Rachael – Founding Member
June 2015 – May 2018
Writer and Editor for The Brain Domain. Some examples:
- There is more than one scientist (author)
- Who the hell is MEG, and how can she help us understand the brain? (author)
- Christmas Special: Things that look like your brain but actually aren’t (author)
- Valentine’s Day Special: 11 things I Hate About You, Brain (author)
- Reflections on Dementia (editor)
- How to read a baby’s mind (editor)
- The Neuroscience of Mindfulness: What Happens When We Meditate? (editor)
- Sport on the brain; when do the risks outweigh the benefits? (editor)
Rachael also helped set up The Brain Domain’s Resources section, and edit the first episode of the Neurotransmission podcast.
Class:
Rosy Rambler
+ (5) Adventure planning
+ (3) Cheerful disposition
Base Equipment:
Moral compass + (3) Direction
Badass Bicycle + (2) Exploration
Beasts to tackle: The Linux Lich
Bio: Rachael received her first degree, a Psychology BSc, from the University of Reading. Here she developed an interest in psychology, neuroscience and mathematics. Whilst at Reading, she volunteered for Student Minds, and worked for a year as a research assistant, investigating ways to facilitate language recovery post-stroke.
Now she is doing a Neuroscience PhD at Cardiff University, based at CUBRIC, and funded by The Wellcome Trust. She focuses on investigating energy dynamics in the brain, trying to answers questions such as: How does the vascular system respond to brain activity? How does the right amount of oxygen get delivered to the brain tissue that needs it? How are these mechanisms impaired in the disease Multiple Sclerosis? This involves measuring neural activity (using Magnetoencephalography) and the vascular response (using fMRI).
Oh yeah, and she’s a big fan of wombats.
