Mariela Marques

Why FSU?

I chose the FSU Program in Neuroscience because of my mentor, Dr. Roberto Vincis. As an undergraduate here at FSU, I was fortunate enough to work in his lab as a DIS student and began working on an independent project. I decided to stay in his lab to pursue my PhD degree in order to continue my project while also taking advantage of the collaborative environment between the vast number of other chemosensory scientists here at FSU.

Importance and/or impact of research and work

My research focuses on the role of stimulus temperature on salt taste detection, discrimination, preference, and concentration coding in the gustatory cortex of mice. Temperature is an intra-oral cue relevant to food preference and nutrition; while it is intimately related to the chemosensory features of food and beverages, we have surprisingly very little knowledge on its role in taste perception. Thus, my research combines rigorous hypothesis-based behavioral testing and neural recording to carefully evaluate how temperature alters the taste detection and quality discriminability of sodium and non-sodium salts and their neural representations. I hope my project provides a comprehensive investigation on how temperature operates on sensory processes associated with taste and paves the way for future investigations on the neural circuits and operational principles underlying thermogustation in behaving mice.

Career aspirations

My long-term career goal is to become an independent researcher studying ingestive behavior and taste using cutting edge behavioral, electrophysiological, and computational neuroscience approaches. I want to establish and run a laboratory working to reveal the neurological processes underlying motivated eating behavior, the sensory-discriminative components of taste, taste preferences, cue-taste-associations, and the mechanisms that underline disordered eating. Specifically, I want to focus on understanding more about what drives eating behavior, the conditions in which foods and beverages could become more or less perceived and/or preferred, and cues that can initiate food seeking and/or avoidance. These can all be important factors that can lead to the development and/or maintenance of disordered eating behaviors seen in eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa.

Advice for anyone considering graduate school

My advice for anyone considering graduate school would be to have a strong sense of why you want to continue toward the pursuit of a higher degree. Graduate school can be very demanding, requiring you to be flexible and challenging you to experience issues and problem-solving. Graduate school is a unique experience to everyone, so don't compare yourself to others. It is not a competition or a race. Remember that you are here for yourself, so take your time to enjoy the journey of learning while increasing the skills that will lead you toward your next career step.

Accomplishments during graduate career

During my time at FSU, I have received the Neuroscience Fellowship to support my first two years, the institutional National Research Service Award (NRSA) FSU Chemosensory Training Program (CTP) T32 grant to support my third year, and the Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Individual Predoctoral Fellowship (F31) to support the remainder of my dissertation research. I have had the privilege of presenting my research at multiple different occasions, including at the Cannabis Clinical Outcomes Research Conference (CCORC), the FSU CTP Retreat, the Cellular and Molecular Biology Works in Progress Seminar Series, the Association for Chemoreception Sciences (AChemS) Conference, and The International Symposium on Olfaction and Taste (ISOT) in Reykjavik, Iceland.