Hello everyone!

My name is Corey Nilon, and I am a sophomore studying Biology with minors in Neuroscience and Sociology. Last semester, because of COVID-19, I was only a virtual member of the lab. This has been my first semester coming to the lab in person and I have enjoyed every part of it. It is a great educational environment to be in and it is so fascinating to see all the projects that people around me are working on! So far, my experience in the lab has been a significant amount of ezTrack data analysis, mouse colony management, and PCR. ezTrack is a Python-based program that I have been using to track the location and trajectories of mice and they perform reward-based motor tasks. Furthermore, going forward, I plan to use this program to note differences in behavior relative to differences in various genes. By studying these mice, we hope to gain insight into the neural circuits controlling behaviors similar to that of obsessive-compulsive disorder. 

Outside of the lab, I am the president of the Special Olympics club and a part of the TriBeta honors society. I also have been volunteering at Albany Medical Center since last Fall, which has been an extremely rewarding experience being able to have primary interactions with all types of medical personnel: doctors, nurses, technicians, and patients. 

I am proud to be a part of the lab as it is a great opportunity to contribute to real-life science. It is very different from most other sciences classes where you're only learning material and things that have already been, for the most part, figured out. The experimental side of science is a pleasure to be a part of, and I look forward to being a part of future discoveries!

In the future, I have hope to attend medical school. From there, I am excited to see where life takes me!

Corey