Kay Tye facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Kay Tye
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | c. 1981 (age 43–44) United States
|
| Alma mater | Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of California, San Francisco |
| Known for | Optogenetics |
| Awards | Donald B. Lindsley Prize in Behavioral Neuroscience, Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Neuroscience |
| Institutions |
|
Kay M. Tye (born around 1981) is an American neuroscientist. A neuroscientist is a scientist who studies the brain and nervous system. She is a professor and holds the Wylie Vale Chair at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences.
Her research uses a special technique called optogenetics. This technique helps her find connections in the brain. These connections are important for understanding our natural emotions, what motivates us, and how we behave socially.
Early Life and Education
Kay Tye grew up in Ithaca, New York. Both of her parents, Henry Tye and Bik Kwoon Tye, worked at Cornell University. They had moved to the United States from Hong Kong. As a child, Kay Tye sometimes helped in her mother's lab. She would organize small tubes called pipette tips.
She studied cognitive science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She earned her Bachelor of Science degree there from 1999 to 2003. After college, she took a break. She spent time learning breakdancing and backpacking around Australia for a year.
Then, she returned to her studies at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She began her advanced studies in neuroscience. She joined a lab led by neurobiologist Patricia Janak. There, she worked on her PhD. Her research showed that a part of the brain called the amygdala became more active. The amygdala is involved in processing emotions. Her study looked at rats learning to connect a signal with a reward.
Her important work was published in a famous science magazine called Nature. She also won two awards for her research: the Donald B. Lindsley Prize in Behavioral Neuroscience and the Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award. Kay Tye received her PhD in 2008.
Career and Research
After getting her PhD, Dr. Tye continued her research. From 2008 to 2009, she worked at the UCSF Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center. Then, from 2009 to 2011, she worked at Stanford University. At Stanford, she learned about optogenetics from Karl Deisseroth. Optogenetics is a powerful tool. It uses light to turn specific brain cells (neurons) on or off. This helps scientists understand what those cells do.
In 2012, Dr. Tye went back to MIT. She became an assistant professor at the university's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory. Her research focuses on a big question: How can the same part of the brain, the amygdala, control very different reactions to good or bad things in our environment?
She uses optogenetics to control how neurons send signals in the brain. Her goal is to find out if there are different groups of neurons in the amygdala. Do some talk to the brain's "fear circuits" and others to the "reward circuits"?
Through her research, Dr. Tye and her team found distinct groups of neurons. These groups have different jobs, shapes, and genetic makeups. They confirmed that these differences are linked to how the brain processes information. This information leads to either positive (rewarding) or negative (avoiding) responses.
Her work has helped us understand social behaviors. These include seeking rewards and feeling anxious. It has also given us clues about the causes of some brain-related challenges. For example, her work helps us understand why some people develop certain habits or difficulties.
Dr. Tye has received several important awards. She got the NIH Director's New Innovator Award in 2013. In 2014, she received the NARSAD Young Investigator Award. Also in 2014, MIT Technology Review named her one of their TR35 top innovators under 35. This was for her use of optogenetics to study brain circuits related to anxiety and social interaction.
In November 2019, Dr. Tye gave a special talk called a TED Talk. It was at the National Academy of Sciences. The talk was titled "What Investigating Neural Pathways Can Reveal About Mental Health."
Awards and Honors
- Society for Neuroscience (SFN) Young Investigator Award (2016)
- Daniel X. Freedman Award (2016)
- Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) (2016)
- New York Stem Cell Foundation – Robertson Investigator (2015–2019)
- McKnight Scholar Award (2015–2018)
- Harold E. Edgerton Faculty Achievement Award (2015)
- NIMH (2014–2018)
- Sloan Research Fellow, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (2014–2015)
- NARSAD Young Investigator Award (2014–2015)
- TR35, Technology Review's Top 35 Innovators Under 35 (2014)
- NIH Director's New Innovator Award (2013–2018)
- Klingenstein Foundation Award (2013–2015)
- Whitehead Career Development Professorship (2013–2015)
- Whitehall Foundation Award (2012–2014)
- Kavli Foundation Frontiers Fellow
- Jeptha H. and Emily V. Wade Award (2012)
- Stanford University Post-Doctoral Award (2010)
- NRSA Post-Doctoral Research Fellow (2009–2012)
- European Brain and Behavior Society Post-Doctoral Fellow Award (2009)
- Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award (2009)
- Donald B. Lindsley Prize (2009)
- NSF Graduate Research Fellow (2005–2008)
