Sydney Lee defended her Ph.D. dissertation today - congratulations, Sydney!
Sydney joined the lab in 2019 as a technician, then as the first G-lab graduate student in 2019. Sydney has been a productive and positive member of the lab, and is an excellent mentor for younger trainees.
Sydney’s dissertation is titled, “ Exploring pain- and anxiety-like behavioral disturbances after spinal cord injury in male and female mice.” Sydney published two excellent first-author primary research papers exploring pain- and anxiety-like behaviors in mice after spinal cord injury. A third primary research paper is published as a preprint, and is under review at an excellent journal - this manuscript newly unmasks robust sex differences in anxiety-like behavior in mice, with females exhibiting higher anxiety-like behavior.
Sydney’s rigorous work will have a long-lasting impact on the areas of spinal cord injury, chronic pain, anxiety, and sex as a biological variable. Sydney will stay on as a postdoc as she secures her next position. Congrats again, Sydney, and good luck!