Winter/Spring/Summer 2020
Med Sci D320
I’m May Hui, a second-year MD/PhD student in Kevin Beier’s lab. I am looking for a motivated undergrad to help with a new and exciting project studying how the brain constructs the experience of pain. Briefly, our lab looks at the interplay between pain and drugs of abuse (opioids, nicotine, etc.) using various techniques (like optogenetics or chemogenetics) that allow us to manipulate neurons in order to probe which circuits might be involved in pain. Our hope is that by identifying new circuits or substrates, we will help develop more effective, non-addictive therapies for treating pain.
In addition to helping with the care of the animals – which includes weaning mice, genotyping, performing cardiac perfusions, etc. – there is a wide range of additional work that needs to be done, depending on your interests and aptitudes. If you are interested in engineering, you could help build behavior systems; if you are interested in circuit neuroscience, you could learn how to perform intracranial surgeries for viral injections; if you are interested in imaging, you could learn how to make brains transparent for imaging using iDisco++.
Being independent and motivated are the two main things that matter. A background in neuroscience and mouse handling would be useful, but is not a requirement. An ideal candidate would be invested in the project and can commit to at least a year in the lab. Open to the possibility of independent projects and the opportunity to contribute towards publications. Please contact me at mayh1@uci.edu if you are interested.