Bianca Jones Marlin

Bianca Jones Marlin is a neuroscientist and Herbert and Florence Irving Assistant Professor of Cell Research at the Zuckerman Institute at Columbia University in New York City. 

Her research investigates how organisms unlock innate behaviors at appropriate times, and how learned information is passed to subsequent generations via transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. Marlin combines neural imaging, behavior, and molecular genetics to uncover how learned behavior in the parent can become innate behavior in the offspring— work that promises to make a profound impact on societal brain health, mental well-being, and parenting.

Prior to joining the faculty at Columbia,Marlin completed her postdoctoral work under the mentorship of Nobel Laureate Richard Axel, where she investigated how trauma experienced by parents affects the brain structure and sensory experience of their future offspring. 

Marlin’s work has been recognized with several awards and honors. Her research and perspectives have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Geographic, Discover Magazine, and Forbes, among others.

In Paris, Jones Marlin will advance her collaborative project TRANSMIND, investigating how imagined sensory experiences—“fictive memories” generated via optogenetics—might be biologically encoded and inherited across generations. Working closely with French collaborators at ESPCI Paris and utilizing resources at Reid Hall, she will deepen the understanding of how brain plasticity links imagination, trauma, and inheritance, with implications for mental health and generational healing.