Dr. Noële Certain, a postdoctoral associate in the lab of Tony Koleske, was selected as a recipient of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Postdoctoral Diversity Enrichment Program (PDEP) Award in partnership with the Charles H. Revson Foundation. Certain was one of 30 postdoctoral scholars selected to receive funds over 3 years to support research goals, training enrichment, and professional development opportunities. The award, established in 2013, aims to help underrepresented minorities in the academic community, and emphasizes the importance of mentors committed to helping scholars advance their career goals. To achieve this goal, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund has invested more than $9 million in diversity enrichment programming and has fostered a vast network of former and current grant recipients.
Certain also was selected as one of 16 fellows for the Society for Neuroscience (SFN) Neuroscience Scholars Program. The Neuroscience Scholars Program provides fellows with travel support to the annual SFN conference, as well as online training opportunities, mentorship and access to an impressive network of neuroscientists. Certain was able to benefit from this year’s SFN conference in Chicago, enjoying the opportunity to be paired with a mentor in the field.
Certain began her career at Stony Brook University, earning her PhD studying channel physiology and cell biology of glutamate receptors in the laboratory of Dr. Lonnie Wollmuth. Her current research in the Koleske lab focuses on cholinergic changes implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders. As part of her work, Certain assesses changes in behavior and brain signaling in mice, using electrophysiology to visualize the activity of ion channels in neuronal signaling. In addition to her role in the lab, Noële is an active mentor in Women in Science at Yale, and serves as a program ambassador for her fellowship, the NIH Blueprint Diversity Specialized Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Advancement in Neuroscience (DSPAN), where she drives efforts to widen accessibility to science.
By Shravani Balaji