2026 Karl Willert: Molecular Biology Researcher – H-Index, Publications & Awards

Discipline name	D-Index	World Ranking	Current World Ranking	National Ranking	Current National Ranking	Publications	Citations
Molecular Biology	44	2890	2626	1376	1236	85	16269

Overview

Karl Willert is affiliated with the University of California, San Diego in the United States. Their research primarily spans the fields of Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, with significant contributions in Medicine.

Willert's work touches on various subfields including Molecular Biology, Genetics, Oncology, Surgery, and Cell Biology. The scientist's investigations focus on several core topics:

Wnt/β-catenin signaling in development and cancer
Cancer-related gene regulation
HER2/EGFR in Cancer Research
Pluripotent Stem Cells Research
Pancreatic function and diabetes
Proteoglycans and glycosaminoglycans research
Genetics and Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Willert has published extensively, with notable papers including:

A Human Pleiotropic Multiorgan Condition Caused by Deficient Wnt Secretion (2021), New England Journal of Medicine
A FZD7-specific Antibody-Drug Conjugate Induces Ovarian Tumor Regression in Preclinical Models (2021), Molecular Cancer Therapeutics
Selective activation of FZD7 promotes mesendodermal differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (2020), eLife
Dietary intake of the red meat-derived glycan Neu5Gc fuels colorectal cancer through up-regulation of Wnt signaling pathway (2025), Cancer Letters
Glycocalyx engineering with heparan sulfate mimetics attenuates Wnt activity during adipogenesis to promote glucose uptake and metabolism (2023), Journal of Biological Chemistry

The scientist frequently collaborates with other researchers, with prominent coauthors including:

Terry Gaasterland (6 joint publications)
Myan Do (5 joint publications)
Pooja R. Sonavane (5 joint publications)
Christina Wu (4 joint publications)
Dennis A. Carson (4 joint publications)

Willert's work has appeared regularly in several publication venues. The most frequent include:

Cancer Research (4 publications)
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (3 publications)
Current Topics in Developmental Biology (2 publications)
The Journal of Urology (2 publications)
New England Journal of Medicine (1 publication)

Best Publications

Wnt proteins are lipid-modified and can act as stem cell growth factors

Karl Willert;Jeffrey D. Brown;Esther Danenberg;Andrew W. Duncan

2868
Citations
A role for Wnt signalling in self-renewal of haematopoietic stem cells

Tannishtha Reya;Andrew W. Duncan;Laurie Ailles;Jos Domen

2820
Citations
Integration of Notch and Wnt signaling in hematopoietic stem cell maintenance

Andrew W Duncan;Frédérique M Rattis;Leah N DiMascio;Kendra L Congdon

1044
Citations
β-catenin: a key mediator of Wnt signaling

Karl Willert;Roel Nusse

949
Citations
Wnt signaling: is the party in the nucleus?

Karl Willert;Katherine A. Jones

868
Citations
Wnt Signaling Regulates B Lymphocyte Proliferation through a LEF-1 Dependent Mechanism

Tannishtha Reya;Mary O'Riordan;Ross Okamura;Erik Devaney

574
Citations
Wnt-induced dephosphorylation of axin releases beta-catenin from the axin complex.

Karl Willert;Sayumi Shibamoto;Roel Nusse

498
Citations
Efficient siRNA delivery into primary cells by a peptide transduction domain-dsRNA binding domain fusion protein.

Akiko Eguchi;Bryan R Meade;Bryan R Meade;Yung-Chi Chang;Craig T Fredrickson

495
Citations
Two members of the Tcf family implicated in Wnt/beta-catenin signaling during embryogenesis in the mouse

Vladimir Korinek;Nick Barker;Karl Willert;Miranda Molenaar

468
Citations
The status of Wnt signalling regulates neural and epidermal fates in the chick embryo

Sara Wilson;Anna Rydström;Tolleiv Trimborn;Karl Willert

441
Citations
WNT signaling in the control of hair growth and structure.

Sarah E. Millar;Karl Willert;Patricia C. Salinas;Patricia C. Salinas;Henk Roelink;Henk Roelink

355
Citations
Casein kinase 2 associates with and phosphorylates Dishevelled

Karl Willert;Marcel Brink;Andreas Wodarz;Harold Varmus

348
Citations
Secreted Wingless-interacting molecule (Swim) promotes long-range signaling by maintaining Wingless solubility

Kimberly A. Mulligan;Christophe Fuerer;Wendy Ching;Matt Fish

226
Citations
Long-term human pluripotent stem cell self-renewal on synthetic polymer surfaces

David A. Brafman;Chien W. Chang;Antonio Fernandez;Karl Willert

217
Citations
Impaired Wnt–β-catenin signaling disrupts adult renal homeostasis and leads to cystic kidney ciliopathy

Madeline A Lancaster;Carrie M Louie;Jennifer L Silhavy;Louis Sintasath

197
Citations
Prodigiosin inhibits Wnt/β-catenin signaling and exerts anticancer activity in breast cancer cells.

Zhongyuan Wang;Bo Li;Bo Li;Liang Zhou;Shubin Yu

195
Citations
A Drosophila Axin homolog, Daxin, inhibits Wnt signaling

Karl Willert;Catriona Y. Logan;Anup Arora;Matt Fish

191
Citations
Efficient incorporation of human CD4 protein into avian leukosis virus particles.

John A. T. Young;Paul Bates;Karl Willert;Harold E. Varmus

174
Citations
Differential inhibition of Wnt-3a by Sfrp-1, Sfrp-2, and Sfrp-3

Lisa M. Galli;Tiffany Barnes;Tina Cheng;Lisa Acosta

164
Citations
Regulation of endodermal differentiation of human embryonic stem cells through integrin-ECM interactions.

D A Brafman;C Phung;N Kumar;K Willert

150
Citations

Frequent Co-Authors

Roel Nusse Stanford University

Terry Gaasterland University of California, San Diego

David Traver University of California, San Diego

Dennis A. Carson University of California, San Diego

Shu Chien University of California, San Diego

Sanjay K. Nigam University of California, San Diego

Joseph G. Gleeson University of California, San Diego

David Gonzalez University of California, San Diego

Kevin T. Bush University of California, San Diego

Andrew G. Elefanty University of Melbourne

External Links

Personal website of Karl Willert

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