NIVRETTA THATRA

SCI COMM @ IRES | Bioinformatics MSc from UBC | Neuroscience BS from UW | nivretta@gmail.com

I've conducted and communicated about academic research since 2009.

Please click here to download my complete CV.

• August 2020 - present

  Communications Manager

  UBC's Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability

  I broaden the reach of IRES's research by writing, posting, and sharing the department's interdisciplinary efforts towards a more sustainable future.

  
  Editing samples:
  The UN just recognized access to a healthy environment is a universal human right. It’s time for Canada to take action The Globe and Mail, 2022
  New stormwater infrastructure is needed for Canadian cities to handle increased urban flooding The Conversation CA, 2024
  Why all human rights depend on a healthy environment The Conversation CA, 2020

  
  Visual samples (click each to expand):

  

  Supporting Dr. David Boyd, UN Special Rapporteur 2018-24

  

  1 of 4 interviews on the career paths of researchers

  

  Supporting a publication arguing for *restorative* diets for coastal First Nations

  

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• Sept 2016 - April 2019

  Master's in Bioinformatics

  University of British Columbia

  Gsponer and Pavlidis labs
  Thesis: Comparative genome analysis in rodent models of Parkinson's disease and spinocerebellar ataxia

• June 2014 - August 2016

  Research Associate

  Allen Institute for Brain Science

  Digital characterization of mouse visual cortex neurons

  Publications:
  Gouwens, N. W., et al. Classification of morphological and electrophysiological types in mouse visual cortex. Nature Neuroscience 22, pages 1182–1195 (2019)
  Miller, J. et al. Neuropathological and transcriptomic characteristics of the aged brain. eLife, 6. (9 Nov 2017)

• Sept 2009 - May 2014

  Research Associate

  University of Washington

  Starting as a senior in high school, I worked in the Brenowitz lab studying the neural circuitry that controls singing in songbirds. I moved from simple behavioral characterizations to working with brain tissue to immunohistochemistry to running a full fledged experiment investigating neuronal turnover in songbirds.

  Larson TA, Thatra NM, Hou, D., Hu, R. A. & Brenowitz, E. A. Seasonal changes in neuronal turnover in forebrain nucleus in adult songbirds. Journal of Comparative Neurology 527, 767-779 (2019)
  Larson TA, Lent KL, Bammler TK, MacDonald JW, Wood WE, Caras ML, Thatra NM, Budzillo A, Perkel DJ, Brenowitz EA. Network analysis of microRNA and mRNA seasonal dynamics in a highly plastic sensorimotor neural circuit. BMC Genomics (6 November 2015)
  Larson TA, Thatra NM, Lee B, Brenowitz EA. Reactive neurogenesis in response to naturally occurring apoptosis in an adult brain. The Journal of Neuroscience. 34(39): 13066–13076 (24 September 2014)
  Larson TA, Wang TW, Gale SD, Miller KE, Thatra NM, Caras ML, Perkel DJ, Brenowitz EA. Postsynaptic neural activity regulates neuronal addition in the adult avian song control system. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. USA. 110(41) (8 October 2013)

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