Brain Science Workshop

Brainy Biology: What Science Can Tell You About How Your Brain Works

Presented by: Katja Brose, Ph.D., Editor, Neuron

Workshop Description

Your brain is perhaps the most important organ in your body and yet, we still understand very little about how it works. In this workshop, we'll learn about neuroscience and how the brain works. We'll do some experiments and activities to show you the kind of questions that neuroscientists study in the lab.

Leader’s Job Description

I work as an editor at a journal (a magazine for scientists) which publishes the findings of neuroscience related research studies. I received my Ph.D. in neuroscience and in graduate school, did research on how the spinal cord is formed. After graduate school, I moved to a job in publishing, so now instead of doing research in the lab, I read and evaluate the research of other scientists and help decide what is published. For scientists, publishing their findings in journals like ours is critical for communicating the results of their research to other scientists and to the general public. I spend most of my day reading papers and learning about many different neuroscience topics. I love learning and discovering new things, so this is an ideal job for me. I also travel often to conferences and have the opportunity to meet and interact with scientists from many fields.

Advice for Career Path

For a career as a neuroscientist (either as a researcher or an editor), you will need a background in science. In high school, courses in math and science are important. If you can, you should try to take courses which have a lab component. Being a successful scientist takes a combination of creativity, perseverance and resourcefulness and this can come from course work in many disciplines. I have found that my art courses were amongst the most useful courses I took, because they inspired creativity and taught me to look and see things in detail and from many perspectives. In college, a science major is usually required and some experience working in a laboratory is helpful. A Ph.D. usually takes between 4-7 years of graduate school, after college. Many scientists also continue on with "postdoctoral" training working in a lab to gain more research experience.