I completed my PhD at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada. My graduate work investigated how an inhibitory circuit in mouse primary visual cortex modulates short-term visual plasticity by performing in vivo electrophysiology; I recorded from pyramidal cells while simultaneously optogenetically activating one of three inhibitory interneurons as to determine their individual roles in mediating local neural circuits during a visual paradigm that induced neural adaptation. In Dr. Kaczorowski’s lab I plan to combine my electrophysiology skills with rich genomics data from the AD-BXDs to identify changes in neuronal and circuit level functions associated with resilience to Alzheimer’s disease. Understanding the mechanisms underlying why some individuals do not develop cognitive symptoms, or develops symptoms much later in life that expected, despite harboring genetic risk factors for the development of this neurodegenerative disease may lead to new therapeutic strategies to promote cognitive longevity.

Jillian King on ORCID

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