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Martha Constantine-Paton

Martha Constantine-Paton

Photo courtesy Kent Dayton

  • phone: 617-258-6415
  • fax: 617-258-6633
  • MIT address: 46-4165A
  • email: mcpaton@mit.edu

 

Developing connections
Martha Constantine-Paton studies the formation and modification of synapses—the interconnections between neurons—in order to understand how experience shapes the wiring of the brain. By studying individual neurons in the visual system of developing animals, she has shown that a class of molecules known as NMDA receptors plays an essential role in setting the strengths of synapses. NMDA receptors are thought to underlie many aspects of learning throughout life, and Constantine-Paton is interested in the role these receptors play in developmental disorders that have their origins in early life.
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Biography
Constantine-Paton, a founding member of the McGovern Institute, is a professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, and also holds an appointment in the Department of Biology. She moved to MIT in 1999, having previously held professorships at Princeton University and later at Yale University where she was director of the Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program. She has received a lifetime achievement award from the Society for Neuroscience, and in 2013 she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.