Dr. Christopher Lee Hughes is an F32 award recipient who used the funding opportunity to study how the brain processes sensory information. The F32 funding opportunity supports the research training of promising postdoctorates early in their postdoctoral training period.
The NIH BRAIN Initiative funding portfolio enables the collaborative and multidisciplinary research necessary to help us understand the brain’s complexities. Dr. Christopher Lee Hughes received a BRAIN Initiative F32 Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship award to support his research on microsimulation of sensory cortices in the mouse brain and its potential therapeutic application in neurological injury. The F32 program rewards promising postdoctorates early in their careers by enhancing their research training in project areas that advance the goals of the NIH BRAIN Initiative. This article is part of a series that highlights the careers of NIH BRAIN Initiative F32 grantees.
While the BRAIN F32 funding opportunity is not currently available due to this fiscal year’s (FY24) budget constraints, we encourage applicants to follow and search the NIH Guide to find funding opportunities that best fit their proposed projects. Parent announcement mechanisms, like the parent F32 for example, may be good options.
Check out the interview below to learn more about Dr. Hughes’s post-doc research. He discusses how he became interested in research, what he hopes to achieve next, and the advice he’d give to other early-stage career researchers.
Would you please briefly introduce yourself, your research interests, and your academic background?
My name is Christopher Lee Hughes (he/him). I currently work at the University of Pittsburgh with Dr. Takashi Kozai. My current research focuses on using transgenic mice models and multiphoton imaging to study the neural mechanisms of intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) in sensory cortices.
Prior to joining Takashi Kozai’s lab, I conducted my doctorate project with Dr. Robert Gaunt at the University of Pittsburgh studying bidirectional brain-computer interfaces in humans with spinal cord injury. I worked with the first person in the world with intracortical Utah arrays implanted in the somatosensory cortex and studied how stimulation across these devices can be used to restore tactile sensation and how well they work over extended periods of implantation.
Prior to my work at the University of Pittsburgh, I obtained my MS in bioengineering and BS in neuroscience, summa cum laude, from the University of California, Riverside.
What led you to research? What continues to drive your ambitions as a scientist?
During my graduate studies, I had an excellent opportunity to work with human participants to study how ICMS of somatosensory cortex impacts tactile perception. The advantage of working with human participants is that they can communicate with us, the researchers, how tactile sensations feel on their hands. During this time, I often wondered what was happening in the brain in response to ICMS that resulted in these evoked percepts. However, this is challenging to observe in the human brain due to hardware limitations and an inability to actively image neurons in these participants. Therefore, I joined a lab in which I would be able to directly measure the neural responses underlying ICMS-evoked perception in animal models. In the future, I hope to build a team that combines these approaches with the ultimate goal of building better brain stimulation approaches to improve clinical therapies.
What are some of the challenges you have encountered in your research and/or career? How have you or how are you working to overcome them?
I am a first-generation college student (in fact, both of my parents dropped out of high school) who also came from disadvantaged circumstances; so, making it to this stage required navigating many challenges. I was very fortunate to receive generous financial aid from UC Riverside that allowed me to pursue higher education. However, even with this financial aid, I still had to work very hard during my undergraduate studies, first taking the bus 1.5 hours each way to make it to school, and in my last two years working multiple part-time jobs while finishing up my degree. I knew while studying for my BS in neuroscience that I wanted to become involved in neural engineering, and so, I subsequently pursued earning an MS in bioengineering. This risk paid off, as I later moved to the University of Pittsburgh to pursue my ideal research project with Dr. Robert Gaunt. Despite a strong neuroscience background, I needed to learn many new skills to be successful. While this required a lot of work, I was happy with the research I was doing, and this pushed me to continue to grow. Even though it required a lot of work to get to this point, I am very happy with the position I am in and how much I have grown and learned in these pursuits.
What would be the next step in your research (or professional development)?
I am currently in the process of applying to faculty positions and wrapping up multiple projects from my postdoc. In the future, I hope to begin my own lab investigating these fundamental questions about ICMS and working with collaborators to develop better technologies and approaches for brain modulation.
What would be your advice to others who may want to apply to the parent F32 program?
Although the BRAIN F32 funding opportunity that I applied to is not currently available, individuals interested in a training grant should consider the parent F32 program. This mechanism still allows for applicants to think about how their work contributes to the BRAIN Initiative’s mission and priority areas. They should try to put together a proposal that clearly aligns with this vision. Additionally, they should contact BRAIN training program officers, who can be excellent resources for helping you identify the right opportunities and to put together a successful application.
Everyone’s specific training plans and experiences will be unique based on their areas of interest. That said, fellows should utilize the fellowship as an opportunity to focus on the things that are important to them in their life and career.
Fill in the blank: When I’m not working on a research project, I am…
When I am not working on research projects, I am exercising, playing video games, or spending time with my wife (especially doing karaoke together).
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