I am a Neuroscience PhD candidate in the laboratory of Dr. Renata Batista-Brito. I study how disruptions to the development of inhibitory interneurons, such as those caused by mutations underlying neurodevelopmental disorders, can lead to changes in cortical processing. In order to understand how things work, you often have to take them apart piece by piece. I do this using the powerful techniques of systems neuroscience. In my project I use a transgenic mouse model in which there is impaired the development of a subset of neurons called parvalbumin-expressing inhibitory interneurons. A hallmark of neurodevelopmental disorders is altered sensory processing, so I look at how visual stimuli are represented within the visual cortex of my transgenic mice. In short, I show movies to mice for a living! 

I’m so happy for the opportunity to learn and grow here at Einstein, both in and out of the lab. Thank you to the team at NeurOnAir for the opportunity to co-host an episode, and thank you to Dr. Marija Kundokovic for being such an inspiring guest!