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Margarita Behrens

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Margarita Behrens
Alma materUniversidad de Chile in Santiago, Universidad Autonoma in Madrid, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Known forGene-environment interactions in CNS development
AwardsNIH Brain Initiative, NARSAD Young Investigator, Daniel X. Freedman Award
Scientific career
FieldsNeuroscience, biochemistry
InstitutionsSalk Institute for Biological Studies

Margarita Behrens is a neuroscientist and biochemist.[1] She is currently an associate professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies where her lab studies the impact of oxidative stress on the post-natal brain through probing the biology of fast-spiking parvalbumin interneurons in models of schizophrenia.[1]

Early life and education

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Behrens completed her master's degree at the University of Chile in biochemistry and then continued to the Autonoma University in Madrid to conduct a PhD in molecular biology and biochemistry.[1] Behrens then completed her post-doctoral work at Washington University in St. Louis.[2] In 2009, Behrens began working as a staff scientist as the Salk Institute where she led a group of researchers within Terry Sejnowski's computational neuroscience laboratory studying the circuitry implicated in schizophrenia in rodent models.[1]

Career and research

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In 2018, the Salk Institute appointed Behrens as Research Professor, where she remains the first and only faculty member to hold this title.[2] Her lab currently explores how environmental influences shape prefrontal cortical circuit development as a means to understand why some individuals might progress towards psychiatric illness while others do not.[3] In an effort to dissect prefrontal cortical neurons in development, Behrens' lab uncovers novel subtypes of neurons through probing their unique DNA methylation patterns.[4] Using single-nucleus sequencing technologies, Behrens has helped produce a novel dataset mapping the methylomes of both rodent and human prefrontal cortical neurons.[5] This work has increased our knowledge of the diversity of cell types which provides an important platform for other neuroscientists to ask deeper questions about neural development in both health and disease.[3] Behrens is now using the methylome dataset to ask translational question about how maternal environment may impact methylation in certain subtypes of neurons and how this may give rise to disease.[6]

Selected publications[7]

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Selected awards

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Neuroinformatics 2014: Margarita Behrens". www.neuroinformatics2014.org. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
  2. ^ a b "Salk appoints neuroscientist Margarita Behrens as Research Professor". Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
  3. ^ a b "Margarita Behrens". Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
  4. ^ Luo, Chongyuan; Rivkin, Angeline; Zhou, Jingtian; Sandoval, Justin P.; Kurihara, Laurie; Lucero, Jacinta; Castanon, Rosa; Nery, Joseph R.; Pinto-Duarte, António; Bui, Brian; Fitzpatrick, Conor (20 September 2018). "Robust single-cell DNA methylome profiling with snmC-seq2". Nature Communications. 9 (1): 3824. Bibcode:2018NatCo...9.3824L. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-06355-2. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 6147798. PMID 30237449.
  5. ^ Luo, Chongyuan; Keown, Christopher L.; Kurihara, Laurie; Zhou, Jingtian; He, Yupeng; Li, Junhao; Castanon, Rosa; Lucero, Jacinta; Nery, Joseph R.; Sandoval, Justin P.; Bui, Brian (11 August 2017). "Single-cell methylomes identify neuronal subtypes and regulatory elements in mammalian cortex". Science. 357 (6351): 600–604. Bibcode:2017Sci...357..600L. doi:10.1126/science.aan3351. ISSN 1095-9203. PMC 5570439. PMID 28798132.
  6. ^ Amodeo, Dionisio A.; Lai, Chi-Yu; Hassan, Omron; Mukamel, Eran A.; Behrens, M. Margarita; Powell, Susan B. (May 2019). "Maternal immune activation impairs cognitive flexibility and alters transcription in frontal cortex". Neurobiology of Disease. 125: 211–218. doi:10.1016/j.nbd.2019.01.025. ISSN 1095-953X. PMC 6474674. PMID 30716470.
  7. ^ "Publications". Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
  8. ^ "Salk scientists receive $12.9 million from NIH BRAIN Initiative". EurekAlert!. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
  9. ^ Sandiegobiotech (2019-08-19). "Salk scientists Margarita Behrens and Joseph Ecker to receive over $1.6 million from Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to Expand Human Cell Atlas". San Diego Biotechnology Network. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
  10. ^ a b c d "News". Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
  11. ^ "Past Klerman & Freedman Prizewinners". Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. 2017-04-11. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
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