Research Experiences for Undergraduates Student (Summer 2024) 

"This summer, I had the amazing opportunity to participate in research at CIRP with the Minds Matter Concussion Program under the mentorship of my PI, Akiva Cohen, PhD and Leah Gaetz, MSW. I also worked alongside graduate students in the Cohen lab—Samuelle Delcy, Anthony Farrugia, and Catherine Ubri—who all contributed to making my summer research experience truly memorable.

My research focused on studying hippocampal-dependent memory deficits in female mice, post-traumatic brain injury. I gained hands-on experience in animal fear behavior, practiced suturing mice postoperatively, conducted fear conditioning assessments post-injury and sham on mouse models, analyzed data using Stata with ANOVA, and assisted in preparing aCSF and sucrose solutions for electrophysiology recordings.

This has been an incredible 10 weeks, and I am deeply grateful to everyone on my team who made this experience possible. I learned many valuable skills that I look forward to applying in my future endeavors."