Prachi Shah - MWC Chapter Scholar
1st Year Scholar, PhD candidate
Biology
Georgetown University

Research: 
Memory and forgetting are highly regulated biological processes fundamental for animal survival in an ever-changing environment. This project aims to understand the neurobiological basis of retrograde amnesia induced by different insults. This research requires the development of a number of cutting-edge, custom-made tools to explore the molecular, cellular and circuit mechanisms involved in the degradation of memory.

How Will Your Research Benefit Society?
Until recently, it was thought that after memory acquisition occurs, there is a passive process of forgetting, where the memory just naturally decays over time. However, it is now known that forgetting is a highly, well-regulated active process in our brain. My research is the first to look at the cellular and molecular mechanisms of anesthesia-induced memory loss using the model organism, Drosophila melanogaster. 
 
My experimental data indicates anesthesia onset induces robust dopaminergic neuronal activity, which may be responsible for the subsequent forgetting. While paradigm shifting, we cannot have a complete understanding of how memory systems work until we understand the neurobiological basis of memory disruption. My research will shed additional light on the neurophysiological consequences of the use of anesthetics and offers an unparalleled resource to understand how anesthesia affects dopaminergic signaling and as a result, learning, memory and forgetting. Ultimately, this study can help anesthesiologists tailor anesthesia regimens to minimize memory impairment while still achieving adequate sedation.
 

How will an ARCS Award Benefit Your Research?
An ARCS award will allow me to purchase unconventional lab equipment that allows for cutting-edge experiments. The financial award will be used directly for research support, as the techniques I want to use will directly measure intrinsic electrical properties of dopaminergic cells, rather than using canonical methods where we rely on approximations, such as in calcium imaging.

Career objectives:
My professional goals as a PhD candidate are to engage in collaborative research, actively participate in professional societies and attend conferences where I can meet a diverse network of scientists. Ultimately, I have a long-term goal of becoming a Principal Investigator in the field of neuroscience, hoping to contribute to the study of active forgetting.