A Charizard in the hippocampus! Studying synaptic plasticity and bridging science with industry.
Published! is a series of chats with women in science highlighting their publications as leading authors. If you know someone who has recently published a scientific manuscript who would like to chat with me, you can get in touch via Twitter @laurenpoppi or email <lauren.poppi@rutgers.edu>. Sadhna Rao is a rising fifth year neuroscience PhD candidate at University of Southern California. While an engineering student in the south of India, Sadhna got hooked on the intricacies of biology after seeing a fly body plan one day in the library. Sadhna chatted with me about how changing discipline can give you a fresh perspective, the fear of being scooped as a scientist, how finding your voice in academia is like evolving into the next Pokémon, and why it is important not to panic when someone says ‘industry’. Sadhna recently published a paper titled ‘ Tiam1 is Critical for Glutamatergic Synapse Structure and Function in the Hippocampus ’ in the Journal of Neuroscience . You