First person – Amber Shaheen

Abstract

First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Journal of Cell Science, helping researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Amber Shaheen is first author on ‘ Cholesterol is required for activity-dependent synaptic growth’, published in JCS. Amber conducted the research described in this article while a graduate student in Dr Jeffrey Dason's lab at University of Windsor. She is now a MD candidate at Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University, London, Canada. Amber's research focuses on understanding the role of cholesterol in neuronal membranes, its regulation by synaptic activity, and its impact on neuronal development and function, using Drosophila as a model organism.