I received my doctorate in Biochemistry from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where I worked in the lab of Jerry Hurwitz purifying proteins required for RNA processing in HeLa cells. As a postdoctoral investigator, I was a Damon Runyon Cancer Research Fellow at UC Berkeley with Robert Tjian. There I participated in the isolation and cloning the genes for transcription factors involved in regulating developmental genes in Drosophila. After heading to Johns Hopkins for an assistant professorship, however, I knew something was missing, and I wasn't sure what. I turned to writing and teaching and being a mom to find out.
Part of my story is found in For the Love of Ferns, which is about leaving research and On My Own, about becoming a teacher while being a single parent. As a communicator of science, I've also enjoyed writing blogs about the ocean and climate change for an organization called Altasea. Recently, I've started an internship at an amazing journal, The Scientist, writing stories about science for scientists.
Here's my first story in The Scientist
Part of my story is found in For the Love of Ferns, which is about leaving research and On My Own, about becoming a teacher while being a single parent. As a communicator of science, I've also enjoyed writing blogs about the ocean and climate change for an organization called Altasea. Recently, I've started an internship at an amazing journal, The Scientist, writing stories about science for scientists.
Here's my first story in The Scientist
- Perkins KK “Gene Proximity to Nuclear Speckles Drives Efficient mRNA Splicing” The Scientist. 2024; Oct. 30.
- Perkins KK “The First Nitrogen-fixing Marine Alga Discovered.” The Scientist. 2024; Oct. 7.
- Perkins KK “Deep Ocean Studies Unlock Hidden Secrets,” 2020 Altasea.
- Perkins KK “Many Hues of Blue” 2020 Altasea.
- Perkins KK “Are Cows Causing Climate Change? How the Ocean Can Help” 2020 Altasea.
- Perkins KK “Deep Ocean Studies Unlock Hidden Secrets” 2020 Altasea.
- Perkins KK “Five Ways the Ocean Can Save the Planet” 2020 Altasea.
- Perkins KK “On My Own” In: Lee Gutkind, ed. What I Didn’t Know: True Stories of Becoming a Teacher. Creative Nonfiction 2016: 185-196.
- Perkins, KK “For the Love of Ferns” Science 2014; 346:6216:1586.
- Perkins K “Molecules for non-majors” In: Druger, Siebert and Crow, eds. Teaching Tips for Successful Learning. National Science Teachers Association. 2004: 85 – 86.
- Perkins K “How I changed my teaching to meet the needs of students” The Hispanic Outlook on Higher Education, 2004, Jan.
- Perkins K “My emerging understanding of the Latina Culture.” The Hispanic Outlook on Higher Education, 2004, Jan.
- Perkins KK, et al. “The Drosophila Fos-Related AP-1 Protein is a Developmentally Regulated Transcription Factor” Genes Dev 1990; 4: 822-834.
- Perkins KK, et al. “In vitro analysis of the Antennapedia P2 promoter: Identification of a new Drosophila transcription factor” Genes Dev 1988; 2: 1615-1626.
- Perkins K, et al. “Novel Jun- and Fos-related proteins in Drosophila are functionally homologous to enhancer factor AP-1” EMBO J. 1988; 7(13): 4265-4273.
- Freyer G, et al. “In vitro formation of a lariat structure containing a G2’-5’G linkage” J. Biol. Chem. 1987; 262(9): 4267-4273.
- Perkins K, et al. “Analysis of mRNA splicing using fractions isolated from HeLa cells and mutant adenovirus pre-mRNA. Cold Spring Harbor Symposia, Cancer Cells. 1986; 4:249-258.
- Perkins K, et al. “RNA splicing products formed with isolated fractions from HeLa cels are associated with fast sedimenting complexes” PNAS 1986; 83: 887-891.
- Furneaux H, et al. “Isolation and characterization of two fractions from HeLa cells which are both required for RNA
splicing” PNAS 1985; 82: 684-688. - Perkins KK, et al. “Isolation and characterization of an RNA Ligase from HeLa cells” PNAS 1985; 82(3): 684-688.
- Grimes H, et al. “Ozone degrades into hydroxyl radical under physiological conditions: a spin trapping study” Plant Physiol. 1983; 72(4): 1016.
Amazing Writing Workshops I've attended:
Breadloaf, Middlebury, Vermont – Creative Nonfiction/Debra Marquart
Tin House, Reed College, Portland, OR – Creative Nonfiction/Abigail Thomas
Community of Writers, Olympic Valley, Tahoe, CA – Creative Nonfiction/Fiction
Prague Summer Program for Writers, Czech Republic
"On My Own," by Karen Kelley Perkins, a personal essay in What I Didn't Know: True Stories of Becoming a Teacher, (2016). www.creativenonfiction.org/books
Purchase it here!
“The best first-person account of teaching I’ve ever read. The stories these educators tell are essential reading for anyone who seeks to understand how the politics of educational policy shake out in the daily lives of teachers.” –Jessica Lahey, author of The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed
“Candid accounts of what is happening in the intimate spaces of classrooms across the country—microcosms of the issues that simmer below the surface of our world at large.” –Brenda Miller, co-author of Tell it Slant: Creating, Refining, and Publishing Creative Nonfiction.
Purchase it here!
“The best first-person account of teaching I’ve ever read. The stories these educators tell are essential reading for anyone who seeks to understand how the politics of educational policy shake out in the daily lives of teachers.” –Jessica Lahey, author of The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed
“Candid accounts of what is happening in the intimate spaces of classrooms across the country—microcosms of the issues that simmer below the surface of our world at large.” –Brenda Miller, co-author of Tell it Slant: Creating, Refining, and Publishing Creative Nonfiction.