The following was submitted as part of the CASE Newsletter for May 2026.

Dr. Grant Kolar joined Missouri S&T in 2025 as a research professor of biological sciences. He earned his M.D. and Ph.D. at the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in Microbiology and Immunology. Kolar then completed his residency in Pathology and fellowships in Ocular Pathology as well as Neuropathology at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University in St. Louis. While at Washington University he also completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Pathology and Immunology. After training, he joined the faculty at Saint Louis University School of Medicine as a research assistant professor eventually earning his full professorship during his 11 years on faculty in the Departments of Pathology, Ophthalmology, and Pharmacology and Physiology. There he taught and mentored graduate students and clinical fellows and developed his current research program and became a pioneer in spatial analysis of RNA transcript and protein in metabolic disorders (“spatial-omics”). While at SLU, Kolar also grew the small research microscopy core into the Advanced Spatial Biology and Research Histology Facility and the Research Light and Electron Microscopy Facility, which, combined, houses $3 million in advanced microscopy equipment, 2 dedicated staff, and an international portfolio of clients from research and industry.

Kolar’s research focuses on the spatial context of the expression of RNA transcripts and proteins in tissue. He applies these studies to the development and management of diabetes and rare diseases employing a national network of clinical and commercial collaborations. His group continues to use and develop cutting edge techniques to understand the architecture of diseased and health tissue and what that means for pathophysiology and treatment.

At Missouri S&T, Kolar along with Dr. Gina Yosten and Dr. Joshua Stafford, are building a metabolic disease research group that welcomes both undergraduate and graduate students and have worked together to mentor students in various stages of their careers for many years. Together this group is committed to understanding the pathophysiology of diabetes and Prader-Willi Syndrome and identifying pharmaceutical targets to treat them and their complications through numerous cutting-edge research techniques and solid research discipline.