Marla Sokolowski

{{Infobox academic

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Marla Sokolowski

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1955|07|20}}

| birth_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada

| other_names = Marla Sokolowski

| occupation = Behavioral geneticist

| period = 1981–present

| known_for = discovery of the foraging gene

| title = University Professor

| boards =

| children = 2

| awards =

| website = https://sokolowski.eeb.utoronto.ca/

| education = University of Toronto

| alma_mater = University of Toronto

| thesis_title = Evolution of Behavioural Strategies in Drosophila: genetic analyses

| thesis_url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/16416037_Sokolowski_M_B_Foraging_strategies_of_Drosophila_melanogaster_a_chromosomal_analysis_Behav_Genet_10_291-302

| thesis_year = 1980

| discipline = {{flat list|

}}

| workplaces =

| doctoral_students =

| notable_students =

| main_interests ={{flat list|

behaviour genetics
drosophila neurogenetics
gene by environment interactions
genomics
molecular

}}

Marla B. Sokolowski {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|FRSC}} is a University Professor in the Departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto.{{Cite web|url=https://academicminute.org/2017/05/marla-sokolowski-university-of-toronto-fruit-flies-and-obesity/|title=Marla Sokolowski, University of Toronto – Fruit Flies and Obesity|website=academicminute.org|date=30 May 2017 |access-date=2019-02-09 |last1=Minute |first1=Academic }} Sokolowski is a scientist whose work is widely considered to be groundbreaking, foundational for a variety of fields, and instrumental in refutations of genetic determinism, and has, according to the Royal Society of Canada, "permanently changed the way we frame questions about individual differences in behaviour".{{cite web |title=RSC Awards |url=https://rsc-src.ca/sites/default/files/pdf/M%26A%202020.pdf |website=RSC |access-date=13 November 2020}} Sokolowski's comprehensive study of the fruit fly and other animal systems, including humans, has shaped fundamental concepts in behavioural evolution, plasticity, and genetic pleiotropy. Specifically, Sokolowski is best known for her discovery of the foraging gene.{{Cite web|url=https://news.artsci.utoronto.ca/all-news/founder-of-foraging-gene-says-understanding-science-affects-policy-making/|title=Understanding science affects policy-making|date=2014-06-02|website=Arts & Science News|language=en|access-date=2019-02-09}} Sokolowski was the 2020 recipient of the Flavelle Medal. Sokolowski is only one of two women to ever win the award- the other being Margaret Newton in 1948.{{cite web |title=Sokolowski wins Flavelle Medal |url=https://www.utoronto.ca/celebrates/marla-sokolowski-receives-royal-society-canada-s-flavelle-medal |website=UToronto |access-date=20 September 2020}}

Personal life

Marla Sokolowski was born in Toronto in 1955 to Ruth and Ernest Berger- the latter of which was a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to Canada where he worked as a shoe salesman.{{cite web |title=Ernest Berger |url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nationalpost/obituary.aspx?n=ernest-berger&pid=14081339 |website=Legacy |access-date=13 November 2020}}{{cite web |title=Q&A Marla Sokolowski |url=https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(08)01269-4.pdf |website=Current Biology Journal |access-date=13 November 2020}} Sokolowski is married to Allen Sokolowski, who worked as a dentist and taught at the University of Toronto's School of Dentistry. They have two children: one daughter, [https://www.torontomu.ca/psychology/about-us/our-people/faculty/moriah-sokolowski/ Moriah Sokowski] (born 1991) and one son, Dustin Sokolowski (born 1995).{{cite web |title=2014 CV |url=https://sokolowski.eeb.utoronto.ca/files/2014/12/CV-Marla_July-2014.pdf |website=UToronto |access-date=28 August 2020}}{{cite web |title=Canada Bio Interview |url=http://45.33.7.112/images/women/Can_Bio.pdf |website=CanBio |access-date=28 August 2020}}{{cite web |title=Marla Interview |url=http://www.ianas.com/index.php/programs/women-for-science/88-programs/women-for-science/338-marla-b-sokolowski |website=IANAS |access-date=13 November 2020}}

Academic career

=Research=

Sokolowski completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto in Zoology in 1977. Sokolowski's early research into evolutionary biology was influenced by Richard Lewontin and Douglas Wahlsten. At the time, very few scientists believed that it was possible for genes to influence normal individual differences in behaviours. This set the stage for Sokolowski's 1980 Ph.D thesis and subsequent research into behavioral genetics.

