Rate My Professor Dawn Kochanek

Prior to Northeastern, Kochanek was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Immunotherapeutics and Biotechnology at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Abilene. She held adjunct faculty positions in Biological Sciences at Cisco College (2013-), Hunter College (2005-2006), and University of Massachusetts Amherst (2001), and earlier roles as research technician at New York University (2003-2005) and research assistant at UMass (1999-2001). Her research specializations include developmental and molecular neurobiology, central nervous system axonal regeneration, RNA regulation, genetics, and microbiology. Key publications are “Genetic analysis of cavefish reveals molecular convergence in the evolution of albinism” (Nature Genetics, 2006, Protas et al.); “CPEB1 Regulates the Expression of MTDH/AEG-1 and Glioblastoma Cell Migration” (Molecular Cancer Research, 2013); “Mir-26b, Upregulated in Alzheimer’s Disease, Activates cell cycle re-entry, TAU phosphorylation and Apoptosis in Post-mitotic Neurons” (Journal of Neuroscience, 2013, Absalon et al.); and “Testing the Cavefish Model: An Organism-Focused Theory of Biological Design” (2025). Awards include the NINDS/NICHD Scholarship (2009), Science Teaching Fellowship, Tuition Fellowship, and Travel Grant from CUNY Graduate Center (2005-2010). She has presented at Society for Neuroscience Annual Meetings (2009-2012) and Keystone Symposia.