Summer internship with Dr. Mary Teena Joy
May 2023 - August 2023
Lab website: Joy Lab Direct mentor: Michael Alasoadura, Ph.D.
Questions we aim to answer
- How do circuits rewire after a stroke and what are the consequences of these rewiring processes on brain function?
- How do cortical neurons remap post injury in areas pertaining to motor planning and execution?
What I did
- Developed a pipeline to analyze cortex-wide in vivo two-photon calcium imaging datasets of a motor task in mice
- Benchmarked two open-source computational toolboxes for large scale calcium imaging
- Analyzed changes in fluorescence across time
- Presented my results at the Jackson Laboratory Summer Symposium
Skills I developed
- Calcium imaging analysis in Suite2p and CaImAn
- Image processing and motion reduction
- Writing academic research reports
Defining moments
- This experience was the first time I presented outside of my local institution, a big step towards learning how to confidently talk about my science
- Working full time on computational analysis as opposed to the short intervals that I get to work on during the academic year made me realize that graduate school is the right path for me, since I will be able to dedicate my time to answering questions I find interesting
- Informal conversations over the summer with JAX researchers demonstrated me that there is no one-true-path to becoming a succesful investigator, everyone has different life trajectories but the same curiosity-driven spirit that guides them to a career in science
