Home Department: Psychology, Biology
Supported by: The Rose Hills Foundation
Mentor: Karen J. Parker, Assistant Professor (Research) of Psychiatry

Kaeli Yuen is a Biology student about to begin her junior year at Stanford. She is originally from southern California, where she became interested in biology as a research assistant at Harbor-UCLA medical center. This summer, she is investigating the relationship between oxytocin biology and social functioning in autism by attempting to uncover distinct social phenotypes that would reduce heterogeneity of the disorder and streamline biomarker discovery efforts. This will allow for more homoge-nous analysis of biological data, increased efficacy in future clinical trials, and insights into the biology underlying social endophenotypes.