Associate Professor, Biology
School of Natural Science and Mathematics
Email: claire.wright@chaminade.edu
Phone: (808) 739-8343
Courses
Biology
Biography
Dr. Wright completed all of her undergraduate and graduate training in the U.K. and holds degrees in Physiology, Neuroscience and Neuropathology. Her Ph.D. work was completed in collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline where she worked in a team to characterize potential new models for Alzheimer’s Disease. Since her move to Hawai‘i in 2004, she has focused her research interests in the field of parturition and held several University and local foundation grants before her move to Chaminade. Her research program at Chaminade is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NICHD) and her Laboratory of Fetal Membrane Tissue Integrity is centered on understanding the mechanisms that control the strength of this tissue during pregnancy as she is committed to improving women’s health care and neonatal outcomes here in Hawaii. Prior to Chaminade, she was the primary Neuroanatomy instructor at the John A. Burns School of Medicine and she continues to teach at the medical school and has joint appoints in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women’s Health and also Anatomy, Biochemistry and Physiology. She has numerous peer-reviewed publications in the field of pre-term birth and has also published in the field of medical education. Her broad background in several areas of the biological sciences and her teaching experience gives her the expertise to teach a wide range of biology subjects and to mentor students who wish to perform translational biomedical research.
Education
B.Sc. Physiology (University of London), MSc Neuroscience (Institute of Psychiatry, London), Ph.D. Neuropathology (Open University). Post-doctoral Fellowships; Department of Biochemistry, Imperial College London, John A. Burns School of Medicine, Honolulu.
Academic Degrees
Post-doctoral fellow – University of Hawaii, USA
Post-doctoral fellow – Imperial Collage London, UK
Ph.D. Neuropathology – The Open University, UK
M.Sc. Neuroscience – Institute of Psychiatry, University of London, UK
B.Sc. (Hons) Physiology – University of London, UK
Selected Publications
View full list of publications
Kendal C, Everall I, Polkey C, Al-Sarraj S. (1999) Glial cell changes in the white matter in temporal lobe epilepsy. Epilepsy Research (36) 43-51.
Richardson J. C, Kendal C. E, Anderson R, Priest F, Gower E, Soden P, Gray R, Topps S, Howlet D, Lavender D, Clarke N. J, Barnes J. C, Howarth R, Stewart M. G and Rupniak T. (2003) Ultrastructural and behavioural changes precede amyloid deposition in a transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. Neuroscience 122 (1) 213-229.
Mezey S, Doyère V, De Souza I, Harrison E, Cambon K, Kendal C, Davies H, Laroche S, Stewart M. (2004) Long-term synaptic morphometry changes after induction of LTP and LTD in the dentate gyrus of awake rats are not simply mirror phenomena. European Journal of Neuroscience (19) 1-9.
Anderson AA, Kendal C. E, Garcia-Maya M, Kenny AV, Morris-Triggs S, Wu T, Reyonlds R, Hohenester E and Saffell J. S. (2005) A peptide from the first fibronectin domain of NCAM acts as an inverse agonist and stimulates FGF receptor activation, neurite outgrowth and survival. Journal of Neurochemistry 95(2) 570-83.
Garcia-Maya M, Anderson A. A, Kendal C. E, Kenny A. V, Edwards-Ingram C, Holladay A and Saffell J. S. (2006) Ligand concentration is a driver of divergent signalling and pleiotrophic cellular responses to FGF. J Cell Physiology 206(2):386-93.
Kendal C. E, and Bryant-Greenwood G. D. (2007) Pre-B-cell colony-enhancing factor (PBEF/Visfatin) gene expression is regulated by NF-kB and AP-1 in human amniotic epithelial cells. Placenta 28(4) 305-314.
Kendal-Wright C. E (2007) Stretching, mechanotransduction and proinflammatory cytokines in the fetal membranes. Reproductive Sciences 14 (8)supp 35-41.
Kendal-Wright C. E, Hubbard D and Bryant-Greenwood G. D. (2008) Chronic stretching of amniotic epithelial cells increases Pre-B cell colony-enhancing factor (PBEF/Visfatin) expression and protects them from apoptosis. Placenta 29(3) 255-65.
Mazaki-Tovis, Romero R, Kusanovic J.P, Erez O, Gotsch F, Mittal P, Than N, Nhan-Chang C. L, Hamill N, Vaisbuch E, Chaiworapongsa T, Edwin S, Nien J. K, Gomes R, Espinoza J, Hassan S. S, Kendal-Wright C. E and Bryant-Greenwood G. (2008) Visfatin/Pre-B Cell Colony-Enhancing Factor in Amniotic: An Association with Subclinical Intrauterine Infection in Preterm Parturition. Journal of Perinatal Medicine 36:485-496.
