Yixuan Chen

EDUCATION

College / University

University of Cambridge

Highest Degree

Bachelor of Arts

Major Subjects

Neuroscience, Physiology, Psychology

Country

China

Lab Experience

Wet lab: PCR, western blotting, gel electrophoresis, bacterial transformation, dissection, brain sectioning, immunohistochemistry, microscopy (light and fluorescent)
Animal experiments: Drosophila melanogaster (husbandry), Rattus rattus (behavioural training and fibre photometry), and rhesus macaque (behavioural training and electrophysiology)
Dry lab: Python

Projects / Research

2022: Dopamine signal in signal detection task — Internship, University of Cambridge, Prof. Trevor Robbins
2021 – 2022: Function of orbitofrontal cortex in economic decision-making — research review project, University of Cambridge, Prof. Wolfram Schultz
2021: Electrophysiological recording of random dot task — Internship, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dr. Tianming Yang
2020 – 2021: Neural representation of costs and rewards in decision-making — review published

Scholarships / Awards

2022 – 2023:

Stipend by the International Max Planck Research School

SCIENTIFIC INTERESTS AND GOALS

I’m interested in the neural basis of motivated behaviors, and my research interests span from cognitive neuroscience to behavioral neuroscience and psychopharmacology. I’m interested in the interaction between cortical and subcortical structures and how this might contribute to decision-making and motivated behaviors. The aberrant motivation is of particular importance to addiction, Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and other types of psychiatric disorders.