Visitor of the Week: Ayse Malci

Meet Ayse Malci of the Children’s National Hospital where she is a member of Dr. Michael S. Sidorov’s lab. The postdoctoral fellow is at Neuronal Circuits; her first-ever meeting at CSHL that also happens to be her first in-person meeting since the pandemic. Here’s what she has to say about it:

This was my first in-person meeting since the pandemic started and I realized how much I have actually missed this dynamic and vivid environment! It just feels more natural to interact and share compared to virtual meetings. Since I knew that everyone who participated in-person was immunized, I also felt safe to be in contact with other participants.

Tell us about your research.
My research focuses on how neuronal circuits are shaped by visual stimuli and how they are altered in neurodevelopmental disorders. I am interested in investigating neuronal activity in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) by using cutting-edge fluorescent imaging techniques and Angelman’s Syndrome (AS) model mice. Ultimately, I aim to discover the cellular features and signatures of neurons within the microcircuits that are responsible for the impairments in the ACC of AS model mice.

How did you decide to focus on this area/project?
I always think of the human brain as a closed box and there is still a lot to explore within there. Among many other interesting fields, neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) particularly take my attention because it sadly affects children who are our source of all joy. For a better understanding of NDD, I have decided to invest my postdoctoral research in neuronal circuits and in vivo neuronal activity. To do so, I will be primarily relying on my previous experience and personal interest in calcium imaging.

What and/or who is the inspiration behind your scientific journey?
The true inspiration who made me pursue a career in neuroscience is always my uncle who dramatically lived with ALS (a neurodegenerative disease) for five years. He made me realize how essentially basic and translational research is needed to provide treatment for neurological impairments.

Where do you see yourself in five years?
In five years, I aim to reach the end of my postdoctoral journey where I hope to be ready for my independent research. I would like to develop a solid research strategy combined with enriched skill sets and practical experiences. Also, in five years, I hope to expand my network and engage with many more talented scientists to be able to contribute to the scientific community altogether.

What do you love most about being a researcher?
I love and enjoy the creative part of being a researcher. Planning a new project feels like playing a new game – everything is exciting and challenging at the same time. And setting up the rules of this new game pretty much depends on how creative you are.

What drew you to attend this meeting?
I have always known the outstanding reputation of CSHL and their meetings since I was an undergrad student. Back then it was too far away and not affordable in a country like Turkey. Years later, while starting my postdoctoral journey, I discovered that I may have an opportunity to visit CSHL and I was thrilled! At this point, my mentor Dr. Michael S. Sidorov kindly supported and encouraged me to participate together with my colleague Dr. Caleigh Guoynesv. And I decided to take this circuits meeting as a priceless chance to learn about the latest discoveries in the field and inspire me for my new project.

What is your key takeaway from the Meeting; and how do you plan to apply it to your work?
The key takeaway from the Meeting is that one has to be dedicated, patient, and open to sharing. Science is not for the first authorship, science is for society – us!

What feedback or advice would you share with someone considering to participate in this meeting?
The feedback I would share with anyone who wants to join this meeting would be “get ready for an amazing experience.” This is not like any other meeting one participates in and leaves, this meeting is more about being part of the “circuits community” where you can expand your horizon and build new contacts for the future.

What’s the most memorable thing that happened during the Meeting?
The most memorable thing that happened during the Meeting was meeting with new people via Twitter! I was following posts tagged with ‘#cshlcircuits’ and have “liked” some tweets. Later by chance, I met with those folks during the poster session and it was funny to follow up with our experience at the Meeting. This made me think of the power of social media and how it even helps scientists.

What do you like most about your time at CSHL?
What I like the most about my time at CSHL are the inspiring talks, beautiful campus, and relaxing nature... I especially felt privileged to be present in the same place where many legendary senior scientists have been in the past. Seeing black-and-white pictures of names like Barbara McClintock, James D. Watson and Robert Malenka made me emotional and proud at the same time.

Thank you to Edwin for being this week's featured visitor. To meet other featured researchers - and discover the wide range of science that takes part in a CSHL meeting or course - go here.

Image provided by Ayse Malci

Visitor of the Week: Baovi Vo

Meet Baovi “Vi” Vo of the University of Minnesota! A PhD candidate in Kevin Wickman’s lab, Vi took part in her first CSHL meeting – Neuronal Circuits (virtual) – during which she virtually presented a poster titled “Anatomic and cellular mechanisms underlying the apparent anxiolytic efficacy of the direct GIRK channel activator ML297”.  

Tell us about your research.
My research seeks to identify cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the contribution of the G protein-gated inwardly rectifying K+ (GIRK) channels to anxiety-related behavior, and examine the therapeutic potential associated with manipulating GIRK channels to treat anxiety-related disorders.

How did you decide to focus on this area/project?
Anxiety disorders are very common and debilitating; however, current anti-anxiety medications are inconsistently effective and have adverse side effects. I believe a better understanding of mechanisms underlying anxiety can lead to more effective treatments, which will enhance the quality of human life and reduce the economic and personal burden linked to anxiety disorders.

Vi relaxing lakeside with the "membrane excitability" book, a critical concept in her research field.

What and/or who is the inspiration behind your scientific journey?
My initial interest was cancer research but one day, by chance, I read an article describing a study in which researchers observed mice in stressful environments had significantly higher growth and rate of metastasis of tumor compared to the control mice in regular environments. I was struck by the finding. I then realized the importance of stress responses and how emotion impacts physiology and one’s vulnerability to diseases. My passion is in neuroscience; seeking to understand the neurobiology of anxiety and depression which is a major etiology of several diseases and disorders. I believe one day my findings could fill the knowledge gap and help people with mental health problems or any underlying conditions to live a happier life.

