Project 1

Project Update June 2020

After my first update in October I was very busy. I did several experiments without stop. In that period, a lot of chicks hatched; it is wonderful to see the hatching of a chick! 

I settled up and performed the first series of experiments. I performed experiments using double labelling with the immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization protocols and the fluorescent version of them to identify the different neural populations that composed the Central extended amygdala in domestic chicken. I synthesized the riboprobes that I needed, and I will need, I learned how to use the confocal microscope and I started to obtain images of my experiments. I settled up the mosaic function for images acquisition of the confocal microscope to be able to obtain a global and precise view of the chicken brain. Moreover, I settled up the tracing experiments that I will perform together with Karina Santiago from September to December 2020. 

It was a very intense and successfully period, in which I set up the largest part of my experiments and, in particular, I discussed with Loreta Medina and Ester Desfilis about the way to follow. So these months have served not only to lay good foundations from which to get good results, but I started having the first good results! 

But, when everything was settled up and I started to obtain wonderful results, Covid19 emergency arrived… 

I had to stop my experiments and postponed my secondment at Newcastle university, but after all I was “lucky” because I have planned to follow the “laboratory animal science course” during mid-March mid-May 2020; so the online version of this course has coincided perfectly with the quarantine, (I did the practise part before Covid19 crisis at IRBLleida). On 18th of May I did and passed the exam, and after that I followed a course of security organized by IRBLleida. 

Given the current situation of uncertainty due to the emergency Covid19, I plan to restart my experiments in September. Until then, in this period I want to focus myself to study all the material that I collected and start to study the bibliography to draft an introduction for my first article that I want to publish during the next year.  

In addition, I was involved in a project with Mike Toscano’s lab in Bern related to epigenetic. I should have gone there in this period, but unfortunately the travels to Switzerland are still forbidden due to Covid-19 restrictions. I’m waiting for a visa to go there, and I hope that, if I can’t go in the last 20 days of June, I will able to go the last 20 days of August. 

That experience could be very interested for me also because it will help me to get better familiarized with chicken behaviour and to design my future experiments.  

In my project, after the identification of the different neural subpopulation of Central extended amygdala, I will study the effect of acute stress on these neurons I will perform some behavioural experiments, in which I will study the cellular activation in the amygdala after a mild stressful stimulus.  

In addition, I am also very interested in studying how this stimulus affects not only the neural activation but also how this activation is related to the behaviour of the animals. 

To analyse these, I will need to use some behavioural tracing programs and measure the distress calls, so the collaboration with Toscano’s lab will offer me the opportunity of learning which kind of programs will be the best to use for that.  

Last modified: Wed, 17 Feb 2021 12:31:00 GMT