The Longer About Me

I was never sure I wanted to study science, but it had always piqued my interest. Growing up in rural Ontario, I became interested in the biology of things, how animals and plants are related to each other, and how ecological systems work together to thrive.

I started my undergraduate studies at Dalhousie University in Halifax, NS thinking I would be interested in Marine Biology or Microbiology. After learning about the psychology and how the brain worked, I became more interested in how the brain functions on a deeper level.

I transferred to Carleton University in Ottawa, ON in 2011 where I completed the rest of my studies. They were one of the first Canadian universities to offer a Neuroscience program, and I enrolled. It wasn’t until 3rd year when learning about sexual differentiation of the brain in our general neuroscience seminar that I became more enthralled with the intricacies of brain development and the dance all the systems make together.

I began my graduate school career at Carleton University doing my MSc. with Dr. Natalina Salmaso in 2015. I got interested in glia, particularly astroglia, and the under appreciated role they play in building and maintaining brain health.

I eventually finished my MSc. and continued into a PhD with Dr. Salmaso studying sex differences in the astroglial translatome in cortical development.

I became interested in the functional side of genetics and how this plays into neurodevelopment. I joined the labs of Dr. Joseph Dougherty and Dr. Thomas Papouin at Washington University in St. Louis to understand how astrocyte functional development is influenced by neuronal activity and vice-versa where I currently am. My research intends to understand a developmental trajectory of astrocyte functions, their response to neuromodulators, and the role of neuronal activity and functional development in local astrocyte protein translation.