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emily chen

Class of 2017

Hometown: Pittstown, New Jersey

Current Research: I work in Dr. Greg Field's lab, looking at retinal circuitry. Specifically, I am studying the tree shrew retina in order to determine how primate-like it is, using techniques such as immunohistochemistry, confocal imaging, and multi-electrode array recordings. We are hoping that our findings in the tree shrew will help further elucidate the evolutionary origins of primate vision.

My thoughts on neuroscience education: Studying neuroscience is definitely challenging but super rewarding! I've learned so much through my classes at Duke, and I've also met some incredible mentors. I've had the opportunity to do some really cool things with my major, such as designing and running an actual fMRI experiment in my functional neuroimaging class and putting together a stop-motion film for my “Brain and Behavior” course final project.

What jump-starts my brain: I truly love how interdisciplinary the field of neuroscience is. It intersects with so many other fields of study, such as computer science, biochemistry, music, psychology, and art, just to name a few. This, combined with the fact that there is still so much to be known about the brain, provides boundless opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration.