SPOTLIGHT ON NEUROSCIENCE MAJOR CAITLIN WESSEL:

For the past year, Caitlin has been conducting conditioned place aversion (CPA) assays that looks at the affective, or emotionally/motivationally influencing, component of neuropathic pain. This work has focused on showing that one of the lab’s models of diabetic neuropathy embodies similar affective components found in diabetic humans, as well as helping determine the signaling pathway in the central nervous system that produces the affective component of chronic neuropathy.

This fall, Caitlin will be studying abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark participating in DIS’s Psychopharmacology program. She will
be taking neuroscience classes at the University of Coppenhagen, and as part of the program will be traveling to Munich for a week to visit hospitals and labs in that area.