Kelsey C. Martin, M.D., Ph.D.

Kelsey Martin, M.D., Ph.D., is executive vice president of the Simons Foundation’s Autism and Neuroscience division, overseeing the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI), Neuroscience Collaborations and Informatics. Through grantmaking, scientific convenings and the development of shared research resources, the division advances understanding of autism and the brain.

Dr. Martin is also a professor emeritus on active recall in the Department of Biological Chemistry at UCLA, where her laboratory studies the cellular and molecular biology of learning and memory. Previously, she served as dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, chair of UCLA’s Department of Biological Chemistry and co-director of the UCLA-Caltech Medical Scientist Training Program. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Yale University. Martin is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Philosophical Society and Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. She is also a recipient of the Kavli Prize in Neuroscience.

• Neumann S, Achiro JM, Watanabe M, Bonnano SL, Deng W, Wohlschlegel JA, Martin KC, Cytoplasmic and nuclear protein interaction networks of the synapto-nuclear messenger CRTC1 in neurons reveal cooperative chromatin binding between CREB1 and CRTC1, MEF2C and RFX3. BioRxiv 2025 doi: 10.1101/2025.07.02.662820
• Achiro JM, Tao Y, Gao F, Lin CH, Watanabe M, Neumann S, Coppola G, Black DL, Martin KC, Aging differentially alters the transcriptome and landscape of chromatin accessibility in the male and female mouse hippocampus. Front Mol Neuroscie. 2024; 17:1334862. Doi:10.3389
• Bonheur M, Swartz KJ, Metcalf M, Wen X, Zhukovskaya A, Mehta, A, Connors, KE, Barasch JG, Jamieson AR, Martin KC, Axel R , Hattori D, A rapid and bidirectional reporter of neural activity reveals neural correlates of social behaviors in Drosophila. Nat Neuro. 2023; 26:1295-1307
• Herbst WA, Deng W, Wohlschlegel, JA, Achiro JM, Martin KC. Neuronal activity regulates the nuclear proteome to promote activity-dependent transcription. J Cell Bio. 2021; 220 (12):e202103087.
• Holt CE, Martin KC, Schuman EM. Local translation in neurons: visualization and function. Nat Structr Mol Biol. 2019; 26:557-566.
• Merkurjev D, Hong WT, Iida K, Oomoto I, Goldie BJ, Yamaguti H, Ohara T, Kawaguchi S, Hirano T, Martin KC, Pellegrini M, Wang DO. Synaptic N⁶-methyladenosine (m⁶A) epitranscriptome reveals functional partitioning of localized transcripts. Nat Neurosci. 2018; 21: 1004-1014.
• Vuong CK, Wei W, Lee JA, Lin CH, Damianov A, de la Torre-Ubieta L, Halabi R, Otis KO, Martin KC, O’Dell TJ, Black DL. Rbfox1 Regulates Synaptic Transmission through the Inhibitory Neuron-Specific vSNARE Vamp1. Neuron. 2018; 98: 127-141.e7.
• Van Driesche SJ, Martin KC. New frontiers in RNA transport and local translation in neurons. Dev Neurobiol. 2018; 78: 331-339.
• Octeau JC, Chai H, Jiang R, Bonanno SL, Martin KC, Khakh BS. An Optical Neuron-Astrocyte Proximity Assay at Synaptic Distance Scales. Neuron. 2018; 98: 49-66.e9
• Martin KC. Tips for Young Scientists on the Junior Faculty/Independent Investigator Job Search. Neuron. 2017; 93: 731-736
• Gao J, Marosi M, Choi J, Achiro JM, Kim S, Li S, Otis K, Martin KC, Portera-Cailliau C, Tontonoz P. The E3 ubiquitin ligase IDOL regulates synaptic ApoER2 levels and is important for plasticity and learning. Elife. 2017; 6: e29178
• Chen PB, Kawaguchi R, Blum C, Achiro JM, Coppola G, O’Dell TJ, Martin KC. Mapping Gene Expression in Excitatory Neurons during Hippocampal Late-Phase Long-Term Potentiation. Front Mol Neurosci. 2017; 10: 39