Perspectives: Mary Kennedy, PhD

Mary Kennedy, PhD, is an Allen and Lenabelle Davis Professor of Biology at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena.

Dr. Kennedy's research focuses on biochemical signal transduction systems in central nervous system synapses.  Her lab has focused on a complex of signaling proteins, called the postsynaptic density (PSD), located just underneath excitatory receptors in the central nervous system. They showed that it contains signal transduction molecules that can control the sensitivity of transmitter receptors, the size of receptor clusters, and perhaps the integrity of the adhesion junction that holds presynaptic terminals in place.