About Dr. Byrns
Dr. Byrns is currently a PGY1 resident in the Division of Plastic Surgery. She earned her MD and PhD in the Medical Scientist Training Program at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. During this time, she also completed a postdoctoral research fellowship. She is interested in a career in academic plastic and reconstructive surgery.
Education
2014 - 2025
Medical Scientist Training Program
Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
2014 - 2025
MD - Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
2021 - 2023
Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, Dr. Nancy Bonini
2016 - 2021
PhD - Neuroscience, Dr. Nancy Bonini
2013 - 2014
MS - University of Hawaii at Manoa
2007 - 2011
BA - Mount Holyoke College
Awards
2025
Top Chef Award, Penn Wilderness Medicine
2021
Louis B. Flexner Award for Outstanding Dissertation in Neuroscience
2020
Department of Neurosurgery Research Award
2017 - 2020
Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Fellowship
2014
Miyawaki Neuroscience Trainee Award
2011
Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society
2009
Sarah Williston Scholar
2009
Psi Chi Honor Society
Research
Dr. Byrns earned her MS in Cell and Molecular Biology, studying the protective role of selenoproteins in the brain. She went on to complete her PhD in Neuroscience, where she showed how physical injury can accelerate brain aging and neurodegenerative disease. In her postdoctoral fellowship, she investigated the causes and consequences of age-onset cellular senescence, resulting in a first-author publication in Nature. Her research interests remain in basic mechanisms of tissue injury, aging, and regeneration and their relevance to reconstructive surgery.
Publications
- Byrns CN, Perlegos AE, Carranza FR, Machandra P, Beveridge CH, Randolph CE, Chaluvadi VS, Zhang SL, Srinivasan AR, Bennett FC, Sehgal A, Chopra G, Bonini, NM. Senescent glia link mitochondrial dysfunction and lipid accumulation. Nature 630:475, 2024
- Perlegos AE, Byrns CN, Bonini NM. Cell type-specific regulation of m6A modified RNAs in the aging Drosophila brain. Aging Cell 23(3):e14076, 2024
- Sheng L, Shields EJ, Gospocic J, Sorida M, Ju L, Byrns CN, Carranza F, Berger SL, Bonini NM, Bonasio R. Ensheathing glia promote increased lifespan and healthy brain aging. Aging Cell. 22:5, 2022
- Byrns CN, Saikumar J, Bonini NM. Glial AP1 is activated with aging and accelerated by traumatic brain Injury. Nature Aging 1:585, 2021
- Simeonov KP, Byrns CN, Clark ML, Norgaard RJ, Martin B, Stanger BZ, McKenna A, Shendure J, Legner CJ. Single-cell lineage and transcriptome reconstruction of metastatic cancer reveals selection of aggressive hybrid EMT states. Cancer Cell 39:1150, 2021
- McGurk L, Rifai OM, Shcherbakova O, Perlegos AE, Byrns CN, Carranza FR, Zhou HW, Kim HJ, Zhu Y, Bonini NM. Toxicity of pathogenic ataxin-2 in Drosophila shows dependence on a pure CAG repeat sequence. Human Molecular Genetics 30(19):1797. 2021
- Saikumar J, Byrns CN, Hemphill M, Meaney DF, Bonini, NM. Dynamic neural and glial responses of a head-specific model for traumatic brain injury in Drosophila. PNAS 117(29):17269. 2020
- Saikumar J, Kim J, Byrns CN, Hemphill M, Meaney DF, Bonini, NM. Inducing different severities of TBI in Drosophila using a piezoelectric actuator. Nature Protocols 16:262-282. 2021
- Pitts MW, Kremer P, Hashimoto A, Torres D, Byrns CN, Williams C, Berry MJ. Competition between the Brain and Testes under Selenium-Compromised Conditions: Insight into Sex Differences in Selenium Metabolism and Risk of Neurodevelopmental Disease. Journal of Neuroscience 35(46): 15326. 2015
- Pitts MW, Byrns CN, Ogawa-Wong AN, Kremer P, Berry MJ. Selenoproteins in Nervous System Development and Function. Biol Trace Elem Res 161:23, 2014
- Byrns CN, Pitts MW, Gilman CL, Hashimoto AC, Berry MJ. Mice lacking selenoprotein P and selenocysteine lyase exhibit severe neurological dysfunction, neurodegeneration, and audiogenic seizures. The Journal of Biological Chemistry 289(14):9662, 2014