Catharine Rankin

Dr. Catharine Rankin is a Professor of Psychology at the University of British Columbia, affiliated with the Faculty of Arts and the Centre for Brain Health. Her research focuses on understanding how experience alters the nervous system using the nematode C. elegans as a model. She is renowned for discovering learning and memory capabilities in C. elegans and uncovering genes critical to these processes. Her work spans habituation mechanisms, neuropsychiatric disorders (e.g., Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s), and developmental effects of ethanol exposure.

Education: PhD, City University of New York, 1984.

Research Interests: Behavioral Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, Developmental Psychology. Her lab employs genetic, neural circuit, and behavioral analyses to study learning, memory, and the impact of early sensory experience on adult behavior. Key projects include investigating habituation deficits in neuropsychiatric disorders and modeling gene dysfunction using C. elegans.

Awards:

• Gantt Medal (Pavlovian Society, 2024)
• Killam Research Prize (2004)
• Killam Teaching Prize (1991)

Advising & Labs: Supervises graduate students in Neuroscience, Psychology, and Cell & Developmental Biology. Leads the Behavioral Neurogenetics Lab at UBC, fostering collaborations across Vancouver’s C. elegans research community. Current projects include optogenetic studies of neural circuits and CRISPR-based gene editing.

Publications: Over 80 peer-reviewed articles, focusing on C. elegans learning mechanisms, habituation in disease, and high-throughput behavioral analysis.