Ruta Uttarkar

Abstract: The Dallas Hearts & Minds Study (DHMS) is a comprehensive longitudinal study that also includes imaging studies, including the newly added Magnetoencephalography (MEG). MEG is a noninvasive neuroimaging method that provides high temporal and spatial resolution by measuring magnetic fields induced by the electrical currents underlying brain activity. This has empowered DHMS to study the brain activity underlying memory and cognition with relation to aging and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Verbal Working Memory (VWM) actively maintains and manipulates verbal information to be used towards concurrent processing. Neural tissue generates oscillatory activity in specific frequencies like alpha (8-12Hz) and beta waves (13-30Hz). During cognitive processing, a decrease in alpha and/or beta activity from baseline within a neural region is believed to reflect the active recruitment of that region. In healthy adults, a largely left-lateralized network of brain regions demonstrates decreased alpha/beta activity during VWM performance. However, little is known about the impact of mild cognitive impairment on the neural oscillations underlying VWM. We utilized a whole brain approach to qualitatively compare the neural oscillations serving the encoding and maintenance processes of VWM in an MCI participant vs. cognitively normal control participants.

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What does research mean to you?
I see research as an opportunity to ask questions and creatively deal with the uncertainty that comes with finding their answers, which always lead to more questions and spark excitement for finding something even deeper. I feel research is also about finding shared spaces between unlikely topics. Ultimately, research is about having fun with the knowledge we have to discover new ways to look at it and apply it in tangible ways to solve problems around us, from cellular pathologies to social inequities. Research encourages me to be curious, creative, and perseverant and to keep the loop of discovery and collaboration going.​
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Tell us about your journey.
Growing up, I was always the curious kid fascinated by the idea of creatively designing experiments to answer unusual questions. During my high school senior year when I served as a kids’ educator at a cell biology lab at a health museum, I grew really eager and confident that I wanted to explore research in college. I started out as an undergrad research assistant my freshman year at Dr. Price’s Pain Neurobiology lab at UTD. I was involved in wet lab and computational projects studying the differential translation of mRNAs in male vs. female nociceptors to understand the sex differences underlying chronic pain. I also enjoyed doing some public health research at a neonatal nonprofit in India the summer after my freshman year.

With Dr. Price’s support, I applied to become a green fellow in Fall 2020 (as a junior). I had heard about the green fellowship even before I joined UTD, so it was always a dream at the back of my mind to dive into full-time research at a massive research institution like UTSW. I really wanted to step out of my comfort zone and try clinical research and luckily got into Dr. Davenport’s MEG Imaging lab. I had no prior experience in neuroimaging research and the learning curve was huge, especially with the many modalities of research in our longitudinal study, but with my Dr. Davenport’s and Amy’s support, I enjoyed learning not only how to think around a research question in different ways but also how to incorporate into our analysis the unique, personal data each participant brings to an experiment which cannot be easily standardized.

What was your favorite part of the program?
My favorite part of the program was how immersive it was. As a full-time intern, you get to actually experience the life of a student researcher: from the daily mini frustrations when experiments don’t go right to the thrill when different components of a project come together and make sense, giving you more ideas to keep going. It was also refreshing and inspiring to sit on lab meetings with interdisciplinary teams of doctors, psychologists, technicians, and researchers and understand how multiple perspectives nourish a project and ultimately impact what excites me the most: patient outcomes.

What was the biggest thing that you learned?
I think the biggest thing that I learned is to be comfortable with uncertainty. Starting from scratch in an imaging lab without any prior neuroimaging experiences led me to learn how to communicate my progress and roadblocks with my lab mentors, enjoy the process rather than just the end goal, and be okay with making mistakes and grow from them. The independence and flexibility of this program also nudged me to learn to confidently voice my own ideas and creatively customize my learning experience by actively seeking different mentors in my lab to explore multiple projects/ skills.

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Advice for Future Green Fellows

For those who are on the fence about research/GF program:
If you are even slightly curious about exploring a potential career in research, I would 100% recommend applying to the Green Fellows program and giving it your best shot. Green fellowship truly is a once-in-college opportunity to completely immerse yourself in research at a diverse full-time research institution like UTSW, without having to worry about classes and extracurriculars. That gives you the free head space to creatively explore and grow your research project and build relationships with your lab mates. The best part about this opportunity is that even if you eventually end up realizing that a career in research is not for you, your own personal learning experience will have led you to the informed decision.

To those who have been accepted into the program:
Congratulations!! You deserve a pat on the back. A helpful practical advice is that you should do extensive research on UTSW labs that you want to select as potential options to work in. Each green fellow’s experience is as unique as their lab. So, have a detailed look at the labs past green fellows have worked in, what PIs or fields interest you, consider if you have any prior skills that you want to grow further or a new experience like computational, wet lab, or imaging research that you may want to explore, and if you picture yourself working in a small, relatively new lab community or a larger, multi-project lab environment. After all, how stimulated and supported you feel for the next 4-5 months boils down to how you feel about your research and lab members and how you grow in the lab.

You may be hearing this for the 100th time, but please ASK questions! It is totally normal to feel lost and incompetent during the first few weeks as this is a very learn-on-the job experience. Openly seek mentors in your lab, ask those little questions, observe and take interest in the various projects happening your lab, take notes on any new procedures you learn (they add up fast!), attend UTSW seminars, and ask people in your lab for any resources to understand the background behind your research project. As much as green fellowship is about the research experience, it is also about the community of fellows. So, do connect with them! Feel free to reach out to Dr. Ravnik for any advice. He is very supportive. All of us past Green Fellows are also here for you!

Lastly, enjoy this experience, be kind to yourself, and make the most of it.