Bio-X Graduate Student Fellow

Awarded in 2009
Home Department: Neurosciences
Faculty Advisors: Scott Delp (Bioengineering, Mechanical Engineering) and Karl Deisseroth (Bioengineering, Psychiatry)

Research Title: Optogenetic Control of Peripheral Nervous System

Research Description: Optogenetic technology allows one to control the activity of individual neurons with pulses of light by genetically inserting photo-activated proteins into the desired neuron. A cation channel, Channelrho-dopsin-2 (ChR2), stimulates the neuron when exposed to blue light, while NpHR, a chloride pump, inactivates the neuron when exposed to yellow light. This technology has been used to study brain circuitry, but it will be the first effort to control peripheral neurons to study the peripheral nervous system.

WHERE IS SHE NOW?

Christine is a researcher and multimodal team lead at OpenAI. After Stanford, she worked for six years as a classical pianist, and co-founded Ensemble SF with members of the SF Symphony and Ballet.