Podcasting Through the Pandemic
Curious about how your brain is processing the experience of the pandemic? Johns Hopkins graduate student Emily Han launched a podcast to explore the neuroscience behind pandemic emotions.
The P-value of People
The prospect of helping patients is what attracted neuroscience graduate student Riley Bannon to the field of research, but this semester brought many humbling reminders that it is all too easy to lose sight of the bigger, human picture in translational research.
To Regrow Neurons, Fish Retinas Go Back in Time
Have you ever wondered why worms and fish can regenerate lost limbs while humans can’t? Read how Seth Blackshaw’s developmental neuroscience lab uses insights from zebrafish to regrow damaged eye neurons in mice.
A Blood Test for Alzheimer’s Disease? Breakthroughs and Limitations
Recently, researchers at Washington University, St. Louis made a significant breakthrough in developing a blood test for early indications of Alzheimer’s disease. But what exactly is Alzheimer’s disease, how prevalent is it, and why do we seem to be so far away from a treatment or cure? In this post, I provide an overview of […]
Left- vs. Right-Brained: Why the Brain Laterality Myth Persists
You might have heard artists say they’re right-brained or mathematicians say they’re left-brained. Maybe when you were a kid someone noticed you were left-handed and told you that meant you were creative. The idea that some of us are “left-brained” and others are “right-brained” is extremely popular. But, like so many other appealing ideas, the […]
Why Do Students Pursue a Ph.D. in Neuroscience?
As a fourth-year neuroscience Ph.D. student, I appreciate the variety of topics that lie within the umbrella of the nervous system. Nowhere is this more evident than in the diverse backgrounds and passions of my fellow students. To provide a glimpse into the vibrant world of neuroscience research, and to provide insight to others considering […]
Drifting Through the Dark
I have never wanted to be an astronaut. The idea of hurtling upward in a rocket ship, crashing through the Earth’s atmosphere, and launching into the weightless, densely black sky with the knowledge that you might never return makes me feel a certain loneliness. Yet when friends and family ask what it’s like to do […]
Fuggetaboudit: Is Forgetfulness a Vice or a Virtue?
Where are my keys? What’s the name of that actor again? Did she say 3 or 4 o’clock? Forgetfulness is a part of life, albeit often an inconvenient one. If you find yourself wishing you would never forget anything, you may want to reconsider. Neuroscientists are beginning to uncover the molecular mechanisms of forgetting. With […]
Discussing the NIH Mandate to Study Sex as a Biological Variable in Basic Biomedical Research
In one of my courses in the neuroscience Ph.D. program at Johns Hopkins, we recently discussed the 2016 National Institutes of Health (NIH) mandate requiring consideration of sex as a biological variable in grant applications to NIH agencies. Citing the success of the initiative to include both men and women in human clinical trials, the […]
Uncovering a Food Preference Signal in an Overlooked Brain Region
This October marks the publication of my first lead author scientific article, the culmination of my thesis work thus far. Simply put, I found a previously unknown brain signal in the ventral pallidum that reports how good a food outcome was relative to the other available options. What does this signal mean, and why might […]