biology

Mary Hatten

Mary Hatten is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mary Hatten rather than just read about it. In short: Mary Elizabeth Hatten is the Frederick P. Rose Professor of neuroscience at the Rockefeller University, where she became the first female full professor in 1992.

Key takeaways

Mary Hatten belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mary Hatten to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mary Hatten from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mary Elizabeth Hatten is the Frederick P. Rose Professor of neuroscience at the Rockefeller University, where she became the first female full professor in 1992. She studies the manner in which neurons migrate in the brain, which has implications for many neurological diseases, as well as cancer. Her research led to her being elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2017.

Early life and education Mary E. Hatten was born in Richmond, Virginia and grew up in Newport News, Virginia. Her father was an obstetrician. During high school and college, Hatten participated in research at the nearby NASA Langley Research Center. She graduated from Hollins College, a women's college, with a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1971. In 1975, she earned a PhD from Princeton University, studying cell membrane biophysics with Max Burger, and following him to the University of Basel to finish her degree.

Career and research After her PhD, Hatten did postdoctoral research with Richard Sidman at Harvard Medical School from 1975 to 1978, studying neuron migration in the developing brain. Hatten was a professor in the department of pharmacology at the New York University School of Medicine from 1978 to 1986. In 1986, she moved to the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, where she was a professor until 1992. In 1992, Hatten became the first female professor at Rockefeller University. Using the cerebral cortices of mice as a model, Hatten's research focuses on the development of complex cellular architecture in the mammal brain, studying how neurons migrate and differentiate. Her research has implications for the genetics of brain disease, autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), attention deficit disorder (ADD), childhood epilepsy, and medulloblastoma, a type of childhood brain cancer. The Hatten lab has been a pioneer in the study of receptor proteins and in the use of video imaging. Hatten discovered the neuron-glial adhesion protein astrotactin (ASTN1), a receptor critical for glial-guided migration. In 2018, Hatten and her colleagues conducted research on ASTN2, demonstrating that it helps move proteins away from the neuron's membrane in a timely fashion. The researchers also proposed a mechanism by which ASTN2 plays a role in defecting lead to neurodevelopmental disorders such as ASD and intellectual disabilities. In conducting her research, the Hatten lab spearheaded the use of video imaging methods in viewing the dynamics of CNS neuronal migration along glial fibers. Hatten became a co-editor of the Annual Review of Neuroscience in 2024.

Awards and honors 1988 Pew Neuroscience Award 1991 National Science Foundation Faculty Award for Women Scientists 1996 Weil Award of the American Association of Neuropathologists 2017 Ralph W. Gerard Prize in Neuroscience 2017 Elected Member of the National Academy of Sciences 2021 Elected Member of National Academy of Medicine (2021)

Selected publications Hatten, M.E. (1985). Neuronal regulation of astroglial morphology and proliferation in vitro. Journal of Cell Biology 100(2), 384-396. doi:10.1083/jcb.100.2.384 Hatten, M.E. (1999). Central nervous system neuronal migration. Annual Review of Neuroscience 22, 511-539. doi:10.1146/annurev.neuro.22.1.511 Shiaoching, G., Doughty, M., Harbaugh, C.R., Cummins, A., Hatten, M.E., Heintz, N., Gerfen, C.R. (2007). Targeting Cre Recombinase to Specific Neuron Populations with Bacterial Artificial Chromosome Constructs. Journal of Neuroscience 27(37), 9817-9823. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2707-07.2007

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mary Hatten

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mary Hatten claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mary Hatten before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mary Hatten ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mary Hatten

In research: Mary Hatten appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mary Hatten in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mary Hatten is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American neuroscientists, American women neuroscientists, Annual Reviews (publisher) editors, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mary Hatten outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mary Hatten in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mary Hatten means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mary Hatten out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mary Hatten in simple terms?

Mary Elizabeth Hatten is the Frederick P. Rose Professor of neuroscience at the Rockefeller University, where she became the first female full professor in 1992.

Why does Mary Hatten matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mary Hatten?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mary Hatten.