Valerie Kilman

Valerie Kilman is the Director of Undergraduate Studies in Neurobiology and a Teaching Professor of Neurobiology at Northwestern University. She holds a PhD from Brandeis University and specializes in Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, Systems Neuroscience, and Neurogenetics. Her research focuses on neural networks underlying behavior, circadian rhythms, sleep, and homeostatic plasticity, often using Drosophila as a model organism.

Professor Kilman teaches courses such as Neurogenetics of Behavior Laboratory and Neuroscience of Brain Disorders, emphasizing project-based learning and writing to enhance student engagement. She has mentored undergraduate summer research projects exploring learned helplessness as a model for depression in fruit flies. Her work also examines the role of circadian clocks in neurodegenerative diseases and developmental mechanisms of neural circuits.

Her research spans circadian biology, synaptic plasticity, and neurodevelopmental processes. Notable contributions include studies on dynamin’s role in circadian clock regulation and the genetic basis of ectopic clock formation in Drosophila.