Karla Kaun

Last updated
Karla Kaun
Born1979
Alma mater University of Toronto
AwardsIBANGS Early Career Achievement (2018)
Scientific career
Fields Behavioral Neurogenetics
Institutions Brown University
Thesis Neurogenetic and plastic components of food-related behaviors due to the foraging gene in Drosophila melanogaster  (2007)
Doctoral advisor Marla Sokolowski
Other academic advisors Ulrike Heberlein
Website www.kaunlab.com

Karla Renea Kaun (1979) [1] is a Canadian behavioral neurogeneticist and the Robert and Nancy Carney Associate Professor of Neuroscience at Brown University. [2] [3] She studies addiction using fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster), as a model. [4] Kaun is currently president of the International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society (IBANGS). [5]

Contents

Education and career

Kaun obtained her PhD in 2007 at the University of Toronto under the supervision of Marla Sokolowski. [1] [6] She followed up with postdoctoral training with Ulrike Heberlein (2007-2011: University of California, San Francisco; 2011-2013: Janelia Research Campus). [6] In 2013 she was recruited as an assistant professor at Brown University; she was promoted to associate professor in 2020. As of 2013, Kaun has published over 40 articles that have been cited over 2300 times, giving her an h-index of 21. [7] In 2018 she was an International Behavioral and Neural Genetics Society Early Career Achievement awardee. [8]

Related Research Articles

<i>Drosophila</i> Genus of flies

Drosophila is a genus of fly, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "small fruit flies" or pomace flies, vinegar flies, or wine flies, a reference to the characteristic of many species to linger around overripe or rotting fruit. They should not be confused with the Tephritidae, a related family, which are also called fruit flies ; tephritids feed primarily on unripe or ripe fruit, with many species being regarded as destructive agricultural pests, especially the Mediterranean fruit fly.

<i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> Species of fruit fly

Drosophila melanogaster is a species of fly in the family Drosophilidae. The species is often referred to as the fruit fly or lesser fruit fly, or less commonly the "vinegar fly", "pomace fly", or "banana fly". In the wild, D. melanogaster are attracted to rotting fruit and fermenting beverages, and are often found in orchards, kitchens and pubs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Obaid Siddiqi</span> Indian geneticist (1932–2013)

Obaid Siddiqi FRS was an Indian National Research Professor and the Founder-Director of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) National Center for Biological Sciences. He made seminal contributions to the field of behavioural neurogenetics using the genetics and neurobiology of Drosophila.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Ashburner</span> English biologist (1942–2023)

Michael Ashburner was an English biologist and Professor in the Department of Genetics at University of Cambridge. He was also the former joint-head and co-founder of the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and a Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge.

Martin Heisenberg is a German neurobiologist and geneticist. Before his retirement in 2008, he held the professorial chair for genetics and neurobiology at the Bio Centre of the University of Würzburg. Since then, he continues his research with a senior professorship at the Rudolf Virchow Center of the University of Würzburg. Heisenberg studied chemistry and molecular biology in Munich, Tübingen and Pasadena. In 1975 he became Professor of genetics and neurobiology at the University of Würzburg. Heisenberg's work has focused on the neurogenetics of Drosophila, with the aim of investigating the genetic foundations of the Drosophila brain by studying the effect of genetic mutations on brain function. In addition, Heisenberg contributed a number of essays on the topics of science in society, perception, as well as the question of the freedom of the will. He was elected as a member of the Leopoldina in 1989.

Psychiatric genetics is a subfield of behavioral neurogenetics and behavioral genetics which studies the role of genetics in the development of mental disorders. The basic principle behind psychiatric genetics is that genetic polymorphisms are part of the causation of psychiatric disorders.

The International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society (IBANGS) is a learned society that was founded in 1996. The goal of IBANGS is "promote and facilitate the growth of research in the field of neural behavioral genetics".

Genes, Brain and Behavior is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research in the fields of behavioral, neural, and psychiatric genetics. It is published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society. The journal was established in 2002 as a quarterly and is currently published monthly. G2B is a hybrid open access journal, but two years after publication all content is available for free online.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Gerlai</span> Canadian behaviour geneticist

Robert T. Gerlai is a Canadian behaviour geneticist and behavioural neuroscientist.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wim Crusio</span> Dutch behavioral neurogeneticist

Wim E. Crusio is a Dutch behavioral neurogeneticist and a directeur de recherche with the French National Centre for Scientific Research in Talence, France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacqueline Crawley</span> American behavioral neuroscientist

Jacqueline N. Crawley is an American behavioral neuroscientist and an expert on rodent behavioral analysis. Since July 2012, she is the Robert E. Chason Chair in Translational Research in the MIND Institute and professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine in Sacramento. Previously, from 1983–2012, she was chief of the Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience in the intramural program of the National Institute of Mental Health. Her translational research program focuses on testing hypotheses about the genetic causes of autism spectrum disorders and discovering treatments for the diagnostic symptoms of autism, using mouse models. She has published more than 275 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals and 110 review articles and book chapters. According to Scopus, her works have been cited over 36,000 times, giving her an h-index of 99. She has co-edited 4 books and is the author of What's Wrong With my Mouse? Behavioral Phenotyping of Transgenic and Knockout Mice, which was very well received.

