This week we bring to you another episode of Tools for Looking into the Brain, our mini series in collaboration with Scientifica, where we discuss all sorts of neuroscience methods and the reality of academia. In this episode, we are joined by Dr Silvana Valtcheva, a group leader at the Max Planck Institute in Cologne, who researches the neural basis of maternal bahevaiour. We talk about her research journey, from investigating synaptic plasticity to understanding the complexities of postpartum behaviour in living animals, and discuss how to transition across the stages of academia, and where meaning and motivation fit in to science.

Silvana Valtcheva is a principal investigator at the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research in Cologne Germany. She previously earned a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and a Master’s degree in Neuroscience before pursuing a PhD in activity-dependent synaptic plasticity, the role of astrocytes, and developmental changes in the control of plasticity with Prof. Laurent Venance in Paris. Following this, Silvana joined the lab of Prof. Robert Froemke in New York City as a postdoctoral fellow, where she investigated the neural pathways and synaptic mechanisms important for the detection of offspring vocalisations in maternal mice. Since 2022, the Valtcheva lab has been investigating the neural circuits and plasticity mechanisms shaping sensory perception and hormonal release in the postpartum brain to drive behaviour. 

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