Hi! My name is Stephanie Yau and I am a rising junior in the Dietrich School or Arts and Sciences and the Frederick Honors College. I am studying Neuroscience and Psychology with a certificate in Global Health and Conceptual Foundations of Medicine. Outside of class, I am involved in the Honors College Student Council as well as the Heinz Chapel Choir. This summer, I have the opportunity to participate in the Brackenridge Fellowship through the Frederick Honors College, where I am continuing research in the Translational Neuroscience Program, which is part of the Department of Psychiatry, under the direction of Dr. David A. Lewis and Dr. Wonjae Daniel Chung.

My research focuses on studying the pathway of schizophrenia, which can help expand our knowledge of this disease and improve future treatments. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that affects over 24 million people worldwide. I will be using a novel tissue processing technique called expansion microscopy to analyze postmortem human brain tissues of individuals with and without schizophrenia. This method physically expands the brain tissue about 6 folds, which allows us to examine neural circuits in brain tissues at nanoscale resolution. This summer, my research will help to investigate the neural circuit alterations in schizophrenia through the analysis of the postmortem brain tissues after undergoing expansion microscopy.

Mental illnesses and mental health are issues that seem to have a lot of stigma around them. I have been a big advocate of mental health and working towards destigmatizing mental health, and neuroscience research is a great way to continue this advocacy while directly making changes. At Pitt, I am involved as a peer educator in Student Health Services and as president of Pitt’s Active Minds chapter, where I am able to promote mental health awareness on campus and help students connect to wellness resources. I am very interested in continuing work in the mental health sector in the future. I am currently looking into applying to medical school and possibly pursuing a MD/PhD with focus on neurology or psychiatry. This fellowship helps develop skills to communicate more effectively about research, which is such an important skill to have in medicine but also in every day life. I also am looking into applying to research grants and programs and this fellowship is helping to develop these skills which will definitely be helpful while pursuing a PhD. I am looking forward to being a part of this fellowship over the summer!