Jump to content

Cornelia Bargmann

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected fromCori Bargmann)
Cori Bargmann
Born
Cornelia Isabella Bargmann

(1961-01-01)January 1, 1961(age 63)
Virginia,U.S.
EducationUniversity of Georgia(BS)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MS,PhD)
Known forOlfactionresearch
SpouseRichard Axel
Scientific career
FieldsBiochemistry
Cancer systems biology
Neurobiology
InstitutionsRockefeller University
Doctoral advisorRobert Weinberg
Other academic advisorsH. Robert Horvitz

Cornelia Isabella"Cori"Bargmann(born January 1, 1961)[1]is an Americanneurobiologist.She is known for her work on the genetic and neural circuit mechanisms of behavior usingC. elegans,particularly the mechanisms ofolfactionin the worm. She has been elected to theNational Academy of Sciencesand had been aHoward Hughes Medical Instituteinvestigator atUCSFand thenRockefeller Universityfrom 1995 to 2016. She was the Head of Science[2]at theChan Zuckerberg Initiativefrom 2016 to 2022.[3]In 2012 she was awarded the $1 millionKavli Prize,and in 2013 the $3 millionBreakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.

Early life and education[edit]

Bargmann was born inVirginiaand grew up inAthens, Georgia.[4]Her parents are European immigrants.[5]She is one of four sisters, and the daughter of Rolf Bargmann, a statistician and computer scientist at theUniversity of Georgia.[6]She grew up playing the piano and was exposed to literature and education from a very young age. She described her family as “frighteningly well educated”.[7]She was inspired to study science because her older sister attended medical school. She also says that growing up in the space era fostered her love for science.[5]

She completed undergraduate studies at theUniversity of Georgiain 1981, with a degree inbiochemistry.While at UGA she grew her lab experience by working in Wyatt Anderson's biology lab and then in Sidney Kushner's genetics lab.[7]She completed graduate school fromMITwith a Ph.D. in the department of Biology in 1987 in the lab ofRobert Weinberg.She examined the molecular mechanisms ofoncogenesis,and helped identify the role ofRasin bladder cancer. She wrote her thesis onneu,a non-Rasoncogene.Although the relevance of her research was doubted at the time, it later led to significant treatments inbreast cancer.[7]

Career and research[edit]

Bargmann completed a postdoc withH. Robert Horvitzat MIT, working onmolecular biologymechanisms ofneuroscience.She began working on chemosensory behavior inC. elegans,and achieved several breakthroughs, demonstrating, among other things, thatnematodeshave a sense of smell.[7][8]

Bargmann accepted a faculty position atUCSFin the department of Anatomy in 1995. She was ultimately promoted from assistant professor to professor in 1998, and served as vice chair of the department from 1999 to 2000.[7]

She continued her studies of worm behavior and neural control, focusing onolfactionat the molecular level. She looked for genes similar to those found by Richard Axel and Linda Buck to be the basis of smell and taste, and found those genes in the recently sequenced genome of C elegans. Her work led to discoveries of the mechanisms underlying complex behaviors, such as feeding behaviors.[7][9]The work has continued to lead to a deeper understanding of the brain, sensory abilities, and neuronal development. Bargmann also identifiedSYG-1,a "matchmaker" molecule—a molecule that directsneuronsto form connections with each other duringdevelopment.[10][11][12][13]

In 2004, Bargmann moved toRockefeller University.[11]She says that the reason for the move is that she wanted more flexibility to focus on research.[5]She served as an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute until 2016 before she took the President ofCZI.Bargmann's lab uses a relatively simple organism, the nematode C. elegans, and its extremely sensitive sense of smell to study how genes regulate neuronal development, function, and behavior. Her work has been recognized with numerous awards including election to the National Academy of Sciences. She also served on the Life Sciences jury for theInfosys Prizein 2012.

Bargmann's research was funded by theHoward Hughes Medical Institutefrom 1995 to 2016.[14]She was the co-chair of the BRAIN initiative and the Head of Science for theChan Zuckerberg Initiative.[3]She won the Breakthrough prize in Life Sciences in 2013.[5]

Bargmann is married to fellow olfactory scientistRichard Axel,a Nobel laureate. Previously, she had been married to Michael J. Finney, who also completed graduate studies at MIT and is now a Director at Sage Science, Inc.

For a vivid portrait of Bargmann as a young scientist working in Weinberg's lab, seeNatalie Angier's bookNatural Obsessions: The Search for the Oncogene.

Notable papers[edit]

Awards[edit]

References[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

  1. ^ab"Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter B"(PDF).American Academy of Arts and Sciences.RetrievedMay 17,2011.
  2. ^"Our Leadership".Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.Retrieved2021-04-09.
  3. ^ab"Rockefeller neuroscientist Cori Bargmann to lead science work at Chan Zuckerberg Initiative | Newswire".2016-09-23. Archived fromthe originalon 2016-09-23.Retrieved2021-04-07.
  4. ^"The Kavli Prize:" Cornelia Bargmann "".Archived fromthe originalon December 3, 2013.
  5. ^abcdNeill, Ushma S. (2 July 2018)."A conversation with Cornelia Bargmann".Journal of Clinical Investigation.128(7): 2655–2656.doi:10.1172/JCI122804.PMC6025965.PMID30108194.
  6. ^abCrevar.
  7. ^abcdefghMarino, M. (22 February 2005)."Biography of Cornelia I. Bargmann".Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.102(9): 3181–3183.doi:10.1073/pnas.0500025102.PMC552904.PMID15728356.
  8. ^"Features | As the Worm Turns".2012-02-17. Archived fromthe originalon 2012-02-17.Retrieved2021-04-07.
  9. ^Wade, Nicholas (2011-06-20)."In Tiny Worm, Unlocking Secrets of the Brain".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2021-04-07.
  10. ^Friend, Tim (March 10, 2003)."Nerve cell mystery is unlocked".USA Today.
  11. ^ab"Internationally renowned neurobiologist to join Rockefeller University; Cori Bargmann discovered" matchmaker "molecule".News.Retrieved2021-04-07.
  12. ^"UCSF News Office".2005-05-08. Archived fromthe originalon 2005-05-08.Retrieved2021-04-07.
  13. ^"I Smell a... Worm".The Scientist Magazine®.Retrieved2021-04-07.
  14. ^"Cornelia I. Bargmann".HHMI.org.Retrieved2021-04-07.
  15. ^UCSF (description of paper)
  16. ^abcd"policy".AIBS.
  17. ^"Utenlandske medlemmer"(in Norwegian).Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.Retrieved27 December2021.
  18. ^"Cori Bargmann awarded 2015 Benjamin Franklin Medal".News.Retrieved2020-09-26.
  19. ^Trafton, Anne (2016-02-25)."McGovern Institute awards prize to neurogeneticist Cori Bargmann".MIT McGovern Institute.Retrieved2020-09-26.
  20. ^"Salk Institute Medal".Salk Institute.Retrieved2023-09-01.
  21. ^2024 Gruber Neuroscience Prize

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cornelia_Bargmann&oldid=1229689845"