Justin S. Rhodes is an American neuroscientist and a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is affiliated with the Neuroscience Program, Program of Ecology, Evolution, & Conservation Biology, the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, and the Neurotech group at Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. After receiving a Bachelor of Science in biology at Stanford University, Rhodes obtained a PhD in zoology in 2002 from University of Wisconsin–Madison, under the supervision of Theodore Garland, Jr. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Oregon Health & Science University, he held a position as an instructor at Lewis & Clark College for a year before accepting a full-time faculty position in 2005 in the biological division of the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois. His lab investigates a broad array of topics in the field of neuroscience with particular emphasis in exercise-induced hippocampal neurogenesis, neural circuitry involved in addictive behaviors, and brain plasticity in clownfish.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">K. Vijayraghavan</span> Indian scientist

Dr. Krishnaswamy VijayRaghavan is an emeritus professor and former director of the National Centre for Biological Sciences. On 26 March 2018, the Government of India appointed him as the principal scientific adviser to succeed Dr. R Chidamabaram. His term as Principal Scientific Adviser ended on April 2, 2022. In 2012, he was elected a fellow of The Royal Society and in April 2014 he was elected as a foreign associate of the US National Academy of Sciences. He was conferred the Padma Shri on 26 January 2013 and is also a recipient of the Infosys Prize in the life sciences category in 2009.

Douglas Leon Wahlsten is a Canadian neuroscientist, psychologist, and behavior geneticist. He is a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Alberta. As of 2011, he was also a visiting professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in North Carolina, United States. He is known for his laboratory research on the behavior of mice, and for his theoretical writings on a wide range of other topics. His laboratory research has included studies of the effects of different laboratory environments and experimenter characteristics on the results of mouse studies. He and his colleagues have also developed an altered form of the rotarod performance test involving wrapping sandpaper around the rod, to reduce the ability of mice to grip the rod and ride around on it. He has criticized some of his fellow behavior geneticists for trying to separate the effects of genes and the environment on human intelligence, an endeavor he considers futile. He also met and became friends with Leilani Muir, later helping to edit her autobiography, A Whisper Past. He was the president of the International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society from 2000 to 2001.

Marla B. Sokolowski is a University Professor in the Departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto. Sokolowski is a scientist whose work is widely considered to be groundbreaking, foundational for a variety of fields, and instrumental in refutations of genetic determinism, and has, according to the Royal Society of Canada, "permanently changed the way we frame questions about individual differences in behaviour". Sokolowski's comprehensive study of the fruit fly and other animal systems, including humans, has shaped fundamental concepts in behavioural evolution, plasticity, and genetic pleiotropy. Specifically, Sokolowski is best known for her discovery of the foraging gene. Sokolowski was the 2020 recipient of the Flavelle Medal. Sokolowski is only one of two women to ever win the award- the other being Margaret Newton in 1948.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pavan Ramdya</span> US-American neuroscientist

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reinhard F. Stocker</span> Swiss biologist

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ikue Mori (scientist)</span> Japanese scientist

Ikue Mori is a Japanese scientist. She is known for her work on molecular, cellular and neural circuit analyses of thermotaxis behavior in C. elegans. She is Director of Neuroscience Institute and Professor of Molecular Neurobiology of the Graduate School of Science in Nagoya University, Japan. In 2013, she became the first woman to receive Tokizane Award, the most prestigious neuroscience award in Japan, and in 2017, was awarded Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon.

References

  1. 1 2 "Neurogenetic and plastic components of food-related behaviors due to the foraging gene in Drosophila melanogaster". Aurora. WorldCat. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
  2. "Kaun, Karla". Researchers@Brown. Brown University. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
  3. "ABOUT US". kaunlab. Brown University. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
  4. "Kaun Lab | Behavioral Neurogenetics of Addiction". kaunlab. Brown University. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
  5. "Executive Committee". www.ibangs.org. International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
  6. 1 2 "CV Karla R. Kaun" (PDF). Kaunlab. Brown University. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
  7. "Karla R. Kaun". Google Scholar . Retrieved 14 August 2023.
  8. "IBANGS Awards". www.ibangs.org. International Behavioral and Neural Genetics Society. Retrieved 14 August 2023.