Contact information
Research groups
Colleges
Xiao (Cher) Zhou
DPhil Student
Under the joint supervision of Professor Vladyslav Vyazovskiy (DPAG), Professor David Bannerman (Experimental Psychology), and Professor Esther Becker (NDCN), I am investigating the relationship between spontaneous daily torpor, sleep, and neural plasticity in Djungarian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus). My goal is to explore torpor and neural plasticity from structural, behavioural, and molecular perspectives, utilising various methodologies including serial block face electron microscopy, somatosensory and olfactory tasks, immunohistochemistry, and western blotting.
Prior to my time at Oxford, I earned a BSc (Hons) degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge in 2021. Under the guidance of Dr Julija Krupic, I investigated the dynamic activity of place cells in the hippocampal CA1 region of tetrode-implanted mice in response to novel spatial cues in a virtual reality setting.
My DPhil project is generously funded by the AMED Moonshot Research and Development program.