Sokolowski's research has definitively demonstrated how genes interact with the environment, and thus have an impact on behaviour.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cifar.ca/bio|title=Bio|website=CIFAR|language=en|access-date=2019-02-09}}{{Cite web|url=https://can-acn.org/university-of-toronto-study-demonstrates-impact-of-adversity-on-early-life-development|title=University of Toronto study demonstrates impact of adversity on early life development {{!}} Canadian Association for Neuroscience|date=9 November 2012 |language=en-US|access-date=2019-02-09}} She has pioneered the development of a branch of behaviour genetics that addresses the genetic and molecular bases of natural individual differences in behaviour.{{Cite web|url=http://www.peoplebehindthescience.com/dr-marla-sokolowski/|title=150: Dr. Marla Sokolowski: Fruitful Research on Gene Environment Interplay in Feeding Behavior of Fruit Flies|date=2014-09-05|website=People Behind the Science Podcast|language=en-US|access-date=2019-02-09}} This is demonstrated most clearly in her discovery of the foraging(for) gene.

By mapping the movement patterns of Drosophila, she discovered a single gene that influenced the style of foraging that they used. Sokolowski's subsequent cloning of this gene, which she named foraging (for), was the first ever molecular characterization of a gene which regulates normal individual differences in a behaviour.{{cite journal |title=What Makes Fruit Flies Roam? |url=https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.277.5327.763 |journal=Science |year=1997 |publisher=Science Magazine |doi=10.1126/science.277.5327.763 |access-date=28 August 2020|last1=Pennisi |first1=Elizabeth |volume=277 |issue=5327 |pages=763–764 |pmid=9273697 |s2cid=45842488 |url-access=subscription }} This gene has since been studied in many other animals, including humans. Sokolowski demonstrated that the for gene can be influenced by the environment of the individual: this means that the style of foraging is dependent on the life that the individual has lived.{{cite web |title=Behavioral Genomics |url=https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/behavioral-genomics-29093/ |website=SciTable |access-date=28 August 2020}}

Sokolowski has applied her work to early childhood development,{{Cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/parenting/why-the-first-2000-days-of-a-childs-life-are-the-most-important/article4572762/|title=Why the first 2,000 days of a child's life are the most important|date=September 17, 2012|work=The Globe and Mail|access-date=2019-02-10}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/science/brain/how-poverty-influences-a-childs-brain-development/article7882957/|title=How poverty influences a child's brain development|date=January 25, 2013|work=The Globe and Mail|access-date=2019-02-10}} demonstrating how children who are at risk can benefit from nutritional, financial, educational and emotional interventions.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/how-childhood-experience-gets-under-our-skin/article16725151/|title=How childhood experience gets under our skin|date=February 6, 2014|work=The Globe and Mail|access-date=2019-02-10}}

Awards and honours

In 2021, the Journal of Neurogenetics published a special issue in her honor.{{cite web |last1=EEB newsroom |title=Pioneering behavioural geneticist Marla Sokolowski celebrated with special issue of the Journal of Neurogenetics |url=https://eeb.utoronto.ca/2021/09/pioneering-behavioural-geneticist-marla-sokolowski-celebrated-with-special-issue-of-the-journal-of-neurogenetics/ |website=Utoronto news |date=21 September 2021 |access-date=6 February 2022}}

=Fellowships=

The Weston Fellow, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research{{cite web |title=Marla B. Sokolowski |url=https://www.cifar.ca/bio/marla-b.-sokolowski |website=CIFAR |access-date=30 July 2020}}
Distinguished Fellow, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research{{cite web |last1=Do |first1=Liz |title=Marla B. Sokolowski and W. Thomas Boyce named CIFAR Distinguished Fellows |url=https://cifar.ca/cifarnews/2022/10/03/marla-b-sokolowski-and-w-thomas-boyce-named-cifar-distinguished-fellows/#topskipToContent |website=CIFAR |date=3 October 2022 |access-date=23 January 2023}}
Senior Fellow, Massey College (2001)
Fellow, Royal Society of Canada (1998)

