• What are some of the ethical issues that you are grappling with in your research? What are some of the ways in which you are responding to these questions?

Ethically, I'm minimizing the number of mice used and minimizing the pain and distress to the mice per the IACUC protocol, which I've been trained on since I started the lab in Fall 2025. The mice are provided with food and water in their cage and are cared for by the vet technicians in JLG. 

• As you continue your research, have you considered alternative viewpoints in your investigation? If so, how have these alternative viewpoints enriched or changed your project? 

Yes, I'm considering alternative viewpoints, such as using a mechanical sensitivity test versus Projected Analysis Withdrawal Speeds (PAWS), whether to use KCL stimulation (baseline-only measurement or baseline plus activity), and, overall, in vivo exposure to stress conditions versus in vitro corticosterone exposure. Ultimately, I've decided to use KCL stimulation and in-vitro corticosterone exposure to simulate the chronic stress conditions. This alternative viewpoint has enriched my project, as I am now looking at the morphology of DRG neurons themselves when exposed to chronic stress, rather than at the scientific literature showing changes in DRG neurons when exposed to acute stress. [1]

• Where does your research take place? Take a photo of the place where your ideas and investigations are taking place, and post it to the Network!

My research takes place at the Abdus-Saboor lab at the Zuckerman Institute!

[1] Lerch, J. K., Alexander, J. K., Madalena, K. M., Motti, D., Quach, T., Dhamija, A., Zha, A., Gensel, J. C., Marketon, J. W., Lemmon, V. P., Bixby, J. L., & Popovich, P. G. (2017). Stress increases peripheral axon growth and regeneration through glucocorticoid receptor–dependent transcriptional programs. eNeuro, 4(4). https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0246-17.2017