Week 2

This week was fairly short because of the 4th of July, but I spent a lot of time working on lots of data analysis. One new thing that I did this week was I got to find out about more of the projects that are being done at the VPLab. The first is called the "Human Connectome Project" which is aimed to connect everyone on the earth together through the human brain and researching more about the human brain. " The Human Connectome Project (HCP) is a project to construct a map of the complete structural and functional neural connections in vivo within and across individuals."

In most labs data analysis is very important, but it can get boring. Next week I will be getting out into the lab and shadowing a few grad students as they run neuropsych tests and MRI scans for the stroke plasticity tests. My favorite part about this lab is that it isn't the traditional lab where we wear lab coats and are using microscopes. At this lab half of what I am doing is data and the other half is meeting with the subjects. All subjects in the stroke studies are humans which is very new to me because in school the only labs we do are with inanimate objects. It's pretty cool getting to work with patients and even seeing the changes that are happening to them (and specifically their brains) throughout the weeks. I have only worked at this lab for a few weeks, but the patients who have suffered from strokes have recovered tremendously and the difference between a few days after their stroke and a few weeks is extraordinary to me.