Week 1 - Rick Zirkel

Clinical: My mentor, Dr. Michael Kaplitt, has been extremely busy over the last month, so it was difficult getting a response from him. Therefore, I have not yet been exposed to any clinical experience, but have established that I will begin to this coming Monday. I will be shadowing Dr. Kaplitt's focused ultrasound cases, as well as his deep brain stimulation surgeries, for which I am very excited to be able to watch.

Research: Most all of my time since I have gotten here has been spent completing required animal trainings for the research project I will be doing in Dr. Kaplitt's lab. I will be using fiber photometry to record the neural activity do D2 (dopamine) receptor neurons of mice when exposed to a magnetic field. These mice have been altered to have magnetogenetic ion channels that when exposed to a magnetic field change cause changes to the functioning of the dopaminergic system. Mice are rendered motionless at the time of field change, mimicking a Parkinsonian state. My contribution will be to record the neural activity of the affected neurons during the freezing state, first by performing optical cannula implant surgeries on the mice, and then recording neural activity using a fiber photometry system.

Recommendation: These trainings could all have been taken care of prior to my arrival here. In the future, students that need to complete animal trainings for their research should be directed on how to request and complete such trainings so that their work here is not delayed because of the time it takes to acquire access to facilities, and be added to the clinicians protocol.

City Life: Our location is very convenient as it is right next to the medical school and hospital, and is surrounded by many good restaurants and bars. The main benefit I think is our proximity to Central Park. I am not the biggest city person, so it has been very nice to be able to take a break from the urban atmosphere by taking a short walk to the park.


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