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.
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.
- “Deep Ocean Studies Unlock Hidden Secrets,” Altasea, 2020 blog, https://altasea.org/deep-ocean-studies-unlock-hidden-secrets
- “Many Hues of Blue,” Altasea, 2020 blog
- “Too Big to Fail,” Altasea, 2020 blog, https://altasea.org/are-cows-causing-climate-change-how-the-ocean-can-help/
- “Are Cows Causing Climate Change? How the Ocean Can Help,” Altasea, 2020 blog, https://altasea.org/are-cows-causing-climate-change-how-the-ocean-can-help/
- “Five Ways the Ocean Can Save the Planet,” Altasea, 2020 blog. https://altasea.org/5-ways-the-ocean-can-save-the-planet/
- “On My Own,” Essay in What I Didn’t Know: True Stories of Becoming a Teacher, Creative Nonfiction, Editor Lee Gutkind. 2016. https://creativenonfiction.org/product/what-i-didnt-know/
- “For the Love of Ferns,” in Science Magazine, Vol. 346, Issue 6216, p. 1586, Dec. 19, 2014. https://www.science.org/content/article/love-ferns
- “Molecules for non-majors.” Teaching Tips for Successful Learning, Druger, Siebert and Crow, National Science Teachers Association, ISBN #0873552458, 2004. https://www.amazon.ca/Teaching-Tips-Innovations-Undergraduate-Instruction/dp/0873552458
- “How I changed my teaching to meet the needs of students.” Feature story in The Hispanic Outlook on Higher Education, Jan. 2004.
- My emerging understanding of the Latina Culture. The Hispanic Outlook on Higher Education, Jan. 2004.
- “The Drosophila Fos-Related AP-1 Protein is a Developmentally Regulated Transcription Factor.” Genes and Development 4, 822-834, 1990. (Perkins, K.K., Admon, A., Patel, N. and Tjian, R.)
- “In vitro analysis of the Antennapedia P2 promoter: Identification of a new Drosophila transcription factor.” Genes and Development 2, 1615-1626, 1988. (Perkins, K.K., Dailey, G.M. and Tjian, R.)
- “Novel Jun- and Fos-related proteins in Drosophila are functionally homologous to enhancer factor AP-1.” European Molecular Biology Org. Journal 7(13), 4265-4273, 1988. (Perkins, K.K., Dailey, G.M. and Tjian, R.)
- “In vitro formation of a lariat structure containing a G2’-5’G linkage.” Journal of Biological Chemistry 262(9), 4267-4273, 1987. (Freyer, G.A., Arenas, J., Perkins, K.K., Furneaux, H.M., Pick, L., Young, B., Roberts, R.J. and Hurwitz, J.)
- “Analysis of mRNA splicing using fractions isolated from HeLa cells and mutant adenovirus pre-mRNAs.” Cancer Cells (Cold Spring Harbor Publ.) 4, 249-258, 1986. (Perkins, K.K., Furneaux, H., Freyer, G.A., Arenas, J., Pick, L. and Hurwitz, J.)
- “RNA splicing products formed with isolated fractions from HeLa cels are associated with fast sedimenting complexes.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 83, 887-891, 1986. (Perkins, K.K., Furneaux, H. and Hurwitz, J.)
- “Isolation and characterization of two fractions from HeLa cells which are both required for RNA splicing.” Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences 82, 684-688, 1985. (Furneaux, H., Perkins, K.K., Freyer, G.A., Arenas, J.A. and Hurwitz, J.)
- “Ozone degrades into hydroxyl radical under physiological conditions: a spin trapping study.” Plant Physiology 72(4), 1016, 1983. (Grimes, H., Perkins, K.K. and Boss, W.F. )
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.