Susan McConnell is a

neurobiologist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist specializing in neuroscience that deals with the anatomy and function of neurons, neural circuits, and glia, and their behavioral, biological, and psychological roles in health and disease. ...

who studies the development of neural circuits in the

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

ian

cerebral cortex The cerebral cortex, also known as the cerebral mantle, is the outer layer of neural tissue of the cerebrum of the brain in humans and other mammals. It is the largest site of Neuron, neural integration in the central nervous system, and plays ...

. She is a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

in the Department of

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, where she is the Susan B. Ford Professor of Humanities and Sciences, a Bass University Fellow, and a

Howard Hughes Medical Institute The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland with additional facilities in Ashburn, Virginia. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American busin ...

Professor. She is an elected member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

and the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

Education

McConnell graduated with a joint A.B. degree from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

and

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1879. In 1999, it was fully incorporated into Harvard Colle ...

in 1980. She did her doctoral work in the research group of

Simon LeVay Simon LeVay (born 28 August 1943 in Oxford, England) is a British-American neuroscientist. He received a bachelor's degree in natural sciences from the University of Cambridge in 1966, a Ph.D. in Neuroanatomy at the University of Göttingen in ...

and received her

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

neurobiology Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions, and its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...

from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1987. She was a

postdoctoral fellow A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary academ ...

in the laboratory of Carla J. Shatz at

Research

McConnell's research focuses on understanding how

neuron A neuron (American English), neurone (British English), or nerve cell, is an membrane potential#Cell excitability, excitable cell (biology), cell that fires electric signals called action potentials across a neural network (biology), neural net ...

s in the developing

are produced, differentiated, and connected to form functional circuits. McConnell's research showed that progression through the

cell cycle The cell cycle, or cell-division cycle, is the sequential series of events that take place in a cell (biology), cell that causes it to divide into two daughter cells. These events include the growth of the cell, duplication of its DNA (DNA re ...

plays a key role in determining the final differentiated state of a neural

progenitor cell A progenitor cell is a biological cell that can differentiate into a specific cell type. Stem cells and progenitor cells have this ability in common. However, stem cells are less specified than progenitor cells. Progenitor cells can only diffe ...

. McConnell also confirmed the hypothesis that

asymmetric cell division An asymmetric cell division produces two daughter cells with different cellular fates. This is in contrast to symmetric cell divisions which give rise to daughter cells of equivalent fates. Notably, stem cells divide asymmetrically to give rise to ...

, 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 __NOTOC__ __FORCETOC__ Notch proteins are a family of type 1 transmembrane proteins that form a core component of the Notch signaling pathway, which is highly conserved in animals. The Notch extracellular domain mediates interactions with DSL fam ...

determine whether a new daughter cell will differentiate into a neuron or remain a neural progenitor. 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. This work stood in contrast to a prevailing theory at the time, that all neuronal migration in the cortex was dependent upon

radial glia Radial glial cells, or radial glial progenitor cells (RGPs), are bipolar-shaped progenitor cells that are responsible for producing all of the neurons in the cerebral cortex. RGPs also produce certain lineages of glia, including astrocytes and ol ...

. McConnell's recent work has continued to outline the molecular mechanisms underlying neural differentiation, neuronal migration and axon guidance.

Teaching

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 The development of the nervous system, or neural development (neurodevelopment), refers to the processes that generate, shape, and reshape the nervous system of animals, from the earliest stages of embryonic development to adulthood. The field ...

since joining Stanford's faculty in 1989. From 2010 to 2012, McConnell co-chaired a university-wide commission that evaluated undergraduate education at Stanford. The commission's recommendations encouraged students and teachers "to reconsider what they do, how they do it, and why it matters", 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 A capstone course, also known as a synthesis and capstone project, senior synthesis, among other terms, is a project that serves as the culminating and usually integrative praxis experience of an educational program mostly found in American-style ...

for senior undergraduates where life-science students undertake creative projects synthesizing the arts and sciences.

Conservation photography

In addition to her career in research and teaching, McConnell is an accomplished

wildlife photographer Wildlife photography is a genre of photography concerned with documenting various forms of wildlife in their natural habitat. As well as requiring photography skills, wildlife photographers may need field craft skills. For example, some anim ...

. After photographing animals during a trip to the

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...

archipelago in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, she developed an interest in using photography to tell stories about

animal behavior Ethology is a branch of zoology that studies the behaviour of non-human animals. It has its scientific roots in the work of Charles Darwin and of American and German ornithologists of the late 19th and early 20th century, including Charle ...

. She teaches undergraduate classes on

conservation photography Conservation photography is the active use of the photographic process and its products, within the parameters of photojournalism, to advocate for Conservation biology, conservation outcomes. Conservation photography combines nature photography ...

at Stanford. Her photos have been featured in various publications including ''Smithsonian'' and ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

''. McConnell was the first non-art Stanford faculty member to have a show in the Stanford Art Gallery. Her show was called ''On the Shoulders of Giants'' and focused on

elephant Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...

s, their

poaching Poaching is the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set against the huntin ...

, and the crisis of the

ivory trade The ivory trade is the commercial, often illegal trade in the ivory tusks of the hippopotamus, walrus, narwhal, black and white rhinos, mammoth, and most commonly, African elephant, African and Asian elephants. Ivory has been traded for hundred ...

Personal life

McConnell is married to

Richard Scheller Richard H. Scheller (born 30 October 1953) is the former chief science officer and head of therapeutics at 23andMe and the former executive vice president of research and early development at Genentech. He was a professor at Stanford University f ...

, former chief scientific officer and head of therapeutics at

23andMe 23andMe Holding Co. is an American personal genomics and biotechnology company based in South San Francisco, California. It is best known for providing a direct-to-consumer genetic testing service in which customers provide a saliva testing, sali ...

and the former executive vice president of research and early development at Genentech.

Awards and honors

McConnell is a member of the

and the

, and is a

Professor. She has received many other awards and honors, including: * Krieg Cortical Discoverer, awarded by the Cajal Club (2011) * MERIT Award,

National Institute of Mental Health The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is one of 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH, in turn, is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is the primar ...

(2008) * McKnight Investigator (1997–1999) * Hoagland Prize for Undergraduate Teaching (1997) *

Society for Neuroscience The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) is a professional society, headquartered in Washington, D.C., for basic scientists and physicians around the world whose research is focused on the study of the brain and nervous system. It is especially well k ...

Young Investigator Award (1995) * McKnight Scholar (1993–1996) *

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

Presidential Faculty Fellow (1993–1996) *

Presidential Young Investigator (1991–1993) * Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow (1991–1993) * Marcus Singer Award (1990) *

Pew Scholar The Pew Charitable Trusts is an independent non-profit, non-governmental organization (NGO), founded in 1948. Pew's stated mission is to serve the public interest by "improving public policy, informing the public, and invigorating civic life". ...

in the Biomedical Sciences (1989–1994 ) *

National Research Service Award The Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (usually referred to as NRSA) are a family of grants provided by the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) for training researchers in the behavioral sciences and health sciences. ...

National Eye Institute The National Eye Institute (NEI) is part of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The mi ...

(1987–1989) * National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (1981–1984)

References

External links

*
Dr. McConnell's page on Google Scholar
* Photography website: http://www.susankmcconnell.com/ {{DEFAULTSORT:McConnell, Susan American neuroscientists American women neuroscientists Stanford University faculty 1958 births Living people Radcliffe College alumni People from Gary, Indiana Stanford University Department of Biology faculty Howard Hughes Medical Investigators 21st-century American women