Stories of Women in Neuroscience · Stories of WiN

Dr. Aqilah McCane

·45 min

Dr. Akilah McCane, an Assistant Professor in Neuroscience at Oregon Health and Science University, joins host Melissa Franch to discuss her research on adolescent brain development and alcohol use disorder. McCane's lab uniquely employs both rodent and non-human primate models to study how early alcohol exposure impacts aging and behavior. McCane grew up in Indiana and initially majored in psychology simply because her friends did. Her research career began when a friend recruited her as a volunteer in a developmental psychology lab at Indiana University Bloomington. A pivotal opportunity came via the IMSD program, a grant-funded initiative for marginalized undergraduates aiming to get them into graduate school, which provided her with two years of paid research experience. In graduate school at IUPUI, she was co-mentored by Dr. Chris Lapish, an electrophysiologist, and Dr. Christine Schakowsky, who specialized in behavioral models of alcohol use disorder. Her graduate work involved studying dopamine dynamics and testing compounds like tolcapone in rat models of alcohol use disorder. For her postdoc, she sought a flexible mentor and joined Dr. Bita Moghaddam's lab at OHSU, where she shifted to studying adolescence. A key finding from her postdoctoral research was that adolescents show a higher dopamine response to rewards in Pavlovian conditioning, whereas adults show a larger response in operant conditioning. She secured a K99 grant and formed a mentoring team that included Dr. Marlene Cohen, who guided her on techniques for chronic electrophysiological recordings in non-human primates. McCane now runs her own lab at the Oregon National Primate Research Center, leveraging the longer adolescent period in primates to study behavioral flexibility and the long-term effects of early-life experiences. A surprising insight is McCane's admission that she never initially saw herself as a researcher, having worked 40-50 hour weeks in undergrad with average grades. She describes the empowering moment her graduate mentor, Chris Lapish, asked her to write a behavioral code from scratch, which successfully worked and changed her self-perception. She reveals that her first F32 grant application was "not discussed," making her question her future in science, but a resubmission was later funded. McCane shares a memorable piece of advice from Lapish: never accept a "no" from someone who doesn't have the power to give you a "yes." She started her family in graduate school, having her first son while collecting dissertation data, and emphasizes that a strong support network made it possible. McCane also expresses a genuine enjoyment for grant writing, describing it as an exciting challenge of storytelling and strategic planning. The tone is conversational, candid, and warmly supportive, focusing on the personal and professional journey. The style is interview-based, with the host asking direct questions that elicit detailed, reflective answers about career path, science, and personal life. This episode would inspire early-career scientists, especially those from non-traditional backgrounds or feeling uncertain about their path. Listeners interested in addiction neuroscience, developmental studies, or academic career navigation will find it valuable. Those seeking a highly technical, data-heavy discussion of neuroscience might find the personal narrative focus less engaging.

As heard by us

A candid neuroscience career story about stability, grant writing, and the quiet satisfaction of solving problems.

Dr. Akilah McCain's conversation with Stories of Women in Neuroscience reads as a focused career portrait, tracing a path from an Indiana upbringing to work in a neuroscience lab centered on alcohol use disorder, adolescent alcohol exposure, and aging in rodents and non-human…

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Why you'd press play

A neuroscientist's route from growing up poor to finding grant-writing joy.

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