Rene Carter

For my undergraduate studies I first attended Loyola Marymount University, where I researched guanine derivatives to investigate how the G quadruplex structure decreases telomerase activity as a potential agent in anti-cancer therapies. I then transferred to the University of Colorado Boulder, where I received my bachelor’s degree in neuroscience. I studied the neural mechanisms underlying sex differences in stress resilience. After graduating, I worked as a technician in the Mooney lab at Duke University, where I pioneered a methodology for neonatal cochlear AAV injection of DREADDs to explore auditory encoding in constitutively deaf mice.

 

For my PhD studies in the Tadross Lab at Duke, I am interested in using  cell-type-specific pharmacology to unravel the complicated mechanistic disfunction of neuropsychiatric disorders. I’m particularly interested in the role of dopamine in cognitive flexibility and perceptual distortions. I am additionally very interested in psychedelic drugs and how they might provide mechanistic clues into serotonin-dopamine interactions. 

 

Outside of lab I enjoy running, making art, and spending quality time with my two cats and crested gecko.