Hollis T. Cline is an American

neuroscientist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist who has specialised knowledge in neuroscience, a branch of biology that deals with the physiology, biochemistry, psychology, anatomy and molecular biology of neurons, Biological neural network, n ...

and the Director of the Dorris Neuroscience Center at the

Scripps Research Scripps Research, previously known as The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), is a nonprofit American medical research facility that focuses on research and education in the biomedical sciences. Headquartered in San Diego, California, the institu ...

Institute in California. Her research focuses on the impact of sensory experience on brain development and plasticity. Cline is a Fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

and was awarded the

Society for Neuroscience The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) is a professional society, headquartered in Washington, DC, 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 kn ...

Mika Salpeter Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. Cline was elected a member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, 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 Nati ...

in 2022.

Education and career

Cline earned a bachelor's degree in biology from

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...

in 1977. While an undergraduate, she worked at

Rockefeller University The Rockefeller University is a private biomedical research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and provides doctoral and postdoctoral education. It is classif ...

Christian de Duve Christian René Marie Joseph, Viscount de Duve (2 October 1917 – 4 May 2013) was a Nobel Prize-winning Belgian cytologist and biochemist. He made serendipitous discoveries of two cell organelles, peroxisome and lysosome, for which he shared ...

’s lab. In 1985, Cline earned a doctorate in neurobiology from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, where she studied under

Gunther Stent Gunther S. Stent (28 March 1924 – 12 June 2008) was Graduate Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. One of the early bacteriophage biologists, he was known also for his studies on the metabolism of bacter ...

. She then joined

Martha Constantine-Paton Martha Constantine-Paton is a neuroscientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is a member of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research and a professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. Overview Prior to joinin ...

’s lab at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 1985 for postdoctoral studies, In 1989, Cline joined Richard W. Tsien’s lab as a postdoctoral fellow at

Stanford University Medical Center Stanford University Medical Center is a medical complex which includes Stanford Health Care and Stanford Children's Health. It is consistently ranked as one of the best hospitals in the United States and serves as a teaching hospital for the ...

. Shortly thereafter, Cline was appointed to the faculty in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

Medical School. She moved to the

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) is a private, non-profit institution with research programs focusing on cancer, neuroscience, plant biology, genomics, and quantitative biology. It is one of 68 institutions supported by the Cancer Centers ...

in 1994, where she was promoted to Professor in 1998. While at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cline was the Marie Robertson Professor of Neurobiology, and served as the Director of Research from 2002-2006. During that period, Cline received the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award. She moved to The Scripps Research Institute in 2008, where she is Chair of the Department Neuroscience. Cline was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2012, "for seminal studies of how sensory experience affects the development of brain structures and function and for generous national and international advisory service to neuroscience". She was awarded the Society for Neuroscience Mika Salpeter Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. Cline served as the Secretary of the Society for Neuroscience in 2012 and then President of the Society for Neuroscience in 2016. She is a recent member of the Advisory Council for the National Eye Institute and is a current member of the Advisory Council for the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke and the NIH BRAIN Multi-Council Working Group.

Research

Cline's research focuses on brain development, in particular the effect of visual experience of the development of the visual system. Her studies have helped increase understanding of mechanisms controlling topographic map formation, neurogenesis, synapse formation and plasticity, neuron development, and assembly of brain circuits. Cline's study demonstrated that sensory information, particularly visual input, activates activity-dependent cellular and molecular mechanisms that eventually regulate the formation and stability of synapses to control the development of neurons, brain circuits, and behavior. According to this hypothesis, various molecular and cellular processes that have an impact on synaptic stability will ultimately have an effect on brain connectivity and function. More recently, Cline has shown that exosomes are involved in the development of neurons and brain circuitry. Cline’s studies have relevance to a variety of developmental neurological disorders such as Fragile X Syndrome, Rett Syndrome, autism spectrum disorders, and schizophrenia - which are the result of errors in the development of synaptic function and brain circuitry. Alongside her research, Cline is known for her work as a mentor and advocate.

Awards and honours

*1991 McKnight Neuroscience Scholar Award *2005 National Institutes of Health Director's Pioneer Award *2012 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science *2013 Scripps Research Institute Outstanding Mentor Award *2016 President of the Society for Neuroscience *2019 Society for Neuroscience Mika Salpeter Lifetime Achievement Award

Selected publications

* * * Cline serves on the

editorial board The editorial board is a group of experts, usually at a publication, who dictate the tone and direction the publication's editorial policy will take. Mass media At a newspaper, the editorial board usually consists of the editorial page editor, a ...

s of the ''Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, Frontiers in Neural Circuits, Journal of Developmental Biology'', and ''Neural Development''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cline, Hollis Living people American women neuroscientists American neuroscientists Bryn Mawr College alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Scripps Research faculty University of Iowa faculty Yale University faculty Year of birth missing (living people) Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences

Education and career

Research

Awards and honours

Selected publications

See also

References