Amanda is a grad student in the Integrated Program in Neuroscience at Â鶹AV studying the plasticity of Vip interneurons and their effects in the epileptic brain.
Describe your journey to becoming an HBHL Fellow
I grew up in Ottawa, and earned my Bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from Carleton University. During my undergrad I spent time volunteering at the Royal Ottawa Mental Hospital, it was a great experience and really piqued my interest in better understanding mental health, especially diseased states of the brain such as schizophrenia. After visiting the Â鶹AV campus I decided to apply to the Â鶹AV Integrated Program in Neuroscience for graduate studies. I was contacted by Dr. Jesper Sjöström and he offered me a position as a Master’s student in his lab working on a very interesting project focused on the study of epilepsy. I have found this research topic to be highly motivating, as it fits exceptionally well with my curiosity for understanding diseased states in the brain. I’m now a PhD candidate in the Sjöström lab studying the neural circuits involved in epilepsy.
Tell us about your project
The goal of my project is to understand how epilepsy evolves. The bulk of current knowledge is focused on treating the symptoms of epilepsy once they arise, but there is very little understanding of how a healthy brain transitions to an epileptic brain. My focus is on a specific type of interneuron that expresses vasoactive intestinal peptide (Vip). Vip interneurons are not very abundant, making up only 1-2% of all cortical neurons. These interneurons are unique as they form synapses with other inhibitory neurons and thus have a disinhibitory role in cortical circuits.
We hypothesize that Vip interneurons outputs are plastic and may be a crucial point for controlling microcircuit activity in seizures. I aim to study Vip interneuron plasticity to better understand what activity patterns will weaken their connections to their postsynaptic partners to improve seizure control. I am currently characterizing Vip interneuron plasticity in the motor cortex using a combination of whole-cell recording, optogenetics and 2-photon imaging.
Describe the experiment you’re doing
I’m currently working on characterizing Vip interneurons. For this, I perform electrophysiology experiments in acute brain slices from transgenic mice expressing Channelrhodopsin-2 tagged with GFP in Vip interneurons. This allows me to specifically stimulate and study Vip interneurons in these slices. We maintain the brain slices in artificial cerebrospinal fluid so that we can study the activity of the neurons in live tissue. I’ll use 2-photon imaging to locate a Vip+ interneuron in the brain slice and then target it for whole-cell recording. This will allow me to measure many different electrophysiological properties of the Vip interneurons. We’re interested in learning more about how these neurons function in order to better understand how they may contribute to the circuitry in an epileptic brain.
Anything you’d like to plug?
I’m currently a member of the Research Day team for the HBHL Trainee Committee, we’re working hard on planning this year’s HBHL Research Day to showcase the work of all HBHL funded fellows!
What's your favourite thing to do to take a break from science?
Singing and/or playing the guitar. I like to have friends over for jam sessions.
What's your favourite neurotransmitter?
My favourite neurotransmitter is the endogenous endocannabinoid, Anandamide, because it’s very close to my name. One of my close friends calls me Anandamide as a nickname, and even got me a 3D printed structure of the molecule as a keychain. It was one of the best gifts I’ve ever received!
What’s something you want to learn more about?
I want to learn more about mental illness in general. I want to better understand why is it happening, and how can we make people more aware of it. In my day to day life, I really notice the stigmatization of mental illness in the mainstream media. I’ve volunteered in a mental hospital and never agreed with how that environment, and the people in it, are depicted.
I think it’s very important to increase our knowledge of mental health issues in order to decrease stigma, and encourage people to be more open about their experiences with mental illness.
I have been able to learn more about mental health through an organization called Compeer, where volunteers are paired with individuals with a history of mental illness to help promote better mental health through friendship. It was a great opportunity to form a meaningful relationship with, and to better understand the world of someone living with mental illness.
