Contact Information
Office Hours
Research Areas
Biography
I obtained my Bachelor of Science degree with honors in Neuroscience from The Johns Hopkins University in 2019. After graduation, I took a gap year working as a research technologist and a teaching assistant at the same time, in Worley Lab at School of Medicine and neuroscience department at Homewood campus respectively.
Research Interests
I whole-heartedly believe that majority, if not all, abnormal psychological conditions can be explained and detected by changes in biological processes in the brain. Drug addiction is one of the psychological disorders that I wanted to study. It is a critical issue especially in teenagers and young adults experimenting with new life choices. Besides drug addiction, I have a broad interest in the neurobiological basis of other psychological disorders as well, such as autism, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, etc. In fact, I studied schizophrenia for three years in my previous lab, using both biochemical (e.g. Western blot) and behavioral techniques (e.g. open field, social interaction, Morris' water maze) on mice with genetic knockout of a protein in the Arc signaling hub.
Research Description
My current project in Dr. Gulley’s lab investigates the combined effects of two drugs – alcohol and THC (the main active component in marijuana) – in rats undergoing puberty, to model the influence on memory and metabolic functions in humans. I am mainly responsible for examining the changes in neuronal firing patterns in brain slices, to relate behavioral deficits to neurobiological manifestations. Additionally, I am coordinating with four undergrads and two lab technicians to administer drugs to adolescent rats.
Education
Bachelor of Science - Johns Hopkins University
Grants
Professional Development Fund - $350
Additional Campus Affiliations
Psychology Department's Diversity and Inclusion Committee
Additional Information
Outside of academic life, I love cooking, playing the violin, and jigsaw puzzles : )
Recent Publications
Liu, C., Padhy, S., Ramachandran, S., Wang, VX., Efimov, A., Bernal, A., Shi, L., … Miller, MI. (2019). Using deep Siamese neural networks for detection of brain asymmetries associated with Alzheimer’s Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment. Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 64, 190-199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mri.2019.07.003