Sara Wasserman ’02 Associate Professor of Neuroscience
Her interest and training in research began during her time as an undergraduate at Wellesley College where she double majored in neuroscience and theater studies. She did independent research in the laboratory of Dr. Barbara Beltz investigating the circadian control of neuronal apoptosis in crayfish. Upon graduation from Wellesley she spent two years developing and teaching a science based curriculum for elementary school students while simultaneously earning a Master’s degree in education from Pepperdine University. During this time her interest in pursuing further training in neuroscience was solidified. In graduate school she worked in the laboratory of Dr. Piali Sengupta at Brandeis University studying the molecular and physiological mechanisms of thermotaxis behavior in C. elegans. A significant portion of her doctorate work was done in collaboration with Dr. Aravi Samuel’s lab in the Physics Department at Harvard University. Her experiences and training as a graduate student exposed me to the benefits of a multidisciplinary approach to problem solving. Using cutting-edge techniques combined with powerful genetic tools available to those working with model organisms, she and her colleagues were able to investigate the genes, neurons, and circuits that underlie thermotaxis behavior.
Her postdoctoral training in the Frye Lab continued to allow her to utilize a multidisciplinary approach to investigate the complex behaviors of flying Drosophila melanogaster. Her current research focuses on examining the genetic identities, cellular mechanisms, circuit physiology, and computations that underlie the behavioral algorithms that allow nervous systems to discriminate and assign subjective value to sensory stimuli in order to generate appropriate behavioral outputs under varying internal and external state changes.