Media
“We ignore public understanding of science at our peril.” - Eugenie Clark
The Cai Lab is committed to sharing the story of science. Here is a selection of media coverage, presentations, and essays that speak to our research, our individual experiences as scientists, and advancing open science.
Video & Audio
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This episode of the Max Planck Florida Institute’s Neurotransmissions podcast brings you scientific highlights from the recent Sunposium23 conference. The hosts discuss how the brain encodes memories in both a stable and flexible manner with Dr. Denise Cai, the complexity of brain-wide serotonin function with Dr. Ugur Dag, and how organoids and assembloids can help us understand human neurodevelopment with Dr. Sergiu Pasca.
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2022: To survive and thrive in our ever-changing world, we must be able to predict the outcome of an event based on knowledge of what has happened in the past. For example, after a threatening experience, it is helpful to identify what caused the unpleasant event and assign the emotion of 'fear' to the precipitating event to help avoid similar outcomes in the future. In this talk, Dr. Denise Cai discusses how mice link fearful experiences with prior memories and its implications for anxiety-related conditions.
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2020: In this episode of our weekly Brain Waves series, One Mind President, Brandon Staglin hosts One Mind Rising Star Awardee, Denise J. Cai, PhD, Assistant Professor in Neuroscience at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Kyle Elliott MPA CHES, a life coach who has lived experience with post-traumatic stress. Dr. Cai has conducted extensive research into how memories are formed and how that process is impacted by traumatic events. Tune in to learn how Kyle and Dr. Cai’s experiences with trauma are helping them to navigate the COVID-19 crisis and establish a new normal.
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2020: “The Allen Institute has been a leader in spearheading the open science movement,” explains Next Generation Leader Denise Cai. This movement is enabling quicker breakthroughs, technological advancements, and scientific discoveries.
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2020: Denise Cai, winner of the Distinguished Scholar Award, discusses how she balances family care taking responsibilities and her career as a scientist.
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2019: Dr. Denise Cai, a 2019 One Mind Rising Star Awardee, shares details about her One Mind funded research into how memories of traumatic events can be linked across time and trigger a fearful response in a safe environment. This presentation was filmed at the Scientific Symposium of One Mind’s 25th Music Festival for Brain Health held on September 14, 2019.
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2018: In this seminar, Dr. Denise Cai will share her personal accounts in pursuing an academic path. She will discuss how she works through impostor syndrome, gender bias, post-partum depression and mommy-guilt in order to find balance in life, love and science.
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2018: Richard and Susan Friedman Scholar: Denise Cai and Mark Baxter
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2018: Dr. Cai’s team investigates the temporal dynamics of how memories are formed, integrated and separated. In addition, her team studies how aging contributes to cognitive decline. Her lab leverages a multi-level approach, including in vivo imaging, activity-dependent tagging, optogenetics, chemogenetics and behavioral assays.
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2017: Next Generation Leader Denise Cai presents on “Linking memories across time” at the 2017 Allen Institute Showcase Symposium hosted by the Allen Institute for Brain Science.
Articles
Grantee spotlight interview: Denise Cai, PhD (2024)
Dr. Denise Cai shares why she is interested in aging research and explains her AFAR-funded project.
Thumb-sized microscope captures images deep inside the brains of active animals (2022)
Dr. Denise Cai shares her thoughts on the development of mini two-photon microscopes that can be mounted on rodents’ heads without impeding behaviour.
Miniature microscope records thousands of neurons in moving mice (2022)
Dr. Denise Cai discusses the miniature two-photon microscope (MINIP2), the smallest two-photon microscope to date, and how its ability to record large groups of neurons in moving mice at a single cell resolution will vastly expand the types of questions the field is able to ask.
It takes a village - supporting mental and physical health (2020)
Dr. Denise Cai discusses the importance of building a village to support one’s mental and physical health. She elaborates on how this idea specifically relates to advocacy in the medical community and isolation experienced by many during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stories of WiN: Dr. Denise Cai (2020)
Dr. Denise Cai on studying memory, developing open tools for science and facing gender bias. (En español)
Addressing the leaky pipeline in science: Issues facing new moms (2019)
This panel featuring mothers in early stages of their careers — including graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and early career faculty — addresses some of the issues facing new moms in STEM. Panelists share personal experiences, identify problems, and propose potential solutions for various gender bias related issues.
Watching memories being made (2018)
Drs. Denise Cai and Mark Baxter discuss what is known about networks in the brain, how this has evolved over recent years, and how this can translate to potential treatments for those with memory disorders.