Erin Wosnitzka is completing her PhD Thesis at Cardiff University.

James Blok completed his honors year in the laboratory of CAL. Blok is currently completing graduate studies in Law.

Lara Rogerson-Wood is currently completing her PhD in the laboratory of CAL.

Brain development during the early postnatal stage is extremely sensitive and complex, as well as crucial to proper function throughout an individual’s lifetime. Early in her life, Tomomi Shimogori faced the challenge of learning multiple languages fluently. Over the course of her research career, her interest in understanding the relationship of early brain development and behavior would drive her to study developmental biology and the effects of early life experience, including language learning. Through her research at the RIKEN Center for Brain Science, she now seeks to understand at the molecular level how early embryonic development, during which time genes may exert greater control than environmental cues, changes an animal’s behavior. Most research related to early life experience has been conducted in rodents, primarily because a large range of genetic tools exists to investigate it, but the human brain is far different from the mouse one. As Shimogori explains in this Meet the Expert, her lab, in collaboration with Japan’s Brain Mapping by Integrated Neurotechnologies for Disease Studies (Brain/MINDS) project, is developing a model in the common marmoset based around the creation of a gene atlas, which will help fill the gap in knowledge between that of the rodent brain and that of the human brain.

Maryne Dupin is a PhD candidate at the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, in France.

Face-to-face meetings with members of Congress or their staff are the most effective way to convey the importance of biomedical research funding. Learning the specifics of what to do before, during, and after a meeting will help you see how to make a lasting impression and foster a relationship with your representatives. This video will cover: • How to prepare for a meeting, effectively execute, and then follow up. • Ways to structure the conversation around what Congressional offices find valuable. • The importance of developing relationships with your member of Congress.