Let's talk about brains, baby

So, what do I do during a typical day in the laboratory? This is a question I often get, and I will attempt to define my responsibilities in this post so that my friends who read this will understand a bit more about me.

I am a Neuroscientist. Neuroscience is a large field. "Neuroscientists" can address anything from the smallest working components of a specific portion of a cell to the way in which the touch receptors in your toes talk to complex circuitry in the highest processing centers in your brain, so the term requires further subdivision. I consider myself to be a Neuroanatomist first and foremost. I am most interested in the normal neuroanatomical structure small anatomical changes that occur in the brain in response to injury (in vertebrates), and how we can guide those changes to enhance recovery. To study these topics, my work involves not only neuroanatomical techniques, but also behavioral assessment (limb movement, grasping, etc) of rodents.

My work differs from one day to the next. One day may involve working with the animals, cutting brain tissue for study, or performing an experiment to examine the structure of the brain. Other days are spent writing about the results of my experiments, preparing grants for submission, or revising manuscripts based on comments from anonymous peers.

I like science for many reasons, but the most salient is the following phenomenon: every time I set out to test a hypothesis ("answer a question," if you will, although it's not always an answer), the data that come from the experiment raise several more questions. Therefore, my work never gets old or dull. There's always a new hypothesis to test, and many times a novel experimental design is necessary, which winds up taking me in directions in which I have never gone before. Always, however, my results lead to one place: the complex labyrinth of the brain and it's fantastic workings. No matter how hard I work and how many questions I ask, I'll never fully understand our brains. It will be fun to try, though.