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Valerie Kilman

Director of Undergraduate Studies in Neurobiology / Professor of Instruction in Neurobiology

PhD, Brandeis

Specializations

Regions(s): Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience; Systems Neuroscience; Developmental Neuroscience; Brain and Behavior; Neurogenetics

Research interest(s): neural networks underlying behavior, circadian rhythms and sleep; neural pattern generation, homeostatic plasticity

Teaching

Current

Research Summary

I am interested in the role of project-based practical laboratory experience and writing in enhancing learning. I teach the senior thesis seminar in the neuroscience major as well as a project-based laboratory course. Since joining the teaching track in 2015, I have occasionally served as the faculty mentor for undergraduates working on summer grant-funded projects. This work involved using the fruit fly Drosophila to study learned helplessness, a laboratory paradigm that models certain aspects of depression.

More generally, I am interested in the genetic and circuit underpinnings of behavior and disease. The fruit fly Drosophila is an excellent model system in which to pose questions about conserved basic biological processes such as these. Some of my own projects have included the role of a neuromodulator in biological clock resetting, the development of circadian clocks, and the role of the circadian clock in neurodegenerative disease.

Selected Publications