Lab overview

Transcript

• 00:01If monkeys have taught us
• 00:04anything,
• 00:05it's that you have got
• 00:06to learn how to love
• 00:07before you learn how to
• 00:08live.
• 00:10For us, we work with
• 00:11rodents mostly,
• 00:13and I think we are
• 00:14learning the same thing.
• 00:16In my lab, we are
• 00:18interested in the
• 00:19unique feature of mammals.
• 00:21When the offspring is born,
• 00:23it needs intense care, comfort,
• 00:25and stimulation
• 00:27from the caretaker,
• 00:28typically the mother, to thrive
• 00:30and survive.
• 00:32We are interested in understanding
• 00:33the brain mechanisms that connect
• 00:35the infant mammal to their
• 00:37caretaker.
• 00:39We have projects in the
• 00:40lab, for example.
• 00:41One can ask the question,
• 00:43how does a baby make
• 00:44sense of the world?
• 00:46So we test questions like
• 00:47that in the mouse, for
• 00:49example. We have found
• 00:51neurons in an area of
• 00:52the brain that's called zona
• 00:53inserta, the area of uncertainty.
• 00:56When the mothers around these
• 00:58neurons respond
• 00:59and their activity of these
• 01:00neurons facilitate the learning of
• 01:03the infant mouse to make
• 01:04positive associations.
• 01:07Understanding
• 01:09early life can help us
• 01:11understand
• 01:12our own health and the
• 01:14long term impact that early
• 01:16childhood
• 01:17has
• 01:18on on human health.
• 01:20I think the knowledge that
• 01:22we generate
• 01:23can inspire
• 01:24policy making.
• 01:27I love discovery.
• 01:29I like to see the
• 01:30data.
• 01:31Perhaps what I like most
• 01:33is to work with people
• 01:34that make the discovery.
• 01:36See their shining eyes,
• 01:38that's something that's an integral
• 01:39part of myself.
• 01:41I like a lot that
• 01:42part of my job.