Dr. Janine Kwapis

This episode features Rianne’s interview with Janine who studies processes of memory formation.

As an undergraduate, Dr. Janine Kwapis had some trepidation about starting a class in biological psychiatry, having been warned to avoid it because it was “too hard”. Today, however, she’s grateful she wasn’t scared away, as it was that course that helped her discover a lifelong interest in the biological mechanisms of memory. Janine is now an Assistant Professor of Biology at Penn State University, where her lab investigates the epigenetic and molecular processes that underlie memory formation, storage, and updating. While Janine imagines she could have been happy in a range of different careers outside of academic research, she loves having a job where every day is an opportunity to learn something new about the brain.