Pelin C. Volkan is associate professor of biology, neurobiology and cell biology at Duke University, where she heads the Laboratory of Neurogenetics. The primary intellectual focus of the lab centers on unraveling the molecular and circuit mechanisms through which social experiences mold the brains and responses of organisms. She and her team use the fruit fly nervous system as a model to investigate these phenomena and take an interdisciplinary approach that integrates genetic, behavioral, circuit-mapping and systems-level molecular tools.
Her recent research has delved into understanding the effects of social experiences on the brain and behaviors, discerning how these responses vary among individuals and strains of the same species. Volkan and her team have causally linked these changes to the modulation of neural activity and organismal behaviors. She is now investigating the impact of social isolation on gene expression, stress responses and brain immunity, aiming to establish their connection to the onset, progression and severity of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases. Overall, her work aims to unravel how social experiences modify transcriptional programs, guiding adaptive changes in brain structure and function that underlie behavioral and physiological responses to social isolation.
Volkan earned her B.S. and M.S. at Bogazici University and her Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.