Neuroscience Graduate Program - Student Profile

Vania Cao

Student Profile

I am a Brown-NIH Graduate Partnerships Program graduate student and am co-mentored by Kuan H. Wang of the National Institute of Mental Health, and Rui M. Costa, previously of the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, now of the Champalimaud Center for the Unknown, Neuroscience Program.

I am interested in how animal behavior affects brain activity over experience, and am using in vivo imaging techniques to track neural circuit dynamics in awake behaving mice.

In my free time I am a freelance writer for the Association for Women in Science Magazine and FromZine, tutor Mandarin Chinese, and enjoy creating art, music and prose.

Undergraduate Institution

Pennsylvania State University

Research | Presentations & Posters | Publications | Accomplishments | Hobbies & Outside Interests

Research Description

I have always been interested in observing animal behavior since childhood, from crickets interacting in a cage to pet hamsters on a wheel. I wish to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms and processes supporting and contributing to decision making and animal behavior.

My project focuses on understanding the dynamics of task-related neuronal activation during animal behavior. I currently use in vivo 2-photon imaging to identify and track the expression of a plasticity-related immediate early gene within frontal cortical neurons over time in the same subject during the performance of motor tasks.

Presentations and Posters

2013: Poster - NIH GPP Research Symposium
2012: Poster - NIH GPP Research Symposium
2011: National Institute of Mental Health Annual Retreat; Oral Presentation
2011: Poster - NIH GPP Research Symposium
2009: Poster - NIH GPP Research Symposium

Publications

In vivo two-photon imaging of experience-dependent molecular changes in cortical neurons. Cao VY, Ye Y, Mastwal SS, Lovinger DM, Costa RM, Wang KH. J Vis Exp. 2013 Jan 5;(71).

Optogenetic inactivation modifies monkey visuomotor behavior. Cavanaugh J, Monosov IE, McAlonan K, Berman R, Smith MK, Cao V, Wang KH, Boyden ES, Wurtz RH.
Neuron. 2012 Dec 6;76(5):901-7.

Visual avoidance in Xenopus tadpoles is correlated with the maturation of visual responses in the optic tectum. Dong W, Lee RH, Xu H, Yang S, Pratt KG, Cao V, Song YK, Nurmikko A, Aizenman CD. J Neurophysiol. 2009 Feb;101(2):803-15.

IPRO: an iterative computational protein library redesign and optimization procedure. Saraf MC, Moore GL, Goodey NM, Cao VY, Benkovic SJ, Maranas CD.
Biophys J. 2006 Jun 1;90(11):4167-80.

Association for Women in Science Magazine Articles: http://bit.ly/10OV3r1

FromZine Articles: http://linkd.in/ZycRfZ

Accomplishments

2013:
--NIH GPP Graduate Student Research Award (NGSRA) recipient

2012:
--NIH GPP Graduate Student Research Award (NGSRA) recipient
--NIH GPP Graduate Student Council Chronicles newsletter editor

2011:
--NIH GPP Graduate Student Research Award (NGSRA) recipient
--NIH GPP Graduate Student Council Chronicles newsletter editor
--NIMH-IRP Annual Scientific Retreat Oral Presenter

2010:
--NIH GPP Graduate Student Council Co-Chair
--NIH GPP Graduate Student Council Chronicles newsletter editor

2009:
--NIH GPP Graduate Student Research Award (NGSRA) recipient
--NIH GPP Graduate Student Council Chronicles newsletter assistant editor

Hobbies and Outside Interests

--Writing: science, fiction, articles

--Digital and manual artwork

--Chinese cultural events