What impact do you hope to make through your work?
I love doing science. I believe no discovery is small, no finding is insignificant (even a negative finding has its own value). I take every single step seriously -- experimental design, data collection, data analysis, technical optimization, mentoring, etc -- and have a daily objective that takes me a step closer to reaching my ultimate goal: Improve medicine and help people live a happier life.

What do you love most about being a researcher?
We have the knowledge and the tools to invent knowledge, and that to me is super cool. Since I was a kid, I asked a lot of questions: Why is the sky blue? How do we perceive colors? Why do people say I look like my dad? How does biological inheritance work? As a scientist, I have the ability to design experiments that test my hypothesis and figure out the answer to unanswered questions.

What drew you to attend this meeting?
Its topic of ‘neuronal circuit’ is highly relevant to my research. In addition, I am very interested in the research of several invited speakers, such as Drs. Lisa Giocomo, Georg Keller, and Sandra Kuhlman. The chance to discuss my work, and learn the new findings and techniques used to study neuronal circuits and relevant behaviors  from colleagues was also a big draw. Since this is a small meeting that encourages interactions and discussion, it provides opportunities to expand my professional network with whom I can discuss common research interests and potential collaborations.

What is your key takeaway from the Meeting; and how do you plan to apply it to your work?
New techniques are developed every day, therefore, it is important to be open to learning new strategies and techniques that will help answer research questions. I don’t have experience in programming or coding, but I am interested in exploring the approaches that utilize deep learning and machine learning to analyze data and find meaningful patterns in large data sets. DeepLabCut is an example. I want to learn more about this program and apply it to my animal tracking experiments and behavioral analysis.

What feedback or advice would you share with someone considering to participate in this meeting?
This meeting is definitely beneficial for all scientists at any career stage. I like that the scientific content presented was not only filled with advanced techniques and interesting research questions in the realm of neuronal circuit, but it was also wide in terms of the model organisms that could be employed to study the circuits. We use mice in our lab, but it is interesting to learn about the neuronal circuits of flies, worms, fishes, etc. Questions from people outside of your specific field are refreshing and can help remind you to take step back and look at your work at a larger scale - a critical step for a scientist who wants to do great science and impactful work.  

What’s the most memorable thing that happened during the Meeting?
Due to COVID-19, the meeting was re-organized into a virtual one and this is the first virtual meeting that I have attended. We all are currently going through a very difficult time with the current global pandemic, but I am very impressed by and grateful for all the efforts the meeting organizers and participants put in to make the meeting happen. Currently, several labs cannot conduct certain experiments but this meeting allows us to continue to discuss science, generate new ideas, and make discoveries through discussions and dry lab works. The meeting reminded me that science keeps going despite adversity and challenges.

Thank you to Vi for being this week's featured visitor. To meet other featured researchers - and discover the wide range of science that takes part in a CSHL meeting or course - go here.

Images provided by Baovi Vo.

Visitor of the Week: Douglas Reilly

Meet Douglas Reilly of Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The graduate student is in Jagan Srinivasan's lab in the Department of Biology and Biotechnology. He is on campus for the Neuronal Circuits  -- his first CSHL meeting -- where he presented a poster entitled “A neuropeptide controls the sex-specific valence of a mating cue pheromone”.

What are your research interests? What are you working on?
I am interested in how the nervous system encodes instinctive behaviors, and how these responses evolve and diverge in closely related species. I am currently working on understanding how male C. elegans nematodes sense and response to a mating pheromone.

How did you decide to make this the focus of your research?
Going into graduate school, I knew that I wanted to study how the nervous system functions. The Srinivasan Lab’s approach to understanding functional connectomes was something that really grabbed my interest and never really let go.

How did your scientific journey begin? 
In college, my Principles of Neuroscience class finally showed me where to focus my interest in biology. Being able to do an independent study in Prof. Michele Lemons’ lab Assumption College exposed me to what research was like in the neuroscience field. 

Was there something specific about the Neuronal Circuits meeting that drew you to attend?
It’s always great when you have the opportunity to present your work to related fields, and get input from people with related, but very different mindsets. Though there weren’t a ton of worm people at this meeting, getting to talk to fly and mouse neuroscientists increased my confidence in what I was doing, and gave me great ideas regarding the different directions I can take my project.

What is your key takeaway from the meeting?
That the more we learn about the brain, the more we learn how much we don’t know. There were a bunch of fascinating talks which delved into the functioning of well-studied regions of the brain, only to discover previously unknown cells, circuits, and roles within those regions. But even as we realize that we don’t know as much as we think we do, the attendees weren’t disheartened, but instead were only more motivated to continue their work.

Did you pick up or learn something new from the meeting that you plan to apply to your work?  
Discussions with other worm lab researchers here pointed me in the direction of technologies which may help me avoid trouble with completing my project and getting the data published.

If someone curious in attending a future iteration of this meeting asked you for feedback or advice on it, what would you tell him/her?
This meeting has a lot of people doing really cool research on neuronal circuits in a variety of models. But what’s great is that everyone is able to communicate with everyone else, and the ideas exchanged will strengthen your own research.

What do you like most about your time at CSHL?
The ease of talking to people from different backgrounds was great. Unlike topic meetings, this CSHL meeting was not as clique-ish. Everyone was more than happy to talk to anyone else, with fun conversations happening everywhere and between people who had just met.

Thank you to Doug for being this week's featured visitor. To meet other featured scientists - and discover the wide range of science that takes part in a CSHL meeting or course - go here.