Profile

I’m an avid reader since I could hold a book – I remember my dad reading “The Hobbit” to me and my brother and sister for our bedtime stories and to this day I’m obsessed with anything Tolkien (except maybe the new hobbit movies). I’ve been drawing since I could hold a crayon and to this day I love sketching (I always include something I draw in nearly everything I present!). I remember the first time I stole my parent’s waterproof film camera and started taking and staging pictures of our two dogs – of course we put dressed them in a homemade dress and tux and married them and I was the wedding photographer.

I’ve hiked mountains in the Himalayas and the Rockies, and I’ve lived on 3 continents and visited 21 countries in the past 10 years; I would consider traveling one of my greatest loves in life, especially when it’s centered around food 🙂

Sciencey Explanation: The major aim of my work is to emulate neuronal function, including synaptic connectivity, by reproducing memory and time-dependence in a nanowire-based neuromorphic network. From this, we can create a “neural memory prosthetic” that can then be tuned to characterize and therefore help to determine the mechanisms underlying neurogenic and neuropathic pain and potentially stimulate an analgesic effect when implanted into a model of neuropathic pain reduction by deep brain stimulation.

What it means: I want to make tiny wires act like neurons in the brain so I can create a device that can record signals from neuron cells to study them and figure out why some people feel pain all the time and see if we can try to stop it. This involves a lot of work with cells and chemistry and a dash of engineering and my favorite – microscope work!

 <– The lab

 <– pipettes!  <– cells in a sterilized cabinet