Katherine Thompson-Peer (UCSF): Neuronal Regeneration After Dendrite Injury

Katherine Thompson-Peer examines neuronal regeneration, focusing on the ability of dendrites to regrow after injury. Talk Overview: When it comes to neuronal regeneration, very little is known about the ability of dendrites to regrow following trauma. In this lecture, Dr. Thompson-Peer describes her discovery of fundamental principles of neuronal regeneration, particularly of how neurons respond to and recover from dendrite injury. She also describes how this work is laying the foundation for a vastly understudied field of science. Speaker Biography: Dr. Katherine (Katie) Thompson-Peer earned her bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania, followed by a two-year stint at the Johns Hopkins University. She earned her PhD from Harvard University, studying the timing of neuronal development with Joshua Kaplan.  She began her postdoctoral fellowship, working with Yuh-Nung Jan at the University of California, San Francisco and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, in 2012.  Blending her interest in how neurons respond to injury with Dr. Jan’s decades of expertise in dendrite development resulted in this examination of neuronal regeneration after dendrite injury.  Her postdoctoral work has been supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) F32 and K99/R00 fellowships, and the University of California Office of the President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship program. Dr. Thompson-Peer is also committed to diversifying the scientific community, and interested in the ways that science policy and science communication can be employed towards this goal.  In recognition of some of her efforts, she was awarded the 2015 UCSF Chancellor’s Award for the Advancement of Women.