lkepler
Rankin Lab Member To Speak at Upcoming VanWorm Meeting
PhD Candidate Joseph Liang will be speaking at the Fall VanWorm Meeting which is taking place on October 29th, 2025 at 4:00 PM in the UBC LSI room 1416. Come see Joseph’s research on C. elegans orthologs of Parkinson’s associated genes!
Systematic phenomics analysis of autism-associated genes reveals parallel networks underlying reversible impairments in habituation
Our lab’s recent publication in PNAS showcases how C. elegans can be used to systematically study the function of genes linked to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). By analyzing 135 worm strains carrying mutations in ASD-associated gene orthologs, we uncovered hundreds of behavioral and developmental phenotypes, including changes in movement, sensory responses, and learning. This large-scale […]
Dr. Rankin Receives Pavlovian Society’s Gantt Medal 2024
Dr. Catharine Rankin has been awarded the Pavlovian Society’s prestigious Gantt Medal in recognition of her impactful career advancing our understanding of non-associative learning and memory. An internationally recognized leader in behavioral neuroscience, she has used C. elegans to reveal how genes, neural circuits, and experience interact to shape behavior. Over her career, Dr. Rankin’s […]
Read how Dr. Rankin discovered that C. elegans can learn
From an unexpected microscope demo to a groundbreaking discovery, Dr. Rankin’s journey into C. elegans research began by chance and forever changed the field. Her lab was the first to show that these tiny worms, once thought incapable of learning, could in fact remember and adapt their behaviour. This serendipitous finding opened the door to […]