I am a postbac in the de la Iglesia lab interested in how molecular processes in the brain orchestrate animal behavior, and how behavior can be modulated by changes in an animal’s environment. I am currently working on a project that aims to understand the neural processes involved in entraining circadian rhythms to a cyclic fear stimulus, by looking at the rhythm of expression of clock genes in the SCN master clock, and also in the amygdala, which is responsible for processing fear information.
The experiment also serves as a way to understand the mechanisms that interlink anxiety disorders and fear with the circadian system. By understanding the neural circuitry and relationship between fear-coding centers and the circadian system, a basic understanding of how these systems interact with each other can be obtained for further extrapolation across other animal models, including humans.