Susan McConnell

Susan McConnell is a neurobiologist who studies the development of neural circuits in the mammalian cerebral cortex. She is a professor in the Department of Biology at Stanford University, where she is the Susan B. Ford Professor of Humanities and Sciences, a Bass University Fellow, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor.

Susan McConnell
Born1958
Gary, Indiana
NationalityUnited States
Alma materHarvard University
Known forNeural development
Scientific career
FieldsNeurobiology
InstitutionsStanford University
Doctoral advisorSimon LeVay

Education

McConnell graduated with a joint A.B. degree from Harvard College and Radcliffe College in 1980. She did her doctoral work in the research group of Simon LeVay and received her PhD in neurobiology from Harvard University in 1987. She was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Carla J. Shatz at Stanford University.

Research

McConnell's research focuses on understanding how neurons in the developing cerebral cortex are produced, differentiated, and connected to form functional circuits.

McConnell's research showed that progression through the cell cycle plays a key role in determining the final differentiated state of a neural progenitor cell.[1] McConnell also confirmed the hypothesis that asymmetric cell division, as determined by the orientation of the dividing progenitor's cleavage plane, regulates cortical development. Her work elucidated the first molecular mechanism for this process, showing that asymmetrically inherited Notch proteins determine whether a new daughter cell will differentiate into a neuron or remain a neural progenitor.[2]

Her work also showed that developing cortical neurons use a variety of different migratory paths as they move from their birthplace to their final destination in the cortex.[3] This work stood in contrast to a prevailing theory at the time, that all neuronal migration in the cortex was dependent upon radial glia.

McConnell's recent work has continued to outline the molecular mechanisms underlying neural differentiation,[4][5][6][7] neuronal migration[8][9] and axon guidance.[10][11]

Teaching

Stanford University has recognized McConnell with its two highest teaching honors, the Hoagland Prize for Undergraduate Teaching and the Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching. She has taught undergraduate courses on neural development since joining Stanford's faculty in 1989.

From 2010 to 2012, McConnell co-chaired a university-wide commission that evaluated undergraduate education at Stanford.[12] The commission's recommendations encouraged students and teachers "to reconsider what they do, how they do it, and why it matters",[13] and urged reforms to the university's general education programs.

In addition, Dr. McConnell and author Andrew Todhunter were the principal force behind the creation of Stanford's Senior Reflection in Biology, a capstone course for senior undergraduates where life-science students undertake creative projects synthesizing the arts and sciences.[14][15]

Conservation photography

In addition to her career in research and teaching, McConnell is an accomplished wildlife photographer. After photographing animals during a trip to the Svalbard archipelago in Norway, she developed an interest in using photography to tell stories about animal behavior.[16][17] She teaches undergraduate classes on conservation photography at Stanford. Her photos have been featured in various publications including Smithsonian[18] and National Geographic.[19]

McConnell was the first non-art Stanford faculty member to have a show in the Stanford Art Gallery.[20] Her show was called On the Shoulders of Giants and focused on elephants, their poaching, and the crisis of the ivory trade.[21]

Personal life

McConnell is married to Richard Scheller, Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Therapeutics at 23andMe.

Awards and honors

McConnell is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor. She has received many other awards and honors, including:

