Moment Mentor Memento podcast ep. 11 with Katrina Choe

The 12th episode of the Faculty of Science’s Moment Mentor Memento podcast with journalist in residence Jeff Goodes features a conversation with Katrina Choe.

Katrina is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour at McMaster University and a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Neurobiology of Social Behaviour.

After obtaining her bachelor’s degree (University of Toronto), Katrina completed her doctoral thesis on the hydration state-dependent control of vasopressin neuron excitability using in vitro electrophysiological techniques (Charles Bourque lab, McGill University). In her first postdoctoral position (Thomas Otis lab, UCLA), Katrina mapped functional circuits that mediate cerebellum-to-forebrain communication using a combination of optogenetics, in vivo electrophysiology, and mouse fMRI. In her second and final postdoctoral position (Daniel Geschwind lab, UCLA) funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) postdoctoral award and National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) K99/R00 award, Katrina identified a potential mechanistic link between gene mutations, the central oxytocin system, and social deficits in the Cntnap2 knockout mouse model of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) using mouse fMRI, lightsheet imaging, behavioural assays, and RNA-seq.

In 2020, Katrina established her own laboratory at McMaster University, where she and her team apply a multi-level, integrative research strategy to link how gene mutations associated with psychiatric disorders disrupt social behaviour with a particular focus on the central oxytocin system.

Listen to Katrina’s conversation with Jeff on:

Simplecast

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Other episodes of the Moment Mentor Memento podcast with Jeff Goodes feature conversations with:

• Pratheepa Jeganathan
• Ryan Cloutier
• Pat Clancy
• Dylan Kobsar
• Abel Chikanda
• Lea Ravensbergen
• Blaise Bourdin
• Rebecca Doyle
• Emily Choy. and
• Maureen MacDonald

Subscribe to Mentor Memento Moment for future episodes with:

• Alex Hall, and
• Gabriel Xiao