What are you currently working on?
Miranda Wysoczanski Graduate Student MSc Clinical Anatomy Candidate Contact Info mwysocyza@uwo.ca
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“I'm a second-year Master’s student in the Clinical Anatomy program in Dr. Shawn Whitehead's lab. My research project focuses on white matter inflammatory cells and their relationship with beta-amyloid in Alzheimer's disease. Microglia are the resident immune cells of the brain and these white matter inflammatory cells have been identified as being one of the earliest pathological changes to occur in the Alzheimer's disease brain, along with being predictive of future cognitive decline. My research project is investigating the sex-related-age trajectory of microglia using animal models. We have a pre-clinical rat model that does not develop amyloid plaques to reflect a much earlier stage of disease progression. We also have a rat model that does develop amyloid-plaque pathology to represent a much later stage of disease progression. What’s the clinical anatomy program like? In our first year of the program, we were involved in full-time coursework – we completed a full cadaveric body dissection and other courses such as histology, neuroanatomy along with a teaching and professionalism course. In our second year of the program, we moved to full-time research. Right now we’re working on finishing up our research project and are in the process of completing our teaching certificate. We also TA medical students and several undergraduate courses. I recently also gave a guest lecture, which was one of our milestones in the program.”
“I discovered the Clinical Anatomy program, and I knew right away that it was a perfect fit for me.” What are some of your future career goals? “For the longest time, I’ve been very passionate about pursuing a career in the medical field, but clinical research is a very important component in medicine. So, I'm interested in pursuing clinical research down the line as well. So far, my passion for anatomy and teaching have been further solidified in this program and medicine aligns perfectly with my strong desire and interest in pursuing a lifelong career of teaching and learning, but also involving that research component. I've had the opportunity to kind of build on those previous experiences. I definitely want to have a good mix of both research and teaching in my future career.” 27