References
  1. McConnell, SK; Kaznowski, CE (11 October 1991). "Cell cycle dependence of laminar determination in developing neocortex". Science. 254 (5029): 282–285. Bibcode:1991Sci...254..282M. doi:10.1126/science.1925583. PMID 1925583.
  2. Chenn, A; McConnell, SK (25 August 1995). "Cleavage orientation and the asymmetric inheritance of Notch1 immunoreactivity in mammalian neurogenesis". Cell. 82 (4): 631–641. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(95)90035-7. PMID 7664342. S2CID 3200167.
  3. O'Rourke, NA; Dailey, ME; Smith, SJ; McConnell, SK (9 October 1992). "Diverse migratory pathways in the developing cerebral cortex". Science. 258 (5080): 299–302. Bibcode:1992Sci...258..299O. doi:10.1126/science.1411527. PMID 1411527.
  4. Hébert, JM; Mishina, Y; McConnell, SK (12 September 2002). "BMP signaling is required locally to pattern the dorsal telencephalic midline". Neuron. 35 (6): 1029–1041. doi:10.1016/s0896-6273(02)00900-5. PMID 12354394. S2CID 17084431.
  5. Alcamo, EA; Chirivella, L; Dautzenberg, M; Dobreva, G; Fariñas, I; Grosschedl, R; McConnell, SK (7 February 2008). "Satb2 regulates callosal projection neuron identity in the developing cerebral cortex". Neuron. 57 (3): 364–377. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2007.12.012. PMID 18255030. S2CID 6716396.
  6. Chen, B; Wang, SS; Hattox, AM; Rayburn, H; Nelson, SB; McConnell, SK (12 August 2008). "The Fezf2-Ctip2 genetic pathway regulates the fate choice of subcortical projection neurons in the developing cerebral cortex". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 105 (32): 11382–11387. Bibcode:2008PNAS..10511382C. doi:10.1073/pnas.0804918105. PMC 2495013. PMID 18678899.
  7. Srinivasan, K; Leone, DP; Bateson, RK; Dobreva, G; Kohwi, Y; Kohwi-Shigematsu, T; Grosschedl, R; McConnell, SK (20 November 2012). "A network of genetic repression and derepression specifies projection fates in the developing neocortex". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 109 (47): 19071–19078. doi:10.1073/pnas.1216793109. PMC 3511157. PMID 23144223.
  8. Schaar, BT; Kinoshita, K; McConnell, SK (22 January 2004). "Doublecortin microtubule affinity is regulated by a balance of kinase and phosphatase activity at the leading edge of migrating neurons". Neuron. 41 (2): 203–213. doi:10.1016/s0896-6273(03)00843-2. PMID 14741102. S2CID 14896246.
  9. Schaar, BT; McConnell, SK (20 September 2005). "Cytoskeletal coordination during neuronal migration". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 102 (38): 13652–71365. Bibcode:2005PNAS..10213652S. doi:10.1073/pnas.0506008102. PMC 1199551. PMID 16174753.
  10. Okada, A; Charron, F; Morin, S; Shin, DS; Wong, K; Fabre, PJ; Tessier-Lavigne, M; McConnell, SK (16 November 2006). "Boc is a receptor for sonic hedgehog in the guidance of commissural axons". Nature. 444 (7117): 369–673. Bibcode:2006Natur.444..369O. doi:10.1038/nature05246. PMID 17086203. S2CID 4412154.
  11. Chen, B; Schaevitz, LR; McConnell, SK (22 November 2005). "Fezl regulates the differentiation and axon targeting of layer 5 subcortical projection neurons in cerebral cortex". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 102 (47): 17184–17189. Bibcode:2005PNAS..10217184C. doi:10.1073/pnas.0508732102. PMC 1282569. PMID 16284245.
  12. "The Study of Undergraduate Education at Stanford". Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  13. "The Study of Undergraduate Education at Stanford University" (PDF). Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  14. "Susan K. McConnell, PhD". Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
  15. Peterson, Erin. "Bold Experiments". HHMI Bulletin. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
  16. Keim, Brandon. "Second Calling". HHMI Bulletin. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
  17. McConnell, Susan. "In a Last Wild Place". Stanford Alumni Magazine. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
  18. O'Connell-Rodwell, Caitlin. "How Male Elephants Bond". Smithsonian.com. Smithsonian. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
  19. Marsh, Laura (2013). Meerkats. National Geographic Children's Books. p. 15. ISBN 978-1426313424.
  20. University, Stanford (2019-01-30). "Science meets art". Stanford News. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
  21. "On the Shoulders of Giants - photographs by Susan McConnell | Department of Art & Art History". art.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
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