J Kate Brynildsen
Neuronal Resilience and Transcriptional Regulatory Programs
Dr. Kate Brynildsen is a postdoctoral fellow in the Complex Systems Lab at the University of Pennsylvania. She earned her Ph.D. in neuroscience at Penn in the lab of Dr. Julie Blendy, where she studied genetic, neural, and behavioral correlates of opioid and nicotine dependence in mouse models, supported by a T32 from NIDA. As a postdoctoral researcher, she has been funded by NIH T32 and F32 fellowships. Her current work applies complex systems and network science approaches to modeling brain dynamics in health and disease. Recently, she has used linear diffusion modeling to predict the spread of pathological proteins along the brain’s structural connectome and to identify molecular drivers of regional vulnerability to pathology in a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease. Her long-term goal is to establish a research program that combines computational modeling with experimental validation to reveal principles of multiscale brain dysfunction and guide novel therapeutic strategies.
