Dr. Renata Batista-Brito
Assistant Professor Department of Neuroscience and Genetics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Postdoctoral Fellow Yale University
PhD in Developmental Genetics New York University
Before leaving her small town in Portugal to go to university, Dr. Renata Batista-Brito tried to project herself into different futures based on her variety of interests—math, science, and philosophy, to name a few. Because she was curious about questions of existence, knowledge, and the mind, and because it was such a mysterious field of study, it was natural for Renata to first follow the philosophy path. Soon after considering becoming a philosopher, she became uneasy about the methods of analytic philosophy, the dominant branch of philosophy at the time, and decided to focus on another of her passions—science. If she couldn’t study the mind, perhaps she should shift her focus to studying the brain.
After completing a masters program in molecular biology in Paris, Renata joined a PhD program in Portugal that places students in participating laboratories around the world. She interviewed with labs in Boston and New York City, but one stood out to her the most—the lab of Dr. Gord Fishell at NYU. Although Renata was excited to move to America to pursue a PhD, with her limited English language skills, she knew the experience would come with its own daunting challenges.
For Renata, transitioning to living in New York was a rollercoaster through multiculturalism—a nonlinear tumble through the joys of learning from so many different people, and the jolts caused by her hindered ability to communicate. She had to work to understand a new and diverse set of cultural behaviors. And while learning English, she often struggled to articulate a coherent thought. As she recalls her PhD experience, she illustrates a kind of rebirth, a self-discovery. With such a sharp change in environment full of such uncertainty and turmoil, she started to notice all the qualities in herself that remained steadfast—those same qualities that make her who she is. In Renata’s experience, becoming a foreigner was a major step towards the emergence of her identity.
In parallel to her self-discovery, she was a PhD student in the NYU Program of Developmental Genetics, working on her thesis in Dr. Gord Fishell’s lab. However, as the Fishell lab studied these concepts in the context of brain development, the ex-philosophy student found herself once again immersed in the study of the brain. Renata recalls her PhD in the Fishell lab with exuberant joy. There, Renata became interested in how genetic programs influence the maturation and identity of interneurons, an extremely diverse class of neurons that have complicated interactions with and influences on neural circuitry.
To investigate the interactions of genes and cell fate on interneurons, for her PhD thesis, Renata created one of the first large-scale genetic profiles of cortical interneurons. Along with confirming certain expected gene expression patterns, Renata’s genetic screen revealed a multitude of novel genes expressed by interneurons that inspired many projects, both in the Fishell lab and in the broader field of interneuron development. Her successful PhD did not come easily, however. It was filled with frustrations that come with building and troubleshooting a new technique. It was in these moments of self-doubt that Renata fully appreciated Gord's mentorship abilities. To Renata, Gord’s infectious enthusiasm for science, his cheerleading, and positive attitude helped motivate her to persist. His mentorship shaped her into the scientist she is today, and she hopes to take on the role of enthusiastic cheerleader herself as she begins to grow her own lab.
By the end of her PhD, Renata became more interested in how interneurons integrate into cortical circuitry, and how they affect the functions of those circuits. This led her to join Dr. Jess Cardin’s lab at Yale University, as Dr. Cardin’s first postdoctoral fellow. In the Cardin lab, Renata became a systems neuroscientist, integrating her interneuron genetics background with the study of their function and contribution to circuits in the visual cortex. She partnered with one of her dearest friends, Martin Vinck, to investigate how populations of cortical neurons encode visual information. They showed that fluctuations in the behavioral or arousal state influence spontaneous and visually evoked cortical activity, and that vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP)-expressing inhibitory neurons are critical for visual processing and visual perception. During her postdoc Renata learned several crucial lessons from Jess, including how to manage the challenges of starting a lab and how to be brave in taking scientific risks.
Renata started her own lab at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 2018. She is interested in understanding how specific neuronal cell types and associated circuits orchestrate the processing of sensory information and relate to behavior. Renata’s lab investigates how postnatal developmental phases shape the way that visual information is represented in the mature brain, how sensory information is integrated with internal brain states and is used to guide behavior, and how these processes are affected in psychiatric disorders like autism and schizophrenia. Renata’s lab also studies the mechanisms by which contextual modulations of visual processing are implemented within local cortical circuits by addressing how global behavioral or arousal state (how alert am I?), sensory predictions (which stimuli do I expect?), and top-down attention (what is relevant to me?) are implemented at the microcircuit level.
Renata’s natural curiosity, inspiration, and supportive mentors have propelled her to become the PI of her own lab. She is a mother of three young children, who she warmly calls “my little trouble makers.” Balancing her family responsibilities with her recently acquired “lab family” responsibilities is tough—because it feels like there’s never enough time to dedicate to either, but she has developed strategies for managing it all. Moreover, balancing academia and raising children has some advantages. Maintaining her youthful sense of curiosity has helped her in mentoring her children to be critical thinkers as well as in fostering a sense of excitement and discovery in her lab members. Undoubtedly, Renata's contagious curiosity will continue to inspire those that cross her path for years to come.
Listen to Daniela’s interview with Renata on December 22nd, 2019 below!