=Awards=

J.J. Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award from the University of Toronto for "her commitment and success in guiding graduate students, providing a supportive and stimulating learning experience, inspiring excellence in academic scholarship and integrity, and preparing them for their future careers".{{cite web |last1=Sasaki |first1=Chris |title=University Professor Marla Sokolowski honoured for a career of inspiring and guiding students |url=https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/news/marla-sokolowski-jj-berry-smith |website=University of toronto Faculty of Arts and Sciences |date=25 May 2022 |publisher=U of T |access-date=23 January 2023}}
Flavelle Medal from the Royal Society of Canada "for an outstanding contribution to biological science during the preceding ten years or for significant additions to a previous outstanding contribution to biological science". (2020) {{cite web |title=All Medals RSC |url=https://rsc-src.ca/en/awards-excellence/all-rsc-medals-awards |website=RSC |access-date=20 September 2020}}
Distinguished Investigator Award from the International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society (2014){{cite web |title=Marla Sokolowski Wins Distinguished Investigator Award |url=http://www.eeb.utoronto.ca/news-events/eebnews/eebnewsJan12014.htm?DateTime=635241732600000000&PageMode=View |website=U of T News |access-date=30 July 2020}}
Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal (2013)
The Genetics Society of Canada William F Grant and Peter B Moens Award of Excellence (2007){{cite web |title=Canadian Science Publishing Senior Investigator Award |url=https://csmb-scbm.ca/awards/canadian-science-publishing-senior-investigator-award/ |website=Canadian Society for Molecular Biosciences |access-date=30 July 2020}}{{cite web |title=The Genetics Society of Canada |url=https://evol.mcmaster.ca/GSC/awa_ex.html |website=McMaster Archive |access-date=30 July 2020}}
Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Genetics and Behavioural Neurology (since 2001-02-014){{cite web |title=Marla B. Sokolowski |url=https://academicminute.org/2017/05/marla-sokolowski-university-of-toronto-fruit-flies-and-obesity/ |website=Academic Minute |date=30 May 2017 |access-date=30 July 2020 |last1=Minute |first1=Academic }}
Young Scientist Award, Genetics Society of Canada (1993){{cite web |title=Young Scientist Award |url=https://evol.mcmaster.ca/GSC/awa_rhh.html |website=Genetics Society of Canada |access-date=30 July 2020}}

=Positions=

Director of the Life Sciences Division of the Academy of Sciences of the Royal Society of Canada (2009-2012){{cite web |title=Marla Sokolowski |url=https://expertfile.com/experts/marla.sokolowski/marla-sokolowski |website=Expert File |access-date=30 July 2020}}
Co-Director of the Child and Brain Development Program, CIFAR (2008-2019){{cite web |title=Nature vs Nurture Q and A with Marla Sokolowski |url=https://www.cifar.ca/cifarnews/2020/09/24/nature-nurture-and-time-q-a-with-marla-sokolowski |website=CIFAR |access-date=29 September 2020}}
Co-Director of the Experience Based Brain and Biological Development, CIFAR
Inaugural Academic Director of the Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development at University of Toronto (2012) {{cite web |title=Organization of Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development |url=https://www.oise.utoronto.ca/guestid/humandevelopment/Directors/index.html |website=OISE |access-date=30 July 2020}}{{cite web |title=Fraser Mud Institute for Human Development |url=https://issuu.com/boundless/docs/fmihd |website=ISSUU |date=31 January 2013 |access-date=30 July 2020}}{{cite web |title=Fraser Mustard's vision for kids lives on |url=https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/2012/10/02/fraser_mustards_vision_for_kids_lives_on.html |website=The Toronto Star |date=2 October 2012 |access-date=30 July 2020}}
Member of the Advisory Committee for The Science of Early Child Development{{cite web |title=SECD Advisory Committee |url=https://www.scienceofecd.com/pages/advisory-committee |website=SECD |access-date=28 August 2020}}
Chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Genes and Behaviour Conference (2008){{cite web |title=Conference History |url=https://www.grc.org/genes-and-behavior-conference/ |website=Gordon Research Conference |access-date=28 August 2020}}