Mary Bernadette Kennedy (born 1947) is an American biochemist and neuroscientist. She is a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) 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, a ...

, and is the Allen and Lenabelle Davis Professor of Biology at the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

, where she has been a member of the faculty since 1981. Her research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of synaptic plasticity, the process underlying formation of memory in the central nervous system. Her lab uses biochemical and molecular biological methods to study the protein machinery within a structure called the postsynaptic density. Kennedy has published over 100 papers with over 20,000 total citations.

Biography

Kennedy was born on July 4, 1947, in

Pontiac Pontiac may refer to: *Pontiac (automobile), a car brand *Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief Places and jurisdictions Canada *Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...

, in the US state of Michigan. Her family moved to

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total of 103,453 residents and is the fourt ...

in 1953, where her father owned a shoe store, and her mother was a homemaker. She is the oldest of six siblings, with four sisters and a brother. Kennedy received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry in 1969 from St. Mary's College in South Bend. In 1975, she earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry from

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

in the laboratory of William Lennarz. She moved into the field of neuroscience during postdoctoral fellowships at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

with

Edward Kravitz Edward Arthur Kravitz (born December 19, 1932) is the George Packer Berry Professor of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. He is widely recognized for demonstrating that gamma-aminobutyric acid ( GABA) functions as a neurotransmitter. In add ...

, and then at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

with

Paul Greengard Paul Greengard (December 11, 1925 – April 13, 2019) was an American neuroscientist best known for his work on the molecular and cellular function of neurons. In 2000, Greengard, Arvid Carlsson and Eric Kandel were awarded the Nobel Prize for ...

. In 1981, she moved to

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

as an assistant professor and was promoted to professor in 1992. She was named Allen and Lenabelle Davis Professor of Biology in 2002.

Major scientific contributions

Her laboratory purified and characterized the synaptic signaling protein Calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (

CaMKII /calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaM kinase II or CaMKII) is a serine/threonine-specific protein kinase that is regulated by the /calmodulin complex. CaMKII is involved in many signaling cascades and is thought to be an important mediator ...

) in 1983 and showed that it is 1-2% of forebrain protein, is a major constituent of the postsynaptic density, and is regulated by autophosphorylation following activation by synaptic activity. Her lab later used micro-sequencing, molecular cloning, and immunocytochemistry to identify the central PSD scaffold protein

PSD-95 PSD-95 (postsynaptic density protein 95) also known as SAP-90 (synapse-associated protein 90) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''DLG4'' (discs large homolog 4) gene. PSD-95 is a member of the membrane-associated guanylate kinase (MA ...

and its three repeated domains later termed PDZ domains. With Peter Seeburg, they then showed that the second PDZ domain binds a terminal S-X-V motif at the carboxyl tail of GluN2B, an NMDA receptor subunit. PDZ domains are now known to be ubiquitous in scaffold proteins where they immobilize other proteins by binding to their C-terminal ligands. Her work was the first discovery of a PDZ domain and established that the PSD is a scaffold containing signaling enzymes and receptors that function as a molecular machine to regulate synaptic strength. Recent work concerns the role of the multifunctional PSD protein synGAP in regulating AMPA receptor insertion into the membrane and trapping of AMPA receptors in the PSD. She is collaborating with Tom Bartol and

Terry Sejnowski Terrence Joseph Sejnowski (born 13 August 1947) is the Francis Crick Professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies where he directs the Computational Neurobiology Laboratory and is the director of the Crick-Jacobs center for theoretical ...

at the

Salk Institute The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is a scientific research institute located in the La Jolla community of San Diego, California, U.S. The independent, non-profit institute was founded in 1960 by Jonas Salk, the developer of the polio vacci ...

to create kinetic models of biochemical signaling in postsynaptic spines.

Honors and awards

* 1985
McKnight Neuroscience Investigator Award
* 1991 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science * 1991
Faculty Award for Women Scientists and Engineers (NSF)
* 1992
Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award
(NIH) * 1999 Special Lecturer, Annual Meeting of 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 ...

* 2002 Elected Fellow of the

* 2006 Fondation Ipsen Prize in Neuronal Plasticity

References

External links

Kennedy lab web page at Caltech

Kennedy faculty page at Caltech
*
Lecture on Synaptic NanoMachines in 2008 at Neuroinformatics Meeting in Stockholm

Lecture on Neural Plasticity at Caltech, 6/7/2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Mary Bernadette California Institute of Technology faculty Johns Hopkins University alumni American neuroscientists American women neuroscientists 20th-century American scientists 21st-century American scientists 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American women scientists Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences People from South Bend, Indiana 1947 births Living people American women academics