Meet Alex Wang, an Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program PhD candidate in the Cardin lab. With his newly awarded F31 NRSA grant from the NIH, Wang looks forward to building upon fascinating findings on the development of the cortical circuits in vision.
“[F31 NRSA] is the main grant that American graduate students across life sciences go for,” Wang said. “This was my second time applying and I was extremely happy to see my work’s potential recognized and appreciated!”
His winning proposal strives to understand how GABAergic SST (somatostatin-expressing) interneurons develop & contribute to visual processing — specifically to circuit regulation in the visual cortex. This would provide insight into how their disruption may contribute to the pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric disorders such as epilepsy, autism, and schizophrenia.
While this interneuron’s role has been well characterized in adult animals, its function in developing cortical circuits is unknown. Wang is exploring the developmental trajectory of these interneurons’ contribution to visual processing.
“The highlight of my experience doing research is actually making connections and building relationships within the research space!” Wang said. “Meeting extremely smart and nice people from a variety of backgrounds who are also working on solving interesting problems is really motivating and fun, and discussing science and life with them has been really eye-opening.”
Although Wang grew up in Toronto, Canada, his roots in New Haven run deep. He was born here while his father worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Yale! Before returning to Yale, Wang studied Neuroscience at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
He had always been extremely interested in the brain and field of neuroscience, seeing it as “one of the least understood parts of biology.” Upon finding Yale’s program and collegial community to be a great match for his specific research interests (systems neuroscience) and personality, Wang picked INP as his next research home.
“I was really lucky to find a great lab full of really smart, helpful, and kind people with a really supportive mentor in Jess [Cardin] on top of all that, which is honestly the biggest reason I’m enjoying my PhD,” Wang said. “Research can be incredibly tough and draining with long periods between success, but having good work-life balance and a big picture view of your research can be really helpful to staying positive and motivated.”
Wang has his eyes set on becoming a professor and PI, after completing his PhD and a postdoc position. He hopes to continue working in systems neuroscience, investigating the activity and function of the neuronal populations that make up neural circuits, rather than whole-brain or single cell research.
A major takeaway from Wang’s research experience was how to address mental health. While he said it was normal to struggle at times during research, Wang emphasized the need for a good support system to achieve an overall positive experience.
“For others who may be struggling, please don’t overburden yourself with the weight of expectations and spend endless hours in lab working on things alone,” Wang said. “Reaching out for help and sharing your experiences, negative or positive, can be really helpful for mental health and for maintaining a positive outlook on your research and life.”