Christina is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, SC, USA. She studies the neurobiological mechanisms at the intersection of stress and alcohol use disorder in mouse models. She completed her Psychology PhD in the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. She loves brains and is particularly interested in understanding how proteins and circuits are changed with stress and drugs of abuse exposure by using tools like fiber photometry, DREADDs, RNA interference, RT-qPCR, conditioned place preference, nitrate/nitrite assays, ELISAs, IHC, and ISH. In her sparse free time, she loves hiking, video games, and watching movies with her husband, cats, and dog.

Articles by Christina Lebonville

RNA in situ hybridization - Human Melanoma FFPE Tissue Section (KRT5 and Housekeeping Gene)

Are You In(to) Situ? – Putting Together Your First RNAscope® Assay

You are thinking of trying out RNAscope®. After all, RNAscope® holds promise for increasing the sensitivity and specificity of your in situ hybridization. Yet, getting started can be a little overwhelming with the numerous kits and reagents available in the RNAscope product line. Here’s an overview of your options to help you navigate to the…

Introduction to DREADDs – Control Over G Protein Coupled Receptor GPCR signaling

Gee, Protein, What Do You Do? Manipulation of a system under investigation is the backbone of experimentation. A new tool called Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADDs) allows us to hijack cell signaling and study cell function within living organisms. Like its cousin technique, optogenetics, DREADD technology uses a viral vector to introduce…

Quantifying & Assessing RNA: TE or not TE?

Quantifying & Assessing RNA: TE or not TE?

Red Pill or Blue? Carrying out science often involves many difficult decisions! I see it all the time in RNA protocols – the “gracious” option of using purified water or Tris-EDTA (TE) buffer to dissolve (or elute, if you are using column purification) RNA. When I was trained in assessing RNA using UV spectrophotometry, graduate…

reframing

Reframing – A Way to Cope With Stress in Graduate School

I’m an anxiety-ridden stress ball 90% of the time. Graduate school only amplifies my nervous energy, and it’s a struggle. However, recently, while I rushed to catch a bus, I had a life altering experience using a mental technique called “reframing” From “Flipping Out” to Flipping the Switch to “Cool” It rained heavily. I balanced…

sensitive qPCR

SPUD’s Your Bud When it Comes to Sensitive qPCR

There’s piloting a brand new technique for the first time. Then, there’s jumping through hoops trying to get an established lab technique to work. The former, in contrast to the latter, is expected to be fraught with hardships. Yet troubleshooting an old lab technique that isn’t working anymore, is frustrating at a whole new level….