This week was a lot more behind the scenes work rather than hands-on. It was a nice break from being in the behavioral unit of the building, I was able to sit down at my desk and do other bench work such as more brain flash-freezing. 

As it was my last day on Monday, I worked on my presentation throughout the past week and had multiple meetings with both my PI, Alexei, and the PhD student I’ve been working with throughout the summer, Lina. Both have been amazing great mentors and teachers as this was my first time working at a lab. 

Most of the week focused on understanding the previous work done by lab members to understand the broader impact of deleting Traf3 from all inhibitory neurons rather than just PV interneurons, which is what my project has been focusing on. This allowed me to further understand the background and context for why the work I’ve been doing was not only important but necessary to better understand the mechanism by which Traf3 works. 

The other portion of the week was spent analyzing the results we had obtained and putting them into words. Although the results we obtained were not what we expected, it was fascinating and more so inspiring to see how quickly Alexei and Lina pivoted to new potential projects that could come off of this project. So, I’m excited to keep on working alongside this team during the fall to see where these take us!

Finally, Alexei was kind enough to offer the lab meeting time for me to get acquainted with research presentations and I gladly took it. The presentation was nerve-racking but it went very well. It was very nice to have a practice round before the Laidlaw presentations in the fall; I was able to receive feedback from the rest of my team members and hear how they were interpreting the graphs I had made, as well as some potential additions to clarify context. I have many notes on everything I can and will improve by then. 

I want to take a moment to thank everyone in my lab. My team has been not only welcoming but extremely encouraging throughout my journey here. From teaching me basic lab skills to teaching me about the way interneurons work, they never made me feel like I was asking too many questions. I would’ve never thought research, especially animal research, was something I’d be interested in or passionate about pursuing, but it turns out it is! Seeing how hard everyone works to deepen our understanding of something as complex and impactful as mental health disorders is so motivating, and I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to be a part of it this summer.

Thank you all for keeping up with my Laidlaw journey this summer :-)