Gia LaSalle ’23

Major: Biology with minor in Chemistry
Project: Changes in Anuran Behavior and Neurodevelopment from Hatching through Metamorphosis
Advisor: Sara McClelland, assistant professor of biological sciences

As her first experience doing solo research and working with brains, Gia LaSalle ’23 developed her own project on the behavior and brain development of anurans, organisms comprising an order of amphibians. It’s a subject that’s received little research attention. LaSalle sought to define differences between the stages of life that anurans proceed through.

Her research unfolded in two parts. LaSalle first implemented behavioral tests on her subjects, examining behaviors relating to visual processing and predator response. She then dissected the anurans’ brains to quantify morphological changes within the brain through different life stages, a process that required measuring different parts of the brain.

Her research progressed despite a major setback. “I had to start over,” LaSalle explains. “We had initially started this in the spring semester, but sadly the animals died, and we had to begin again; however, with the limited time frame, we could not do the original plan of raising eggs, so animals had to be collected in the field.”

This obstacle didn’t prevent LaSalle from ultimately gathering data, which she continued to analyze in an independent study this past year.

“This was the first project I worked on alone,” LaSalle says, emphasizing how her advisor, Sara McClelland, assistant professor of biological sciences, was supportive in terms of both learning new techniques and interpreting results. “She helped me connect the dots about the findings and what they might mean.”

LaSalle presented her research at the Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists in the summer of 2022. She continued her work in an independent study and thesis.