Lasting impacts from early-life stress

By Catherine Zandonella

Christabel Mclain

Christabel Mclain, Class of 2021, explored whether cells in the brain’s reward centers that respond to early life stress can be reactivated by stress in adulthood, contributing to depression. She won Princeton’s John Brinster, Class of 1943, Neuroscience senior thesis prize and a Fulbright fellowship to study at the Charité-Universitätsmedizin in Berlin. “More than just shadowing or helping senior lab members, Christabel took the reins on her own research project,” said Catherine Jensen Peña, assistant professor of neuroscience. “Her senior thesis synthesizes ideas from across fields of neuroscience and uses multiple cutting-edge approaches.”