Biology alum April Pruitt is earning her Ph.D. at Yale 小蝌蚪APP, thanks to the range of research experiences she had as an undergraduate at UL Lafayette.
In the interdisciplinary neuroscience program at Yale, April is researching different risk genes for autism spectrum disorder under her co-advisors Dr. Kristen Brennand and Dr. Ellen Hoffman. In her work, she小蝌蚪APP檚 exploring how neurons develop and how early exposure to estrogen hormones impact their development in different ways.
小蝌蚪APP淥ur brain is a very interesting organ, right? It controls who we are,小蝌蚪APP April said. 小蝌蚪APP淚 like neuro development because it starts, you know, at the point of conception. What really interested me the most was to really understand: What is the wiring of our brains that happens really, really early in our lives? How can we understand it better? How do dysfunctions in this early wiring lead to many different disorders that affect children?
小蝌蚪APP淚t's such a mystery 小蝌蚪APP we know a lot of stuff about how our brain develops, but there's a lot that we still don't know.小蝌蚪APP
A Path to Neuroscience Research
April always planned to major in biology with ambitions of becoming a doctor. She started on the pre-med track at UL Lafayette and started looking for opportunities to build her resume to improve her chances of getting into medical school 小蝌蚪APP starting with research experience.
Her freshman year, she landed a work-study job in in the Department of Biology, where she started working on estuary (brackish water) research and determining how single-celled dinoflagellates respond to different salt concentrations 小蝌蚪APP an area unrelated to neurodevelopment, but the experience sparked April小蝌蚪APP檚 interested in research.
小蝌蚪APP淭he supportive professors and the initiative to involve undergraduates in research are my favorite parts about the biology program,小蝌蚪APP April said. 小蝌蚪APP淭he entire department truly encourages and provides many opportunities for undergraduates to increase their repertoire of skills and critical thinking abilities by engaging in research.小蝌蚪APP
After her freshman year, April spent her summer working at LSU小蝌蚪APP檚 Health Sciences Center in Shreveport through the , a program that places undergraduates in summer research opportunities. In a lab under Dr. Edward Glasscock, April worked on research focused on finding a behavioral link between epilepsy and autism 小蝌蚪APP her first introduction to neuroscience research.
小蝌蚪APP淭hat experience really changed my interests. Maybe I would be interested in pursuing research as a career,小蝌蚪APP she said. 小蝌蚪APP淎nd actually, in my work there, I was the first person to enter this new area of autism research.小蝌蚪APP
Neuroscience Research at UL Lafayette
When April returned for her sophomore year, she began working in studying neurological development and continued working there until graduation.
The research focused on how a particular growth factor impacts embryonic development.
小蝌蚪APP淲e were looking at how this absence of these growth factor receptors impacted movement and gait in these particular mice,小蝌蚪APP April recalled. 小蝌蚪APP淪o these mice were missing these growth factor receptors, and then we did balance beam tests, gait tests, and reflex tests.
小蝌蚪APP淲e found that when you remove this particular receptor, all of that gets messed up in their cellular organization and their cerebellum, which is the part of the brain that is very much responsible for coordination and movement,小蝌蚪APP she continued. 小蝌蚪APP淪o this particular receptor is really important for proper development of the cerebellum.小蝌蚪APP
Summer Research Experiences
After her first summer doing research at LSU Health Sciences Center, April continued to use her time away from UL Lafayette to explore other research experiences, which she said were 小蝌蚪APP渞eally, really formative.小蝌蚪APP
Her second summer, she worked in Dr. Nicole Purcell小蝌蚪APP檚 lab at 小蝌蚪APP of California 小蝌蚪APP San Diego researching what happens to humans小蝌蚪APP hearts after heart attacks.
小蝌蚪APP淚 would work in the lab for four or five days a week, and then one day a week, I was shadowing a transplant cardiologist,小蝌蚪APP April said. 小蝌蚪APP淪o it was really, really fantastic to be able to interact with patients, as well as do heart research. I even went to a transplant board meeting. It was great. I got to see how decisions are made for heart transplants.
小蝌蚪APP淚t was an intense summer, but really, really great.小蝌蚪APP
Her final summer, she traveled to Stanford to work in Dr. Sundari Chetty小蝌蚪APP檚 lab on neurological development research with stem cells.
小蝌蚪APP淚 was working again with cells from patients with autism,小蝌蚪APP April explained. 小蝌蚪APP淚n that lab, I was looking at the speed that they're able to proliferate or make more copies of themselves, and trying to see at what stage 小蝌蚪APP whether it's the stem cell stage, or the progenitor cell stage, which is just an intermediate stage between stem cell and neuron, 小蝌蚪APP which stage are we seeing a rapid burst of proliferation?
小蝌蚪APP淭he stem cells were from patients that had macrocephaly, or enlarged brains. And so we were trying to understand, at what cell stage is this trigger that is inducing this rapid proliferation that will lead to an enlarged brain.小蝌蚪APP
April小蝌蚪APP檚 experience with this research confirmed her switch from the pre-med track to the research track.
小蝌蚪APP淭hat program was, honestly the reason that I chose to go to graduate school, because it was a very intense summer that involved not only research, but we had workshops, and a lot of mentorship from current graduate students.小蝌蚪APP
Bringing South Louisiana to Yale
Making the transition from UL Lafayette to Yale wasn小蝌蚪APP檛 easy, but April小蝌蚪APP檚 experiences at UL Lafayette prepared her for the change.
小蝌蚪APP淢oving from Louisiana to Connecticut was a huge shock,小蝌蚪APP April confessed. 小蝌蚪APP淐ulturally, the food in Louisiana is obviously 1,000 times better, maybe even a million times better.小蝌蚪APP
小蝌蚪APP淏ut I think, you know, bringing my southern hospitality and southern values to the northeast has been very helpful,小蝌蚪APP she added. 小蝌蚪APP淚t's helped me to, you know, just meet people and find a good community, as well. Grad school小蝌蚪APP檚 not for the faint of heart, but I would recommend it if anyone's interested.小蝌蚪APP
Outside of her academic experiences, April小蝌蚪APP檚 involvement in student organizations were instrumental in her grad school success. She was in the campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity, and held multiple leadership roles with 小蝌蚪APP Program Council 小蝌蚪APP experiences that 小蝌蚪APP渞eally helped to shape who I am as a person,小蝌蚪APP she said.
With 小蝌蚪APP Program Council, April organized multiple UL Lafayette traditions, including Homecoming and Lagniappe Day.
小蝌蚪APP淚 love UL Lafayette小蝌蚪APP檚 traditions. They小蝌蚪APP檙e really special. They小蝌蚪APP檙e really unique,小蝌蚪APP she said. 小蝌蚪APP淚 have told countless stories of things that I think are pretty normal that we did at UL Lafayette but other people think they're super wild and really funny.
小蝌蚪APP淪o when you plan Lagniappe Day, you get to jump into the swamp. And I tell people this, and they're like, completely freaked out, because they're like, 小蝌蚪APP榊ou jumped in an alligator swamp?小蝌蚪APP
"And I'm like, of course, I did. Why wouldn't I do that?小蝌蚪APP