Stories of Women in Neuroscience · Stories of WiN

Dr. Alicia Che

·56 min·1 clip

The heart is on the right side and we all went and looked at it—it was situs inversus.

This episode features Dr. Alicia Che, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale, in conversation with host Megan from Stories of Women in Neuroscience. Dr. Che recounts her unconventional journey from Chengdu, China, to a neuroscience career in the United States. She received a full scholarship to Pacific Lutheran University, where she triple-majored in biology, chemistry, and physics. Her undergraduate neuroscience research began by chance in Dr. Matt Smith's lab. After the 2008 financial crisis complicated her graduate school applications, she entered a direct-admit PhD program at the University of Connecticut in Dr. Joe LoTurco's lab. Her PhD project studied the *Dcdc2* gene, linked to dyslexia, in knockout mice that showed no obvious physical defects. Che discovered these mice had subtle spike timing deficits in cortical neurons, which her work linked to dysregulated NMDA receptor currents. A surprising moment from her graduate work involved a labmate's mouse model for a different dyslexia gene, *Dyx1c1*, which presented with situs inversus, a dramatic condition where organs are mirrored. For her postdoc, Che commuted daily between New Haven and New York to work in the new lab of Dr. Natalia De Marco García and the established lab of Dr. Gord Fishell. She developed an in vivo imaging preparation to study interneuron activity in very young mice. Her postdoc research revealed that specific layer 1 interneurons exhibit highly synchronous activity flashes in early postnatal development. She traced this synchrony to transient thalamic inputs that diminish with age. Che candidly discusses nearly leaving research after the birth of her first child, citing the abysmal postdoc salary, costly commute, and lack of lactation facilities. Encouragement from her lab's students and securing a medical writer job offer as a backup plan were pivotal in her decision to continue. Her current lab's research on oxytocin and sensory cortex social modulation originated from a pragmatic need to align her K99 grant proposal with a potential co-mentor's expertise. The tone is conversational, reflective, and openly personal, blending a scientific seminar with a candid career story. Listeners interested in the realities of academic career paths, international scientists' experiences, and cortical circuit development will find this compelling. Those seeking a highly technical, focused discussion on a single neuroscience finding might find the broad personal narrative less engaging.

As heard by us

A calm neuroscience interview that turns a career path into a clear look at cortical development.

The episode follows Dr. Alicia Che from a scientist origin story into the mechanics of how the young cortex changes around eye opening, with Megan moving the discussion from Chengdu to Yale and then into the debate over synchrony, inhibition, and GABA.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

See how a Yale psychiatry professor traces her neuroscience path from Chengdu to cortical circuitry.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Stories of Women in Neuroscience