In order to complete her Capstone, “Bidirectional Influence of Epinephrine on Hippocampal LTP via β-Adrenergic Receptors”, Georgia Christine Buscaglia (AS ’14) spent countless hours in the lab. Scientific research has its own unique challenges, and Georgia has some suggestions for how to stay the course when the course seems to evade you.

Having been working on this project for the better part of two years, my only advice to future honors students working in Biology is this: keep at it. The direction of this project changed course more times than I can count, and each time we simply regrouped, pushed onwards, and continued to explore new possibilities. It can be incredibly frustrating to work on a project for months, and then find that your results are not what you expected, but the data do not lie. Often, these confounding moments provided the most insight and inspired new hypotheses. Further, I found that I was most deeply involved in the project when I made an effort to actively immerse myself in the field. Read papers; find out what other people in the field have been accomplishing; science is constantly moving and you’ll do your best work when you try keep up. Most of all, start early!Scientific diagram of brain receptors

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