Phone: (510) 219-4385
Elizabeth D. Kirby
Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute
University of California, Berkeley
3060 Valley Life Sciences Bldg, #3140
Berkeley, CA 94720
Web: http://kauferlab.berkeley.edu
Email: ekirby@berkeley.edu
Education
University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Ph.D., Neuroscience, GPA 4.0
Duke University, Durham, NC
B.S., Psychology; Summa Cum Laude, departmental distinction, GPA 4.0
Research Experience
Graduate student, Dr. Daniela Kaufer Lab, U.C. Berkeley
 Thesis: Regulation of adult rat hippocampal neurogenesis by basolateral
amygdala (Kirby et al., in review)
Independent study student, Dr. Christina Williams Lab, Duke University
 Designed, executed and analyzed an independent senior thesis project
 Prepared manuscript reporting findings (Kirby et al., in preparation)
Research technician, Williams LifeSkills, Inc., Dr. Virginia Williams
 Coordinated a human clinical trial of a behavioral stress management product
 Tested subjects, collected data and prepared manuscript (Kirby et al., 2006)
Honors and Awards
California Institute for Regenerative Medicine pre-doctoral fellow
Cold Spring Harbor Advanced Techniques in Molecular Neuroscience student
California Institute for Regenerative Medicine pre-doctoral fellow
National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship
NSF Graduate Fellowship Honorable Mention
Howard Hughes Neuroscience Fellow
Faculty Scholars Award, Duke University
Phi Beta Kappa, Duke University
Dec 2011
May 2006
2006present
2004-06
2003-06
2011
2010
2010
2007-09
2007 & 08
2006
2005
2005
Laboratory Techniques
In vivo  neural stem cell quantification, fear conditioning, hippocampal behavioral tasks,
(rodent)
anxiety behavioral tests, stereotaxic brain surgery, immobilization stress, tail vein
blood sampling, intraperitoneal and subcutaneous injection, adrenalectomy,
euthanasia
In vitro  herpes viral vector preparation, cell culture
Other
 real time reverse transcriptase PCR, RNA isolation from in vivo tissue, fluorescence
and brightfield microscopy, western blot, unbiased stereology,
immunohistochemistry, ELISA, laser microdissection, cryostat and vibratome
sectioning
Interests
Triathlon, running marathons, salsa dancing, and baking.
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Published Articles
Kirby, E.D., Friedman, A.R., Covarrubias, D., Ying, C., Grant, W.G., Goosens, K.A., Sapolsky,
R.M., & Kaufer, D. (2011). Basolateral amygdala regulation of adult hippocampal
neurogenesis and fear-related activation of newborn neurons. Molecular Psychiatry, In
Press.
Kirby, E.D., Geraghty, A.C., Ubuka, T., Bentley, G.E., & Kaufer, D. (2009). Stress increases
putative gonadotropin inhibitory hormone and decreases luteinizing hormone in male rats.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 106, 11324-11329.
Glenn, M.J., Kirby, E.D., Gibson, E.M., Wong-Goodrich, S., Mellot, T.J., Blusztajn, J.K. &
Williams, C.L. (2008). Age-related declines in exploratory behavior and markers of
hippocampal plasticity are attenuated by prenatal choline supplementation in rats. Brain
Research, 1237, 110-123.
Glenn, M.J., Gibson, E.M., Kirby, E.D., Mellot, T.J., Blusztajn, J.K. & Williams, C.L. (2007).
Prenatal choline availability modulates hippocampal neurogenesis and neurogenic
responses to enriching experiences in adult female rats. European Journal of Neuroscience,
25, 2473-2482.
Kirby, E.D., Williams, V.P., Hocking, M.C., Lane, J.D., & Williams, R.B. (2006). Psychosocial
benefits of three formats of a standardized behavioral stress management program.
Psychosomatic Medicine, 68, 816-823.
Book Chapters
Kirby, E.D. & Kaufer, D. (2009). “Stress and adult neurogenesis in the mammalian central
nervous system.” In: H. Soreq, A. Friedman & D. Kaufer, eds. STRESS: from molecules to
behavior. Weinheim, Germany; Wiley-Blackwell.
Popular Press Science Articles
Kirby, E.D. (2009). “Making viruses that heal: evolution breeds new treatment options.”
Berkeley Science Review, Fall, 17: 14-15.
In Preparation
Kirby, E.D., Wong-Goodrich, S.J.E., Glenn, M.J., & Williams, C.L. (2011). Prenatal choline
supplementation protects against chronic stress-induced suppression of adult hippocampal
neurogenesis and memory impairment. In preparation.
Chetty, S., Kirby, E.D., Krupik, D., Mirescu, C., Nicholas, A., Friedman, A., Geraghty, A.,
Krishnamurthy, A., Tsai, M-K, Covarrubias, D., Wong, A.T., Francis, D., Sapolsky, R.M.,
Palmer, T., & Kaufer, D. (2011). Stress and glucocorticoids promote oligodendrogenesis in
the adult hippocampus. In preparation.
Elizabeth D. Kirby, (510) 219-4385, ekirby@berkeley.edu
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