Assistant Professor of Biology    F. W. Olin Science Center, Room 2351    1250 N. Dartmouth Ave.    Claremont, CA 91711    (909) 621-8767    Elizabeth_Glater@hmc.edu

Education & Professional Experience

• B.A., Biology, Swarthmore College
• Ph.D., Neuroscience, Harvard University
• Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Rockefeller University
• Assistant Professor of Biology, Harvey Mudd College 

Teaching

• Bio 111: Molecular Biology Laboratory
• Bio 186: Genes and Behavior 

Research interests

The nervous system allows animals to generate behavioral responses to their environment. Understanding the genetic basis of behavior is relevant for understanding inherited human neurological and psychiatric disorders. Our laboratory uses the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans to investigate the genetic basis of olfactory behavior. The model organism C. elegans is genetically tractable and has a simple, well-characterized nervous system with only 302 neurons; the location and connectivity of each of these neurons is known. Therefore, we aim to understand not only how these genes affect cell function, but also how these genes modify a neural circuit to produce different behaviors.

Selected publications

Glater EE and Schwarz TL. 2009. Organization and transport of mitochondria in neurons. In Encyclopedia of Neuroscience (Editor-in-chief, Larry Squire), Academic Press, Oxford.

Glater EE, Megeath LJ, Stowers RS and Schwarz TL. 2006. Axonal transport of mitochondria requires milton to recruit kinesin heavy chain and is light chain independent. J Cell Biol 173: 545-557.