Kimberly Butler, (2020). Gene editing and CRISPR in the clinic: Current and future perspectives Bioscience Reports https://doi.org/10.1042/bsr20200127 Publication ID: 73844

Matthew Hirakawa, Nikki Tjahjono, Yooli Light, Prem Chintalapudi, Kimberly Butler, Steven Branda, Raga Krishnakumar, (2020). Engineering mesenchymal stromal cells for anti-microbial therapy https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1768163 Publication ID: 72795

Raga Krishnakumar, Catherine Branda, Steven Branda, Kimberly Butler, Nikki Tjahjono, Yooli Light, (2019). Characterizing and Engineering Mesenchymal Stromal Cells for Anti-Microbial Therapy https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1643235 Publication ID: 66184

Hon Leong, Kimberly Butler, C. Brinker, May Azzawi, Steve Conlan, Christine Dufés, Andrew Owen, Steve Rannard, Chris Scott, Chunying Chen, Marina Dobrovolskaia, Serguei Kozlov, Adriele Prina-Mello, Ruth Schmid, Peter Wick, Fanny Caputo, Patrick Boisseau, Rachael Crist, Scott McNeil, Bengt Fadeel, Lang Tran, Steffen Hansen, Nanna Hartmann, Lauge Clausen, Lars Skjolding, Anders Baun, Marlene Ågerstrand, Zhen Gu, Dimitrios Lamprou, Clare Hoskins, Leaf Huang, Wantong Song, Huiliang Cao, Xuanyong Liu, Klaus Jandt, Wen Jiang, Betty Kim, Korin Wheeler, Andrew Chetwynd, Iseult Lynch, Seyed Moghimi, André Nel, Tian Xia, Paul Weiss, Bruno Sarmento, José das Neves, Hélder Santos, Luis Santos, Samir Mitragotri, Steve Little, Dan Peer, Mansoor Amiji, Maria Alonso, Alke Petri-Fink, Sandor Balog, Aaron Lee, Barbara Drasler, Barbara Rothen-Rutishauser, Stefan Wilhelm, Handan Acar, Roger Harrison, Chuanbin Mao, Priyabrata Mukherjee, Rajagopal Ramesh, Lacey McNally, Sara Busatto, Joy Wolfram, Paolo Bergese, Mauro Ferrari, Ronnie Fang, Liangfang Zhang, Jie Zheng, Chuanqi Peng, Bujie Du, Mengxiao Yu, Danielle Charron, Gang Zheng, Chiara Pastore, (2019). On the issue of transparency and reproducibility in nanomedicine Nature Nanotechnology https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-019-0496-9 Publication ID: 69718

Prem Chintalapudi, Matthew Hirakawa, Nikki Tjahjono, Steven Branda, Kimberly Butler, Raga Krishnakumar, (2019). CRISPR-based Genetic Engineering of Mesenchymal Stem Cells https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1641290 Publication ID: 69980

Braden Rue, Elizabeth Nail, James Carney, Kimberly Butler, Robert Johnston, (2019). Verification of CRISPR-Cas9 Gene Editing https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1807151 Publication ID: 69804

Colleen Courtney, Robert Johnston, Annette LaBauve, Nicole Collete, Saada Edwin, Oscar Negrete, Steven Branda, Kimberly Butler, Joseph Schoeniger, (2019). Nanoparticle Delivery Platforms for Controlled Inhibition of CRISPR Gene Editing https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1648796 Publication ID: 68578

Rekha Rao, Jonathan Clausen, Justin Wagner, Kimberly Butler, Dan Bolintineanu, Leo Liu, Cyrus Aidun, Richard Martin, (2019). Multiscale Modeling of Nanoparticle Transport in the Vasculature: Upscaling Red-Blood Cell Models to the Continuum Scale https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1639568 Publication ID: 67750

Nikki Tjahjono, Matthew Hirakawa, Yooli Light, Steven Branda, Kimberly Butler, (2019). Characterizing and Engineereing Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Antimicrobial Therapy https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1602946 Publication ID: 67212

Prashant Dogra, Natalie Adolphi, Zhihui Wang, Yu Lin, Kimberly Butler, Paul Durfee, Eric Coker, Elaine Bearer, Vittorio Cristini, C. Brinker, (2018). Establishing the effects of mesoporous silica nanoparticle properties on in vivo disposition using imaging-based pharmacokinetics Nature Communications https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06730-z Publication ID: 64147

