Kelsey Catherine Martin

Biosketch

Kelsey C. Martin MD PhD is Executive Vice President of the Simons Foundation, Autism and Neuroscience, and Professor Emerita on Active Recall in the Department of Biological Chemistry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She previously served as Dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and Chair of the UCLA Department of Biological Chemistry. After earning her BA in English and American Literature and Language at Harvard University, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in maternal and child health in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). This experience inspired her to pursue a career in science and medicine. Returning to the U.S., she received her MD and PhD in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University, followed by postdoctoral training in Neuroscience with Eric Kandel at Columbia University. She joined the faculty of the Departments of Biological Chemistry and Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA in 1999. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine. Awards include the Wilbur Lucius Cross Medal from Yale University and the Eric R. Kandel Award from Columbia University.

Research Interests

Dr. Martin’s research addresses the cell and molecular biology of long-term synaptic plasticity–the process by which neurons change the strength of their connections with experience to form long-term memories. Working in Aplysia californica and in mouse hippocampus, her research program focuses on two cell biological questions that emerge from the remarkable morphological polarity and compartmentalization of neurons: 1) how are plasticity-inducing signals transported from distal synapses to the nucleus to initiate changes in transcription during learning?; and 2) how is the synaptic proteome locally regulated to produce synapse-specific forms of long-term plasticity? In addressing the first question, the Martin lab identified soluble synaptic signaling molecules and transcriptional regulators that undergo stimulus-induced synapse to nucleus transport and elucidated the cell biological mechanisms of their transport as well as their impact on activity-dependent transcription. In addressing the second question, she identified a role for the local translation of synaptically-localized mRNAs during synapse-specific forms of plasticity. In addition to identifying many synaptically localized transcripts, her lab elucidated cell biological mechanisms underlying the transport of transcripts from soma into axons and dendrites as well as mechanisms underlying their local, activity-dependent translation. In her administrative roles at UCLA and at the Simons Foundation, she has focused on building cross-disciplinary collaborations across basic and clinical neurosciences.