I am so proud to announce that I successfully defended my PhD yesterday in front of all the amazing exam members, family and lab family! Being the 1st PhD in the lab wasn't easy but so rewarding! Thank you @katrinachoe.bsky.social for making me love oxytocin so much and for believing in me🥂🥳

#SnapshotsinNeuroscience | This image from Sandoval, Rychlik, and Choe shows real-time calcium dynamics of astrocytes and oxytocin neurons in the mouse paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus.
Image credit: Katrina Choe
https://blog.eneuro.org/2025/07/snapshots_mouse_paraventricular_nucleus

#eNeuro: Using fiber photometry in mice, <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:65zbfh7dgq3vhejo2dcmbnod" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky-mention">@katycelina.bsky.social‬, Rychlik, and <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:p3muyokkk3p2od65px7nywwc" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky-mention">@katrinachoe.bsky.social‬ show oxytocin neurons and astrocytes respond to social and stress cues differently depending on the situation and sex of the animal. <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4z4fexwchs45prh4rxionaoi" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky-mention">@mcmastermedia.bsky.social‬
vist.ly/3n7y6tc

I'm re-amplifying this piece by my MD/PhD student @kevinterleukin.bsky.social because I'm hearing of more & more of my colleagues losing their sex/gender research funding (& I'm about to lose my foreign subaward). Kevin does a great job explaining why this is essential research (not woke ideology).

I am pleased to share with all of you my first PhD published work that was done in collaboration with Joshua Rychlik & @katrinachoe.bsky.social entitled "Calcium Dynamics in Hypothalamic Paraventricular Oxytocin Neurons and Astrocytes Associated with Social and Stress Stimuli"