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Carlene C

- Research Program Mentor

PhD candidate at University of California Irvine (UCI)

Expertise

Neuroscience (addiction behavior, memory, motivation); Psychology (mental illness, stress); Biology (molecular, genetics)

Bio

My current research interests focus on how the environment and our experiences change our behavior and memory at a molecular level. Specifically, I am interested in the effects that stimuli such as stress or drug abuse have on the processes that underlie long-term memory, cognition, and motivation. Are there sex-dependent differences? Are the changes preventable or reversible? These are my academic interests. Outside of work, I am a huge fan of all forms of art: music, illustration, history, games, cinema etc.! I love practicing drawing, making videos and photography, and cooking new recipes. When I have time, I enjoy running or lounging with my fluffy dog, reading or playing games, or building computers!

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

How Does Stress Affect Our Memory As We Age?

In this project, you will use public, peer-reviewed research databases to construct either a research review or scientific communication media (poster/infographic and presentation) to answer this question: How does stress affect our memory as we age? You will learn how to break down and analyze primary research articles, how to ask your own research questions, proper experimental design, public speaking to translate science terms to a general audience, and more! The end product, either a research essay review or scientific graphic, will be of your choosing based on your interests. The main goal is to learn how to independently ask your own research questions and navigate published research to create your own contribution to scientific literature!

Investigating the Effects of Exercise on Memory

This project will utilize a scientific research paper format to investigate the hypothesis that exercise persistently alters molecular mechanisms involved in long-term memory. You will learn how to break down and analyze primary research articles, how to ask your own research questions, proper experimental design, public speaking to translate science terms to a general audience, figure illustration, and more!

Coding skills

Basic R for gene expression analysis

Languages I know

Spanish, beginner-conversational

Teaching experience

As of today (Fall 2022) I have mentored five undergraduate students, both in the lab for bench research techniques and experimental design, as well as with their scientific writing and speaking for their courses. I have experience as a TA for general core university level classes, where I graded assignments, taught my own discussion class and held office hours for questions. I have acted as a scientific communication instructor for community college transfer students, teaching them article literary analysis, public speaking, and of other resources available to students in STEAM. I have also been a volunteer through the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory as a mentor for an online journal club as well as in person demonstrations of fun hands on experiments for k-12 students.

Credentials

Work experience

The Loh Down Podcast for NPR (2022 - 2022)
Script Writer
Institute for Memory Impairment and Neurological Disorders (2018 - 2019)
Lab Technician I
Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (2017 - 2017)
Evaluation Assistant
Institute for Genomics and Bioinformatics (2015 - 2017)
Student Analyst

Education

University of California Irvine (UCI)
BA Bachelor of Arts (2018)
Psychology
University of California Irvine (UCI)
MS Master of Science
Biological Sciences
University of California Irvine (UCI)
PhD Doctor of Philosophy candidate
Neuroscience

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