Emerging Expertise:
Building the Skills of a Translational Neuroscientist
One advantage of taking a nontraditional path is perspective. I’ve worked across three layers of translation: gene editing at the bench to interrogate mechanisms, preclinical models of chronic pain, and clinical research that tests whether those ideas survive contact with real patients and real-world constraints. Over the past three years, I’ve pursued training with deliberate focus, seeking out every opportunity to build the technical, collaborative, and communication skills that define a strong translational scientist.
Created in https://BioRender.com
Created in https://BioRender.com
Created in https://BioRender.com
Created in https://BioRender.com
Genome Editing & Molecular Biology Techniques
In my first research position, I learned how to ask mechanistic questions at the level of genes and molecules. I spent two years working with Dr. Nathan VanDusen, where I became familiar with genome editing techniques, PCR, and cell transfections. This work taught me how to follow protocol, troubleshoot at the bench, and think carefully about causality. I also observed the dynamics of an academic laboratory, and found myself especially drawn to collaboration and grant writing.
Preclinical Bladder Pain Model
With long-term goals in mind, I moved from genes to circuits and behavior under Dr. Fletcher White. In a mouse model of interstitial cystitis, I helped carry out surgeries, behavioral assays (e.g., voiding and pain-related behaviors), and downstream analyses to understand how bladder inflammation reshapes pain pathways. This work sits in the middle of translational research - connecting molecular signals to whole-organism outcomes.
To demonstrate my translational communication skills, I’ve explained this experiment in both scientific and plain language for my Neuroscience Capstone Project.
Clinical Research in Post-Fracture Pain
Under Dr. White, I am also working on a clinical study investigating biological and psychological predictors of who develops chronic pain after an ankle fracture. I help collect and organize patient-level data, track outcomes over time, and think about how early signals might guide future interventions. I have also been trained in several Clinical Research Coordinator duties. This experience has shown me how molecular and preclinical insights must survive contact with real patients, and it led to my first peer-reviewed publication.