From the Lab to the Limelight - Blog version of our #TraineeTuesday social media series
This #TraineeTuesday, we are highlighting Rachel Oren, a graduate student in the Cardin and Higley Labs at Yale Neuro! She was recently awarded an F31 NRSA from the National Eye Institute.
F31 National Research Service Award (NRSA) is a program that is designed to support talented doctoral students in their journey to become successful, independent researchers by providing them with mentorship and research opportunities for their dissertations. The award will provide support for Rachel’s research on visual processing deficits in CDKL5 deficiency disorder (CDD), a genetic neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by epilepsy, intellectual delay, and sensory processing deficits.
Rachel’s project focuses on CDK15, a gene that plays a role in regulating the cell cycle and other cellular processes. She uses a mouse model of CDK15 deficiency and calcium imaging to dissect where visual information is lost along the visual pathway. She plans to use various other genetic techniques to reintroduce CDK15 later in development to assess whether deficits can be restored.
Always interested in science, Rachel worked in a genetics lab for a summer in high school. A class in her freshman year at Williams College piqued her interest in psychiatric disorders. Rachel then double majored in psychology and biology with a concentration in neuroscience. She completed an independent project in her senior year on early life stress, treatment with antidepressants during periadolescence, and the impact on behavior in adulthood, using Sprague Dawley rats as a model organism. With a solidified interest in neurodevelopment and hopes of cultivating more research experience before graduate school, she worked in a lab at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston before coming to Yale.
Rachel was drawn to Yale because of its “inherently” interdepartmental neuroscience program and “very” collaborative environment. In addition, there were many labs at Yale with projects focused on research topics that she wanted to work on. Rachel views the connections she has made as the highlight of her research experience at Yale, and is “immensely” grateful for the scientific community that surrounds her.
Yale has provided a rich and supportive research environment in which my scientific interests have flourished. I am constantly amazed by the opportunities afforded by the program and the engagement of the neuroscience community. The breadth of expertise and endless resources available have made Yale the perfect setting for my scientific training.
Rachel Oren
This research has impacted Rachel’s long-term goals as a researcher. She now plans to firmly focus on understanding how diverse genetic mutations can disrupt sensory processing in the context of neurodevelopmental disorders. Moreover, her research has also introduced Rachel to the Lou Lou Foundation, an organization dedicated to supporting CDD and promoting collaborations between researchers. She is now a part of a focus group dedicated to facilitating collaboration across the organization.
A constant source of motivation for Rachel is the family accounts from the CDK15 community.
I have had the pleasure of hearing from families affected by CDD talk about how this neurodevelopmental disorder has impacted their lives. Hearing from families reaffirms the importance of my research and motivates my work.
Rachel Oren
In the long term, Rachel aspires to become a professor. She aims to start a lab focused on dissecting the circuits involved in sensory processing deficits across a range of neurodevelopmental disorders. One contribution to her interest in staying in academia was the “unwavering” support she has received from her PIs, Drs. Jess Cardin and Michael Higley.
I joined the lab with minimal background in the techniques that the labs specialized in, but [Drs. Jess Cardin and Michael Higley] ensured that I had the necessary resources available to me to learn. Moreover, they have been not only supportive of my academic interests but enthusiastic about them and have continued to support my science and career in every way possible.
Rachel Oren
Rachel looks forward to mentoring the next generation of researchers.