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Caroline McKeown, Ph.D.  Staff Scientist (July 2011 – present) Research Associate (2004-2011) cmckeown@scripps.edu

I am a cell biologist with a broad background in development, genetics, and molecular biology, and a specific focus in microscopy and imaging modalities. My research interests have always focused on the establishment and maintenance of form and function. These include development and differentiation and in particular the ability of a seemingly differentiated cell type to de-differentiate, divide, and re-differentiate. I was born and raised in Chicago and earned my B.S. in Biology from Purdue University. I received my Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Utah, where I studied muscle adhesion in C. elegans with Mary Beckerle. I first joined the Department of Cell Biology at The Scripps Research Institute in 2004 as a postdoctoral fellow with Velia Fowler where I studied myofibril assembly and heart development during mouse embryogenesis and was a George E. Hewitt Foundation for Medical Research Fellow. I began working with Holly Cline in 2009 as a postdoctoral fellow and was appointed to a Staff Scientist position in 2011. My current research in the Cline Lab is to identify the molecular mechanisms involved in recovery from brain injury in Xenopus laevis.

Publications:

Shen, W., McKeown, C.R., Demas, J.A., and Cline, H.T. 2011. Inhibition to Excitation Ratio Regulates Visual Function and Behavior in vivo. Journal of Neurophysiology.
 
McKeown, C.R., Sharma, P., Shen, W., and Cline, H.T. Neurogenesis is Required for Behavioral Recovery after Injury in the Xenopus laevis Visual System. Manuscript in Preparation.
 
Gokhin, D.S., Lewis, R.A., McKeown, C.R., Nowak, R.N., Kim, N.E., Littlefield, R.S., Lieber, R.L., Fowler, V.M. 2010. Tropomodulin isoforms regulate thin filament pointed-end capping and skeletal muscle physiology. Journal of Cell Biology 185(1), 95-109.
 
McKeown, C. R., Nowak, R.B., and Fowler, V.M. Tropomyosin is Required for Cardiac Looping, Myofibrillogenesis, and
Cardiomyocyte Cell Adhesion in the Mouse. Manuscript in Preparation.
 
McKeown, C.R., Nowak, R.B., Sussman, M.A., and Fowler, V.M. 2008. Tropomodulin1 is Required in the Heart but not the Yolk Sac

for Mouse Embryonic Development. Circulation Research 103, 1241-1248.
 
Fowler, V.M., McKeown, C.R., Fischer, R.S. 2006. Nebulin: Does it Measure up as a Ruler?  Current Biology 16(1), R18-R20.
 
McKeown, C. R., Han, H., Beckerle, M. C. 2006. Molecular Characterization of the C. elegans ALP/Enigma gene, alp-1. Developmental Dynamics 235, 530-538.
 
McKeown, C., Praitis, V., Austin, J. 1998. sma-1 encodes a bH-spectrin homolog required for Caenorhabditis elegans morphogenesis. Development 125, 2087-2098.