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Mesa, Arizona

Science Educator

I am a PhD candidate at Carnegie Mellon University. In the Thiels laboratory, I utilize ERK phosphorylation as biochemical marker to identify neurons that participate in the ability of reward-predictive cues to potentiate reward-seeking behaviors, a phenomenon known as Pavlovian -instrumental Transfer.We have found that rewards and cues that predict reward evoke differential patterns of ERK phosphorylation in the nucleus accumbens core and shell. Current work to investigate the molecular mechanisms by which ERK is phosphorylated and which neurons of the NAc exhibit cue-evoked ERK phosphorylation are underway.