Growing up, Elian Sanchez \u201924 dreamed of becoming a heart surgeon\u2014until he watched the Netflix documentary series \u201cThe Mind Explained\u201d during the COVID-19 lockdown. He suddenly found he couldn\u2019t stop thinking about the brain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI felt so strongly that I wanted to learn more,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A standout student in biology and psychology at the Community College of Rhode Island, he transferred to the URI Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program for his junior year. This past spring, he joined the lab of Marin Manuel, assistant professor of biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences and Ryan research assistant professor of neuroscience, whose work has helped advance the study of motor neurons in the spinal cord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was really drawn to Dr. Manuel\u2019s work and methods,\u201d Sanchez says. \u201cHe is a passionate, kind, and an amazing professor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a researcher in the Manuel lab, Sanchez helps investigate whether disruptions in the development or function of neuromuscular junctions\u2013\u2013the sites where motor neurons and muscle fibers communicate\u2013\u2013contribute to motor deficits in cerebral palsy. The research could help identify potential drug targets for the disorder, a motivating factor for Sanchez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cResearch resonates with my goal to make a difference,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sanchez began his master\u2019s in molecular neuroscience at URI this fall, with plans to pursue a joint M.D.\/Ph.D. program. Even with a goal to become a neurosurgeon, he is inspired to maintain a research career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think it is amazing to help find answers to explain things we didn\u2019t know before,\u201d he says. \u201cThe more I learn about the brain and spinal cord, the more I want to know.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Growing up, Elian Sanchez \u201924 dreamed of becoming a heart surgeon\u2014until he watched the Netflix documentary series \u201cThe Mind Explained\u201d during the COVID-19 lockdown. He suddenly found he couldn\u2019t stop thinking about the brain. \u201cI felt so strongly that I wanted to learn more,\u201d he says. A standout student in biology and psychology at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":581,"featured_media":6107,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-momentum-fall-24-body"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/momentum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/momentum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/momentum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/momentum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/581"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/momentum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5985"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/momentum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6126,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/momentum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5985\/revisions\/6126"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/momentum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/momentum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/momentum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/momentum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}