Olivia L
- Research Program Mentor
PhD candidate at Columbia University
Expertise
Neurobiology and Behavior
Bio
I graduated from Wesleyan University with a Bachelor's degree in Neuroscience and Behavior. There, I worked as a teaching assistant for three years, and conducted an Honors Thesis examining the role of the central amygdala in reward preference. After graduating in 2017, I went on to the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the NIH to study neurobiological mechanisms involved in relapse to addictive substances such as methamphetamine and fentanyl. I am now a fifth-year student in Columbia’s Doctoral Program in Neurobiology and Behavior. I am primarily interested in studying cellular and circuit mechanisms of behavior and how these mechanisms may be altered in disease. My current thesis work examines the role of hippocampal subregion CA2 in social behavior and social memory, using a mouse model of the neurodevelopmental disorder Angelman Syndrome. Beyond science, I like to spend my time with family and friends, practicing embroidery, and volunteering with addiction harm reduction groups in the city. I'm really passionate about film, mythology, cooking, and my two adorable cats named after Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. Fun fact: I went to film camp as a kid and made a (horrible) half claymation, half live-action film. It is thankfully lost to the world as far as I know.Project ideas
1.) Social Behavior Literature Review
An integral component of conducting scientific research is being able to understand and think critically about other people’s work in the field. A literature review is a great way to hone these skills. Literature reviews entail choosing a topic, reading multiple articles about that topic, and then not only summarizing, but synthesizing or drawing conclusions based on the work you’ve read. I have a lot of experience writing literature reviews, including one that was published in a prestigious neuroscience journal. What’s great about literature reviews is that you don’t have to already be an expert in the field to write one. Let’s say, for example, that you’re really interested in rodent social behavior. I would guide you in organizing, researching, and writing a review about it. We’d start with a discussion of what exactly you hope the review achieves. What is your angle? Your scope? Maybe you want to look into a mouse model of a specific neurological disorder, such as autism. You would start your review with a more general introduction and background information about the disorder, social behavior associated with the disorder, and where the field currently stands in terms of autism social behavioral research. This is still pretty general though, and there’s so much to explore! Within your review, you can then choose topics to expand on within your chosen field. There are different types of social behavior, for example. You may want to write separate sections regarding maternal behavior, playmates, mating, aggression, etc. And what about the brain’s involvement? You could include other sections of your review that focus specifically on brain regions, mutations, or other biological factors involved in social behavior, and how they are altered in autism. Maybe you want to take a more technical standpoint, and review current methods being used to study social behavior in a lab setting. I, of course, would guide you through all of this—from helping you pick your topic and outline the sections of your review, to navigating online databases and choosing articles, to helping you understand the more difficult scientific components and significance of the studies mentioned. The direction of a review can even change over time as you do more and more research. Maybe you were writing a section about the involvement of the hippocampus, but as you were reading you found the amygdala to be just as interesting. I’ll help you stay organized to ensure that your review flows well and doesn’t seem disjointed. The literature review was one of my favorite components of writing my undergraduate thesis and graduate research proposals. You’ll need this skill for the rest of your career if you plan to continue with academic research. Even if you don’t, the research and critical thinking skills you’ll learn from this project will be extremely valuable for any future career you may choose.