Stefanos L.

Experience

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  Apollonion Private Hospital

  Jun 2017 - Aug 2017

  Intern

  Worked in the diagnostic lab of the hospital. Trained in blood analysis, ELISA and other clinical assays

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  Memory Dynamics Lab

  Sept 2017 - Jan 2018

  Student Internship

  My first internship was at the Memory Dynamics lab, under the supervision of Dr. Lisa Genzel. During this internship, I investigated the role serotonin on memory consolidation by testing serotonin transporter (SERT) knockout rats in the Object Space (OS) task. This new paradigm, developed in Dr. Genzel’s lab, allows for the investigation of memory recall across multiple different events rather than one configuration. Although my results were inconclusive, my preliminary results showed that SERT KO rats displayed deficits in short-, but not long-term memory; in addition, their exploration was negatively impacted by neophobia. This experience helped me acquire the technical skills to work with animal models (including my FELASA certification for animal research), run behavioral studies, and analyze data. Furthermore, these studies sharpened my interest for translational research. Furthermore, it served to spark my interest in the memory consolidation cascade and helped me understand how certain processes as conserved across species, thus inspiring me to pursue a career in animal research Weniger anzeigen

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  Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour

  Jan 2018 - Feb 2019

  Seeking to gain more experience and familiarize myself with different, relevant, fields and techniques, I choose to do an additional internship as I was finishing my MSc in the Dresler Lab. The Dresler lab investigates the role of the medial prefrontal cortex and REM sleep in affective bias and major depressive disorder, as well as the neurobiological underlining of dream amnesia. During my internship, I gained experience with sleep spike scoring techniques and introductory coding for the purpose of data analysis. In addition, I gained valuable experience in analyzing scientific literature and writing grant proposals. Weniger anzeigen To further improve my skills in animal research, I chose my second internship in the Behavioral Neurogenetics Lab of the Donders Institute, under the supervision of Dr. Judith Homberg. During this internship, I helped validate the Trial Unique Non-matching to Location (TUNL) task, a new touch-screen based task in rats that tested hippocampal pattern separation. This was my first introduction to operant paradigms and their incredible potential in behavioral research. My project was aimed at setting up and validating that adolescent rats could acquire the TUNL task. My results showed that adolescent rats successfully acquired the task. During this internship, I also learned how to perfuse, slice and prepare brains for immunohistochemical analyses. This experience also helped me acquire organization and troubleshooting skills. Weniger anzeigen

  • Sleep and Memory lab Internship

    Sept 2018 - Feb 2019

  • Behavioural Neurogenetics lab Internship

    Jan 2018 - Aug 2018
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  University of Utah Health

  Jul 2019 - Jan 2021

  Research Assistant
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  University of Heidelberg

  Jul 2021 - now

  • PHD Candidate

    Jul 2021 - now

  • PHD Candidate

    Jul 2021 - now