Hello everyone! I am Abigél Miskolczi and I am a senior from Budapest, Hungary. I am double majoring in psychology and biology with a minor in chemistry. I have long been fascinated with the human brain and early on I knew I wanted to study both the biological and psychological underpinnings of psychological disorders. Throughout the classes I took at UNC I narrowed my interest to understanding neural circuitry and additional brain structures that guide behavior, and how these structures may change due to teratogens. I am aspired to explore such morphologies and to achieve this I hope to continue my education post-graduation.
To gain a better understanding of brain structure-function relationships and data analysis methodologies I joined the Neuro Image Research and Analysis Laboratories (NIRAL) at the Department of Psychiatry during my junior year. I worked under the supervision of Dr. Rebecca Stephens initially as a volunteer and as part of my coursework (in the form of an independent research class – PSYC 395). Throughout my year-long involvement with NIRAL, I worked on generating brain masks (based on T1 and T2 MRI scans) that cover brain tissue exclusively and allow for further 3D image analysis. To achieve this goal, and to contribute to the lab’s long-term goal of finding biomarkers that may precede the onset of psychological disorders such as schizophrenia, I used the ITK-SNAP software. While I am extremely grateful for the opportunity of learning about image processing and contributing to a longitudinal study on early brain development (EBD), my interest to explore data collection in more detail while working with patients in person led me to choose Mother Infant Research Studies at the Department of Psychiatry at UNC as my Gil Internship worksite.
As a research assistant at the Mother Infant Research Studies led by Dr. Karen Grewen, I work under the mentorship of Pam Beiler, LCSW. The laboratory has multiple active research projects. The long-term goals of these projects are to understand the impact of prenatal substance exposure on baby brain morphologies during development, the effect of oxytocin on the mothers’ mood (who have a history of major depressive disorder or anxiety), and the attachment styles between children and mothers who may experience postpartum depression.
As an intern, my tasks are diverse and contribute to multiple studies. I have been trained to manage the MRI and fMRI data of patients. I am additionally getting trained to assist families prior to and during the data collection (MRI) by interacting with mothers and monitoring infants. In the long term, I hope to participate in the process more directly. I will further be assisting with DNA data collection of children as well as with some DNA analysis. Lastly, I will be contributing to organizational tasks and Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) administration as part of the lab’s Mood, Mother, and Child (MMC) studies.
I am truly enjoying my research experience so far and I am extremely grateful for everybody who guides me and makes this experience possible. I particularly would like to thank Emily Dolegowski, Dr. Buzinski, Dr. Stephens, Pam Beiler, and the entire research team at NIRAL and the Mother Infant Research Studies for allowing me to explore my true passion and to prepare me to become a researcher in the future.
