Sarah Karlen
Postdoc
B.S. in Biology and Psychology, University of Iowa, 1999
Ph.D. in Neuroscience, University of California, Davis, 2008
(530)754-6975
sjkarlen@ucdavis.edu
My research focuses on the role of neural activity in sensory system development. I am particularly interested in the effect that patterns of activity, either spontaneously generated activity or sensory driven activity, have on visual system development. Currently, my post doctoral work examines the role of spontaneously generated retinal ganglion cell activity during early development to determine whether the effects of completely eliminating activity are more or less severe than the effects of altering activity levels. I use a combination of functional and anatomical techniques to determine the immediate and long-term consequences that changes in activity levels have during early development. These studies will be critical for identifying the underlying principles of visual system development, which are common to all mammals. Further, this information may provide a foundation for creating new clinical therapies to successfully treat visual neurodevelopmental disorders.
Selected Publications:
Irish, E.E., and Karlen, S. (1998). Restoration of juvenility in maize plants by shoot meristem culture. International Journal of Plant Sciences, 159: 695-701.
Karlen, S. and Rebagliati, M.R. (2001). A morpholino phenocopy of the cyclops mutation. Genesis, 30: 126-128. PMID: 11477689.
Long (Karlen), S. and Rebagliati, M.R. (2002). Sensitive two color whole mount in situ hybridizations using digoxygenin- and dinitrophenol-labeled RNA probes. Biotechniques, 32: 494-500. PMID: 11911652.
Long (Karlen), S., Ahmad, N. and Rebagliati, M.R. (2002) Zebrafish hearts and minds: nodal signaling in cardiac and neural left-right asymmetry.
Long (Karlen), S., Ahmad, N. and Rebagliati, M.R. (2003). The zebrafish nodal-related gene southpaw is required for visceral and diencephalic left-right asymmetry. Development, 130: 2303-16. PMID: 12702646.
Ahmad, N., Long (Karlen), S., Rebagliati, M.R. (2004). A southpaw joins the roster: the role of the zebrafish nodal-related gene southpaw in cardiac LR asymmetry. Trends in Cardiovascular Medicine, 14: 43-9. PMID: 15030788.
Karlen, S.J., Kahn, D.M., and Krubitzer, L. (2006). Early blindness results in abnormal corticocortical and thalamocortical connections. Neuroscience, 142(3): 843-858. PMID: 16934941.
Karlen, S.J. and Krubitzer, L. (2006). Phenotypic diversity is the cornerstone of evolution: Variation in cortical field size within a species. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 499, 990-999. PMID: 17072834.
Karlen, S.J. and Krubitzer, L. (2006). The evolution of the neocortex in mammals: intrinsic and extrinsic contributions to the cortical phenotype. Percept, decision, action: bridging the gaps. Wiley,
Campi, K.L., Karlen, S.J., Bales, K.L., and Krubitzer, L. (2007). The organization of sensory neocortex in prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster). Journal of Comparative Neurology, 502, 414-426. PMID17366609.
Karlen, S.J. and Krubitzer, L. (2007). The functional and anatomical organization of marsupial neocortex: Evidence for parallel evolution across mammals. Progress in Neurobiology, 82, 122-141. PMID: 17507143.
Karlen, S.J. (2008).
Karlen, S.J. and Krubitzer, L. (2008). Effects of bilateral enucleation on the size of visual and non-visual areas of the brain. Cerebral Cortex, Advance Access published October 8, 2008. PMID: 18842663.
Karlen, S.J. and Krubitzer, L. (2008). The organization of neocortex in marsupials. In: The New Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, In press. Ed. Larry Squire et al. Elsevier Press.
Karlen, S.J., Hunt, D.L., and Krubitzer, L. (2009). Cross-modal plasticity in mammalian neocortex. In: Developmental and Comparative Neuroscience: Epigenetics, Evolution, & Behavior, In press. Ed. Mark S. Blumberg, John H. Freeman, and Scott R. Robinson. Oxford University Press, Inc.
Other Affiliations: