Rachel Kery has developed a technology that will allow her to study for the first time how failure of adult born neuronal integration underlies diseases such as PTSD, epilepsy and major depressive disorder.
A technology developed by Rachel together with her graduate supervisor Dr. Shaoyu Ge allows her to investigate the process and the functional consequences of how adult born neurons integrate into already existing circuits. With this innovative technology and its application, Rachel applied recently for a prestigious fellowship from the National Institutes of Mental Health. Importantly, Rachel turned around her previous application into an application not only with an excellent and fundable score, but she literally received a perfect score. Dr. Michael Frohman, MSTP director, praises Rachel for her perseverance and hard work when the initial application received a less favorable review. Dr. Role, Rachel’s co-mentor echoes this statement: “She is very careful, extremely well read and an impressive example of how “perseverance furthers”. She really dug in and got the drafts to her advisors well before the deadline so she had ample time to respond– which she certainly did with aplomb!”
Only two brain areas produce new neurons throughout adult life and disruption of adult neurogenesis in these regions occurs in a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders such as major depressive disorder, post traumatic stress disorder and epilepsy. While the integration of new neurons is important for healthy brain function, little is known about how they integrate into existing circuits and how this process affect brain activity. Rachel’s novel functional labeling system is uniquely positioned to answer these pressing questions.
Rachel’s long standing interest in neuroscience goes back to her award winning psychology experiments in the basement of her home in rural Maryland as a high school student. In her undergraduate years, Rachel started to work on adult neurogenesis in crustaceans while studying Neuroscience and Anthropology at Wellesley College. Rachel continued to develop her science background after graduation, spending two years as a laboratory technician in Dr. Anne Klibaniski’s lab at Massachusetts General Hospital. Rachel joined the MSTP at Stony Brook in 2014 to combined her interests in research with her passion for child neurology and psychiatry. Dr. Ge, commends Rachel’s sharp eye for detail and her ability to ask very thoughtful questions evidenced by Rachel’s strong track record of productivity with a total of 5 research publications, including two papers co-authored with fellow MD/PhD student, Greg Kirschen.
Rachel is a strong proponent for women in science, and she is credited with spearheading mentoring meetings for women within MSTP together with Dr. Stella Tsirka. In addition to being an ace neuroscientist, Rachel competes in pub trivia quizzes where her specialties are history, geography and literature in addition to science and medicine.