我们很高兴介绍我们最新的分析师新兴调查员，阿什利罗斯！

阿什利罗斯is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Cincinnati (UC) and a member of the Neuroscience Department and Center for Pediatric Neuroscience. She received her BS in Chemistry in 2009 at Christopher Newport University and was an undergraduate intern at NASA Langley Research Center for 3 years working with Drs. Margaret Pippin and Gao Chen. She received a PhD in Chemistry in Dr. Jill Venton’s lab at the University of Virginia in 2014. In 2014, she became a post-doc in Dr. Rebecca Pompano’s lab at the University of Virginia and was an American Association of Immunologists (AAI) Careers in Immunology Fellow. Since 2017, she has been at UC working on developing electrochemical and microfluidic tools to investigate neurochemical regulated immunity.

Read Ashley’s Emerging Investigator Series paper “Subsecond detection of guanosine using fast-scan cyclic voltammetry“在以下采访中了解更多关于她的信息：

Your recent Emerging Investigator Series paper focuses on subsecond detection of guanosine using fast-scan cyclic voltammetry. How has your research evolved from your first article to this most recent article?
Over the last 10 years, I have focused on developing bioanalytical tools to study complex chemical signaling. My early work in graduate school focused on developing electrochemical tools to study the other important purine, adenosine. Specifically, I developed a new electrode modification procedure which combined carbon nanotubes and Nafion to enhance adenosine detection and I developed a new waveform for fast-scan cyclic voltammetry. My research soon evolved from developing novel tools to studying the release and function of rapid adenosine signaling in the brain. I switched gears quite a bit during my post-doc, where I focused on developing microfluidic tools to locally stimulate live lymph node slices to study the importance of the spatial complexity of the immune system and to quantitate cytokine diffusion within live tissue. My current research interests are focused on developing tools to study communication between the brain and the immune system. This particular paper went back to my roots a bit. We are really interested in guanosine signaling because of its rich involvement in neuroinflammatory processes; however, detecting millisecond changes in guanosine signaling in real-time is not possible with current technology. With FSCV, we are able to explore that rapid mode of signaling.

What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment?
I am very excited about the possibility of using FSCV to study brain-immune communication. How the brain and not only its immune system but the peripheral immune system communicates is not well understood, in part due to current technology. We are excited about all the new tools we are developing in the lab to help solve this technological barrier.

在您看来，鸟苷检测的快速扫描循环伏安法方法的最大优势是什么？
Fast-scan cyclic voltammetry has excellent temporal and spatial resolution. With this technique, we can make measurements every 100 ms within discrete regions of the brain! Because we get a cyclic voltammogram, we are able to help distinguish what we are measuring. In the case of guanosine, a rapid extracellular signaling profile exists but the current techniques in the field to study guanosine signaling do not have the temporal resolution to capture it. With FSCV, we are hoping we can learn some interesting things about guanosine signaling in the brain!

您如何发现您的研究最具挑战性？
生物学！大脑和免疫系统如此复杂！您可以在替补席上开发一种技术，但一旦它放入一个复杂的矩阵，就会失败。此外，预测研究复杂生物系统时的期望真的很难。我们制作假设，但我告诉我的学生不要爱上这些想法！当您开始进行实际测量时，一切都可以改变！

你如何度过你的业余时间？
I am a mother of two beautiful children, 6 year old Haylee and 3 year old Elijah. My husband Ronnie and I definitely spend most of our spare time with them. My daughter is in ballet, so chauffeuring her around to ballet practice and rehearsals is fun! I also enjoy singing in my spare time. I have been singing and performing since high school so it is definitely a nice “outlet” from work!

如果你不是科学家，你会选择哪个职业？
I have always loved to perform whether it be in singing groups or in musicals, so probably a performer! But more realistically, maybe a paediatrician!

Can you share one piece of career-related advice or wisdom with other early career scientists?
I was given this advice and I think it is so valuable: In the early years, be in the lab with your students! When you are starting out, you are the expert and can help not only set the example in the lab but it helps foster a productive environment early on.