At a San Francisco supermarket, a Latina employee had embellished her work outfit -- a dark apron, sneakers, and keys draped from a long cord around her neck -- with a bright-red shirt beneath a black-and-white flower-patterned one. Atop her head, she had pinned a large white flower, which seemed a celebratory touch.
“Casi olvidé,” I told her, “I almost forgot that today is Cinco de Mayo! I love your festive look.”
I am an evolutionary biologist and behavioral neuroscientist. My lab studies the evolution and function of higher cognitive states, primarily pain. Our main animal models are cephalopods, and techniques in my lab include electrophysiology, genomics, and behavioral assays.
We focus on plasticity in primary nociceptive neurons, looking at how this plasticity is mediated at the molecular level, and in turn, how this cellular plasticity mediates changes in neural circuits, behaviors and ultimately, the fitness of individual animals coping with injury or other painful experiences.
Yang, Q., 