Erin Duffy is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. She earned a bachelor’s degree in molecular and cell biology and a master’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Connecticut and a doctorate in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale University, where she developed chemical tools to study RNA dynamics in cells. As a postdoctoral fellow, she combined RNA biochemistry with neuroscience to understand how neurons respond to sensory experience at the level of gene expression during neurodevelopment.

Duffy’s research has shown that neuronal activity regulates RNA stability for a large fraction of activity-dependent genes in the brain, a previously underappreciated layer of gene regulation. She identified the RNA-binding protein HuD as a key driver of this process and found that activity-dependent HuD complexes are enriched for proteins encoded by genes associated with autism spectrum disorder. Her future research will examine how this RNA stability mechanism shapes synaptic development and function, and how its disruption may contribute to autism-relevant neurodevelopmental dysfunction. Duffy has previously received a Dale F. Frey Breakthrough Scientist Award from the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation and a Distinguished Scholar Award from the Warren Alpert Foundation.