Kanishka: Dream until your dreams come true!
Hi, I am Kanishka, from India, currently pursuing a PhD from the A.I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Eastern Finland. The idea of pursuing a PhD abroad never crossed my mind; it still feels like a distant dream! Throughout my school days, the professions that were highly hyped were either becoming a medical doctor or an engineer. However, my interests were slightly inclined to biology. Surprisingly, I ended up doing a bachelor’s in Nursing from All India Institute of Medical Sciences. While most of my colleagues opted to work as Nursing Officers, I hesitated to jump into a job too soon, given my limited knowledge at that point.
Therefore, I stepped into post-graduation studies in one of the intriguing subjects from my bachelors – Physiology. Exploring the complexities of the human body’s internal machinery, deciphering its functions, and understanding how it orchestrates our existence became my primary focus, introducing me to the world of RESEARCH. I did my master’s thesis on understanding the brain states responsible for altered perceptions in Schizophrenia patients. I was quite fascinated with the idea of communication happening between the brain and the body through electrical signals.
My interests in neurosciences led me deeper into the realm of fundamental research at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. I worked as a Junior Research Fellow on “understanding Context-associated fear memories in animal models and the role of sleep in the consolidation of such memories”. Although, I initially believed this to be my ultimate destination, I couldn’t shake the recurring thought that there might be something better out there for me. That’s when I decided to apply for PhD positions abroad, leading me to seek admission to the MSCA Horizon 2020 Neuro-Innovation Ph.D. program at the University of Eastern Finland.
About my research project
The overall aim of this project is to visualize the hippocampal-cortical networks (major networks for memory consolidation) that normally activate during sleep at specific rhythms, and how they are affected by epileptic hippocampal spikes associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The two most common approaches to study such activities are functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and Local Field Potentials (LFPs). Individually, these techniques have their own pros and cons. But together, they could provide good spatial and temporal details of the different brain networks.
We will combine these two powerful techniques to study brain-wide networks associated with momentary events in animal models. My primary work would be to induce large epileptic spikes in their typical site of origin- the Hippocampus (in a rodent brain) and image the whole brain simultaneously through fMRI. This project will be carried out under the supervision of Prof. Heikki Tanila and Prof. Olli Gröhn. I look forward to contributing to a deeper understanding of memory consolidation, ultimately benefiting humanity.
Kanishka works as a doctoral researcher in the Neuro-Innovation PhD Programme. Her research focuses on functional imaging of brain-wide networks associated with momentary events.