Astrocytes have many functions in the brain and have recently been shown to modulate cognition. However, it remains unclear exactly how astrocytes affect cognitive function and if those mechanisms are impaired by aging or disease.
The Orr laboratory is focused on understanding these phenomena in mice, with the goal of preventing cognitive decline in human disease. Samantha is a 2nd year graduate student in the Neuroscience Graduate Program at Weill Cornell and a member of the Orr laboratory. Samantha was recently awarded the 2019 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and recognized with an Honorable Mention for the 2019 Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship.
As a National Science Foundation fellow, Samantha will receive three years of support to study astrocytic-neuronal interactions in the hippocampus, a structure most known for its role in memory and aging-related cognitive decline. Samantha will test the effects of astrocytic receptors on learning and memory, and use isolated cells to delineate the signaling cascades altered by receptor activation. These studies could provide important information about glial signaling and memory, two processes that are highly susceptible to aging and disease.