biology

Theanne Griffith

Theanne Griffith 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 Theanne Griffith rather than just read about it. In short: Theanne Griffith is an American neuroscientist and children's book author. She is an associate professor of Physiology and Membrane Biology at the University of California, Davis.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Theanne Griffith is an American neuroscientist and children's book author. She is an associate professor of Physiology and Membrane Biology at the University of California, Davis.

Background Theanne Griffith was born in Pennsylvania in 1986. Her mother and father were both professors; her mother taught sociology and her father taught economics. Griffith was raised in Alexandria, Virginia, and attended West Potomac High School.

Education Griffith graduated from Smith College in 2008 where she majored in neuroscience and Spanish. At Smith, Griffith participated in scientific research all four years of her undergraduate career. The work that Griffith did at Smith involved GABA receptors and their roles as anesthetic targets to understand menthol and propofol. This was done using two-electrode voltage clamps. Also during her time at Smith, Griffith was able to study abroad at Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in 2007. There, she used biochemical techniques in her research, such as western blots and transgenic mouse models. Griffith was later invited back to the university in Chile for a post-baccalaureate program from 2008 to 2010. Griffith returned to the United States and attended Northwestern University for her Ph.D. in Neuroscience, where she worked under Geoffrey T. Swanson. Her research involved a return to electrophysiology, using the patch clamp technique to measure the electric current of glutamate receptors and to investigate the modulation of receptor tyrosine kinases by auxiliary protein subunits.

Career and research During her postdoctoral training, Griffith joined Ellen Lumpkin's lab at Columbia University in the Department of Physiology & Cellular Biophysics, where she researched mechanosensation and how tactile sensations are sent. Griffith's postdoctoral research specifically examined the role of tetrodotoxin-sensitive sodium channels on action potentials in the presence of menthol-sensitive vesicular glutamate transporter 3 activity. In short, Griffith found that compared to menthol-insensitive Vglut3 neurons, menthol-sensitive Vglut3 neurons have a more heightened excitability. This phenomenon is intensified for menthol-sensitive neurons when tetrodotoxin-sensitive sodium channels subunits drive action potential firing. Taken together, these results provide a neurological explanation for the historical use of menthol as an analgesic and fever reducer.

Griffith's first academic appointment was in the department of Pharmacology, Physiology & Neuroscience at Rutgers University as an instructor from 2019 to 2020. She then joined the Department of Physiology and Membrane Biology at the University of California, Davis as an assistant professor in the Department of Physiology and Membrane Biology in 2020, where she is still on the faculty today. The Griffith Lab studies mammalian thermosensation to determine which ion channels are critical in health and disease. A variety of methodological techniques are used in the lab including patch clamp, molecular profiling, as well as a variety of imaging and genomic techniques on primarily mice model organisms. Griffith found that Nav1.1 is a critical mediator of excitability, suggesting that it could be contributing to cold-sensing in vivo.

Honors and awards (source)

2026: Smith College Smith Medal 2025: Biophysical Society Elected member of Council 2024: Society for Neuroscience Science Educator Award 2024: Sloan Research Fellowship 2020: University of California, Davis CAMPOS Faculty Scholars 2018: Columbia University First Prize Poster Presentation Award Recipient, Thompson Family Foundation 3rd Annual Symposium in Translational Sensory Neuroscience 2016: Biophysical Society Inclusion and Diversity Travel Award 2013 - 2014: Northwestern University Center for Leadership, Leadership Fellow 2013: Harvard Medical School New England Science Symposium, Ruth and William Silen, M.D. First Prize Poster Presentation Award Recipient 2013: Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management Management for Scientists and Engineers Certificate Program 2012: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Ion Channel Physiology Summer Course 2011 - 2014: Society for Neuroscience Neuroscience Scholars Program, Diversity Fellow

Books In addition to her research, Griffith wrote The Magnificent Makers, a STEM-themed children's book series targeted towards children ages 7–10. Griffith began writing her first series, The Magnificent Makers while on maternity leave. The series was nominated for the Kid's Book Choice Award and the Florida Sunshine State Young Reader's Award in 2021. The series comprises nine books: How to Test a Friendship, Brain Trouble, Riding Sound Waves, The Great Germ Hunt, Race Through Space, Storm Chasers, Human Body Adventure, Go Go Green Energy, and Rolling Through the Rock Cycle. The books include interactive exercises and at-home experiments for readers to complete. In the School Library Journal, Jessica Trafton described How to Test a Friendship as “great for kids who are looking for an adventure that isn’t scary. The science theme is fun, educational, and age-appropriate for the intended audience.” Griffith also co-authored the Ada Twist, Scientist: The Why Files series - a non-fiction series following a black girl scientist. It is the novel companion to the Netflix show, Ada Twist, Scientist. Both the Netflix show and the novel are based on the original picture-book series Ada Twist, Scientist. The three books in the series are Exploring Flight, All About Plants!, and The Science of Baking. Griffith has had stories and interviews published about her in news outlets such as NPR and Today.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Theanne Griffith

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Theanne Griffith 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 Theanne Griffith 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 Theanne Griffith 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 Theanne Griffith

In research: Theanne Griffith 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 Theanne Griffith 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: Theanne Griffith is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1986 births, 21st-century African-American scientists, 21st-century African-American women, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Theanne Griffith 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 Theanne Griffith in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Theanne Griffith 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 Theanne Griffith out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Theanne Griffith in simple terms?

Theanne Griffith is an American neuroscientist and children's book author. She is an associate professor of Physiology and Membrane Biology at the University of California, Davis.

Why does Theanne Griffith 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 Theanne Griffith?

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 Theanne Griffith.