Kelsey Martin
Kelsey Martin | |
|---|---|
Kelsey Martin at UCLA in 2018 | |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Education | Harvard University (B.A.) Yale University (M.D., Ph.D.) |
| Known for | neuronal plasticity in learning and memory |
| Awards | |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Neuroscience |
| Institutions | UCLA |
| Doctoral advisor | Ari Helenius |
| Other academic advisors | Eric Kandel |
| Website | https://martinlab.healthsciences.ucla.edu/ |
Kelsey Martin is professor emeritus of biological chemistry, psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)[1] and the executive vice president of the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) and the Simons Foundation Neuroscience Collaborations.[2] She was the former dean of David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA from 2015 to 2021.[3] She was the first woman to be named dean of the UCLA medical school and one of just a few female medical school deans in the United States.[4]
Education and career
Martin majored in English and American Language and Literature at Harvard University, earning her B.A. cum laude in 1979. She spent two years volunteering with the Peace Corps in Zaire before resuming her post-graduate education.[5] Martin returned to the United States and obtained her M.D./Ph.D. from Yale University in 1992. Her graduate thesis work investigated the nuclear transport of influenza virus ribonucleoproteins in the laboratory of Ari Helenius. She went on to postdoctoral training with Eric Kandel at the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior at Columbia University. At Columbia University, she made the seminal discovery that a single axonal branch can be the substrate for synaptic plasticity associated with learning and memory.
Research
Martin's research focuses on the cell biology of synaptic plasticity, the process by which neurons change the strength of their connections with experience to form memories. She has identified soluble synaptic signaling molecules and transcriptional regulators that undergo stimulus-induced synapse to nucleus transport[6][7][8] and discovered a role for the local translation of synaptically, localized mRNAs during synapse-specific forms of plasticity.[9] She has also elucidated cell biological mechanisms underlying the transport of transcripts from soma to the synapse as well as mechanisms underlying their local, activity-dependent translation.[10][11]
Honors
In 2016, Martin was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[12]
In 2016, Martin was elected to the National Academy of Medicine.[13]
In 2024, Martin was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.[14]
Personal life
Martin is the daughter of the late George Martin, professor of pathology emeritus at the University of Washington and a prominent researcher in the study of human aging.[15] Her husband, Joel Braslow, is an M.D.-Ph.D. psychiatrist-historian at Columbia University. The couple has four children.
References
- ^ "Kelsey C. Martin | The Martin Lab". martinlab.healthsciences.ucla.edu. October 7, 2024. Retrieved December 22, 2025.
- ^ "Kelsey Martin to Lead the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative, Neuroscience Collaborations". Simons Foundation. July 12, 2021. Retrieved December 22, 2025.
- ^ "Kelsey C. Martin | The Martin Lab". martinlab.healthsciences.ucla.edu. October 7, 2024. Retrieved December 22, 2025.
- ^ "Dean of David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA discusses her top priorities". UCLA. Retrieved December 22, 2025.
- ^ "Dr. Kelsey Martin: From Peace Corps volunteer to medical school leader". UCLA. Retrieved December 22, 2025.
- ^ Thompson, Kimberly R.; Otis, Klara Olofsdotter; Chen, Dillon Y.; Zhao, Yali; O'Dell, Thomas J.; Martin, Kelsey C. (December 16, 2004). "Synapse to nucleus signaling during long-term synaptic plasticity; a role for the classical active nuclear import pathway". Neuron. 44 (6): 997–1009. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2004.11.025. ISSN 0896-6273. PMID 15603742.
- ^ Ch'ng, Toh Hean; Uzgil, Besim; Lin, Peter; Avliyakulov, Nuraly K.; O'Dell, Thomas J.; Martin, Kelsey C. (July 6, 2012). "Activity-dependent transport of the transcriptional coactivator CRTC1 from synapse to nucleus". Cell. 150 (1): 207–221. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2012.05.027. ISSN 1097-4172. PMC 4037152. PMID 22770221.
- ^ Herbst, Wendy A.; Deng, Weixian; Wohlschlegel, James A.; Achiro, Jennifer M.; Martin, Kelsey C. (December 6, 2021). "Neuronal activity regulates the nuclear proteome to promote activity-dependent transcription". The Journal of Cell Biology. 220 (12) e202103087. doi:10.1083/jcb.202103087. ISSN 1540-8140. PMC 8504181. PMID 34617965.
- ^ Wang, Dan Ohtan; Kim, Sang Mok; Zhao, Yali; Hwang, Hongik; Miura, Satoru K.; Sossin, Wayne S.; Martin, Kelsey C. (June 19, 2009). "Synapse- and stimulus-specific local translation during long-term neuronal plasticity". Science. 324 (5934): 1536–1540. Bibcode:2009Sci...324.1536W. doi:10.1126/science.1173205. ISSN 1095-9203. PMC 2821090. PMID 19443737.
- ^ Kim, Sangmok; Martin, Kelsey C. (January 8, 2015). "Neuron-wide RNA transport combines with netrin-mediated local translation to spatially regulate the synaptic proteome". eLife. 4 e04158. doi:10.7554/eLife.04158. ISSN 2050-084X. PMC 4337609. PMID 25569157.
- ^ Meer, Elliott J.; Wang, Dan Ohtan; Kim, Sangmok; Barr, Ian; Guo, Feng; Martin, Kelsey C. (March 20, 2012). "Identification of a cis-acting element that localizes mRNA to synapses". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 109 (12): 4639–4644. Bibcode:2012PNAS..109.4639M. doi:10.1073/pnas.1116269109. ISSN 1091-6490. PMC 3311331. PMID 22383561.
- ^ "Seven UCLA faculty elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences". UCLA. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
- ^ Hampton, Phil. "Two UCLA professors named to National Academy of Medicine". UCLA Newsroom. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
- ^ "National Academy of Sciences Elects Members and International Members". www.nasonline.org. April 30, 2024. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
- ^ Song, Kyung M. (May 12, 2005). "Julaine Martin, who treated life as work of art, dies". The Seattle Times. Retrieved December 22, 2025.