#StudentSpotlight: Mason McCollum is a fifth-year Ph.D. student in the WVU Department of Neuroscience. Mason came to WVU after graduating from Mercyhurst University with a degree in biochemistry. As a member of Dr. Charles Anderson's lab, Mason is currently researching auditory processing, the role of synaptic zinc in the brain, and how it affects neuronal activity. "Specifically, I do in vivo mouse work, so I study how specific neurons and circuits in the brain respond to the auditory context in live mice. I do sound paradigms that mimic real-world experiences. In the real world, we're always in very drastic auditory environments. There are a lot of noises around us, but we can focus on certain things and tune other things out. My research is to gain a better mechanistic understanding of what might happen so that our brain can process and filter sounds." #WVUNeuro #WVUNeurology #WVURNI #Neurology #Neuroscience