Lauren English Participates in YCA Professional Development Program

This summer, Lauren English, an NTP student in Dr. Erik Dent’s lab, was one of 24 young science leaders to begin her year as a fellow in the Yale Ciencia Academy (YCA) for Career Development, a selective professional development program funded by NIH. YCA equips biomedical and health sciences PhD students with the knowledge, skills, and networks needed to find great postdoctoral positions that will further their academic interests and career goals.

Lauren’s research focuses on determining how the CIP4 subfamily of F-BARs is involved in neurite initiation and retraction during cortical migration. Neurite initiation from newly born neurons is a critical step in neuronal differentiation and migration. Neurons must manipulate their membranes in order to extend and retract processes during migration. The CIP4 subfamily of F-BARs are known to play a role in membrane deformation.