Jonathan Clausen, Zixiang Liu, Dan Bolintineanu, Jeremy Lechman, Justin Wagner, Kimberly Butler, Rekha Rao, Cyrus Aidun, (2018). Analysis of nanoparticle transport in blood flow through microvascular bifurcations https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1806962 Publication ID: 60274

Rekha Rao, Justin Wagner, Kimberly Butler, Jonathan Clausen, Richard Martin, Leo Liu, (2018). Continuum Modeling of Nanoparticles Transport In Vivo Through Bifurcations https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1806913 Publication ID: 59529

Yooli Light, Matthew Hirakawa, Nikki Tjahjono, Steven Branda, Kimberly Butler, Raga Krishnakumar, (2018). Mesenchymal stem cell-based therapy for infectious disease https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1594331 Publication ID: 59391

Dorina Sava Gallis, Lauren Rohwer, Kimberly Butler, Ting Luk, (2018). Biocompatible near-infrared MOF fluorophores for bio-imaging applications https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1508454 Publication ID: 61207

William Corbin, Amber McBride, Kimberly Butler, Bernadette Hernandez-Sanchez, (2018). Synthesis of core/shell nanoparticles and their impact on cytotoxicity of A549 lung cells https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1501989 Publication ID: 61112

María Villegas, Alejandro Baeza, Achraf Noureddine, Paul Durfee, Kimberly Butler, Jacob Agola, C. Brinker, María Vallet-Regí, (2018). Multifunctional Protocells for Enhanced Penetration in 3D Extracellular Tumoral Matrices Chemistry of Materials https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.7b03128 Publication ID: 63825

Rekha Rao, Jonathan Clausen, Scott Roberts, Jeremy Lechman, Justin Wagner, Kimberly Butler, Dan Bolintineanu, C. Brinker, Leo Liu, (2017). Continuum modeling of Nanoparticle Transport in the Vasculature https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1477917 Publication ID: 53541

Kimberly Butler, Paul Durfee, Walker Wharton, Achraf Noureddine, I-Ming Chen, Cheryl Willman, C. Brinker, David Teachey, David Barrett, Stephen Grupp, (2017). Active targeting and Small Molecule Delivery to Individual Leukemia Cells Utilizing Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticle-Supported Bilayers (Protocells) https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1468316 Publication ID: 58228

Anne Noonan, Amber McBride, Kimberly Butler, Jerilyn Timlin, (2017). Characterizing Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticle for Drug Delivery through TIRF and HCF Microscopy https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1507069 Publication ID: 57338

Dorina Sava Gallis, Dorina Sava Gallis, Lauren Rohwer, Lauren Rohwer, M. Rodriguez, M. Rodriguez, Meghan Dailey, Meghan Dailey, Kimberly Butler, Kimberly Butler, Ting Luk, Ting Luk, Jerilyn Timlin, Jerilyn Timlin, Karena Chapman, Karena Chapman, (2017). Multifunctional, Tunable Metal–Organic Framework Materials Platform for Bioimaging Applications [A Multifunctional Tunable MOF Materials Platform for Bio-Imaging Applications] ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.7b05859 Publication ID: 53845

Kimberly Butler, Kimberly Butler, Rita Serda, Rita Serda, Achraf Noureddine, Achraf Noureddine, Ayse Muniz, Ayse Muniz, Darryl Sasaki, Darryl Sasaki, Oscar Negrete, Oscar Negrete, C. Brinker, C. Brinker, (2017). Responsive Programmable Assembly of Active Colloids for Functional Materials https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1456744 Publication ID: 56073

Dorina Sava Gallis, Dorina Sava Gallis, Lauren Rohwer, Lauren Rohwer, M. Rodriguez, M. Rodriguez, Meghan Dailey, Meghan Dailey, Kimberly Butler, Kimberly Butler, Ting Luk, Ting Luk, Jerilyn Timlin, Jerilyn Timlin, Karena Chapman, Karena Chapman, (2017). Multifunctional MOF Materials Platform for Biomedical Applications https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1456383 Publication ID: 55584

Rekha Rao, Jonathan Clausen, Jeremy Lechman, Mark Ferraro, Scott Roberts, David Noble, Justin Wagner, Kimberly Butler, C. Brinker, (2017). Towards Modeling Biodistribution of Nanoparticles in Vivo https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1455360 Publication ID: 54815

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