On Wednesday, May 25, Koray Ercan ’19 returned to campus to speak with Applied Science students about his neuroscience research at Rutgers University. He is currently studying the effects of a mutation in a cell’s potassium channel in causing epilepsy. He began by defining epilepsy and its symptoms, and then describing experiments that the lab is performing in mice subjects, due to the similar makeup of their brains to the human brain. He gave a “crash course in neuroscience” by explaining the charts of data collected and showing pictures of cells grown and manipulated for testing in petri dishes. “You have to experiment many times to prove results aren’t random chance,” he said, explaining the numerous tests they have run over his time in the lab over the last four months.

Students had the opportunity to ask questions and wanted to know how Ercan became interested in studying neuroscience. He said that learning about synapses in AP Biology at Pennington first sparked his interest, and taking the fundamental classes in the beginning of his time at Rutgers confirmed he wanted to choose it as a major. He is grateful for the opportunities he has had for undergraduate research, and recommended students take initiative in seeking out places to get involved, saying, “Take a chance! The worst they can do is say no.”