Karen Bottenfield

Dr. Bottenfield is a postdoctoral associate in the Laboratory of Interventions for Cortical Injury and Cognitive Decline and the Laboratory of Cognitive Decline. She received her B.A. in anthropology from Eastern Washington University, followed by her M.S. in Forensic Anthropology and a Ph.D. in Anatomy and Neurobiology from Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. Her doctoral research evaluated Glial Growth Factor 2 as a treatment in a monkey model of cortical injury under the mentorship of Dr. Tara Moore.

Currently, Dr. Bottenfield is investigating task related activation patterns in rhesus monkey models of cortical injury and aging by quantifying the expression of the immediate early gene, c-Fos. This will lead to additional analyses of regional cell type expression and an evaluation of relationships with task performance. She is also learning electrophysiology methods and contributing to analyses of injury-related pathology of pyramidal neurons in collaboration with the Laboratory of Neural Circuits and Ultrastructure. In addition, Dr. Bottenfield is continuing a portion of her doctoral research focused on the optimization and use of biorthogonal molecules and Click Chemistry to label and quantify newly synthesized myelin in the rhesus monkey brain, which offers a novel new method to assess age related changes in myelination and remyelination following brain injury.