Daniela Gonzalez

I am a Senior double majoring in Neuroscience and Psychology at Trinity University, graduating this May 2023. I've had three years of lab experience in a behavioral neuroscience laboratory in which I directed projects as a project leader, performed complex procedures, learned rodent handling and care, and developed skills in execution of research paradigms related to addiction. My skills include performing rodent stereotaxic surgery, transcardial perfusions, intraperitoneal injections, collecting and slicing brain tissue using a cryostat machine, staining and scoring brain tissue, performing cytology, and performing different statistical analyses using SPSS.

I have worked on several projects that have different paradigms including a self-administration paradigm, conditioned place preference, dual-solution water maze, and a Pavlovian cued fear conditioning paradigm (current project). My past project with a dual-solution water maze paradigm culminated in a publication called “Ethanol administration during retrieval, but not consolidation, influences the relative use of multiple memory systems.” As first author in this publication, I gained crucial writing and scientific communication skills that help me with my job at the neuroscience lab. I also have advanced presentation skills, with three poster presentations in different conferences as my experience.

I have presented my research at Trinity University and Society for Neuroscience, which taught me verbal skills and how to effectively communicate research findings and methods to a scientific audience.

Three years in a behavioral neuroscience laboratory. Trained in self-administration, CPP, water maze, and fear conditioning paradigms. Also trained in stereotaxic surgery, transcardial perfusions, collection and slicing of brain tissue, staining and scoring brain tissue, cytology, and statistical analyses.

Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience and Psychology

Expected graduation, May 2023