Name: Niall Moore
Hometown: Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Lab: Gene Expression Laboratory of Sam Pfaff
Lab website: http://pfaff.salk.edu/
Hobbies: I like reading comics, cycling and one day soon surfing!
What do you study? Even very simple actions like walking or throwing a ball require the complex co-ordination of many muscles. A lot of this co-ordination is controlled by the spinal cord which receives information from the brain as well as directly from senses like touch and pain. I study the networks of cells in the spinal cord whose final ‘output’ is making muscles move and how these networks use information from the brain and local senses to decide which muscle to move when.
Why is it important? The spinal cord is in lots of ways the main channel through which the brain (and therefore ourselves) interacts with the world. It controls a lot of the sensory input that comes to brain and almost all muscles. Spinal cord injury or diseases that affect the spinal cord therefore lead to a devastating effect on the lives of those affected. By understanding better how the spinal cord works, we will not only learn more about ourselves, but we will also be able to develop better treatments for spinal cord injury and disease.
What piqued your interest in science? When I was in high school, I was quite interested in how the brain works and thought ‘Neuroscience’ was a cool word. It wasn’t until later, when I was at University that I started doing real experiments and realized I was good at doing experiments that I seriously thought about being a scientist.
What do you like about being a scientist? I like being part of something much bigger than myself. Even small discoveries in science become part of a greater understanding of the world when they are published. It’s very exciting to be part of that and possibly be the first to discover something completely new.
Also if I sleep in and turn up late to lab no one gets mad at me.
What are 5 general vocabulary terms someone should know going into your field of science?
Nervous system, Neuron, Synapse, Gene, Cell type
What are 5 specific vocabulary terms someone should know about your research?
Optogenetics, viral tracing, Neurotransmitter, Electrophysiology, Immunohistochemistry