Albatool is a 5th year Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior major and a Psychology minor from Saudi Arabia. She moved from Saudi Arabia to the United States in 2019 for her undergraduate education at UC Davis. Albatool’s field of research is neurobiology of pair bonding in the Bales Lab.

The Bales Lab studies neurobiology and physiology of pair bonding in socially monogamous species. The lab mainly works with titi monkeys, lined seahorses and prairie voles. Albatool got involved with the lab through Handshake, where they were looking for a lab assistant for their seahorse project. She first started out with maintaining the seahorses vivarium, by doing some cleaning, general husbandry, and helping with some data collection. Over time she became more involved in research and started working with Prairie voles. Albatool has been working in the lab for over 2 ½ years. 

Albatool’s role in the lab includes general husbandry of prairie voles and seahorses, assisting with behavioral tests such as Barnez maze and Partner Preference Test, helping with tissue and data collection, assisting with training undergraduate interns in the lab, and working on her research project. Albatool’s research project is focused on studying primary cilia in the brian. She is mainly investigating the changes in cilia-related genes as a result of pair bonding in prairie voles. Her project aims to help us understand the roles the primary cilia play in the plasticity associated with social bond formation.

The most challenging aspect of Albatool’s research is troubleshooting when it comes to issues with molecular work. And the most fun part about Albatool’s research is observing the animals as they learn and react to their environment.  

Albatool plans on working in the industry after graduation with plans of graduate school far in the future.