Skip to main content
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH HUB UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH HUB
  1. Undergraduate Research
  2. Alumni
  3. Alumni Profiles & News
  4. Bryan Pencyla

I Am a Researcher

thumbnail_IMG_7249.jpg

Bryan Pencyla

Major(s): Cognitive Behavioral Neuroscience

UC San Diego graduation year: 2024

URH Research Programs: 

What did you research while in at UC San Diego?

Through programs such as CAMP and MADURA at UCSD, I was a part of Dr. Chengbiao Wu's Neurodegenerative Diseases lab. I mainly researched Alzheimer's Disease and how overactivation of microglia cells leads to further neurodegeneration. I would explore protein expression of microglia and neurons to elucidate what signaling pathways go awry when these cells are exposed to neurotoxins.

How did your experience in the URH/AEP programs help you on your journey? 
I didn't have funding during Summer 2024 to live in La Jolla and continue my research at Dr. Wu's lab. The Undergraduate Research Hub provided me with the opportunity to work during that summer and resulted in me being able to present at the 2024 UCSD Summer Research Conference and at Gulf Coast Undergraduate Research Symposium located at Rice University. My time as a CAMP student allowed me to gain the tools, experience, and confidence that I needed to properly pursue PHD programs and work towards my ultimate goal of being a principal investigator of my own lab.
Bryan Pencyla PresentingWhat are you doing now? (Career, research, mentoring, etc.) 
In February, I presented my research at the CAMP Symposium at UCI alongside my fellow CAMP scholars. I am still waiting for PHD and post-bac program responses but in the meantime I am transitioning into working full-time in research. I am also a part of UCSD's Mentor Collective Program and hope to further assist studentsstarting out their research journey at UCSD.
What is exciting about what you do professionally, in general or with what you're working on right now? 
I find neuroscience research to be very engaging as there are many focuses and methodologies involved in studying the brain. While I have been conducting in-vitro experiments in the past year, I am excited to hopefully learn and use different methodologies such as fMRI and MEG in my time as a prospective grad student.
Any tips for success for current undergraduate researchers? 
My advice for current undergraduate researchers would be to constantly communicate with your fellow lab members and PI's. I found it very helpful to ask many questions to the people around me as laboratories can be tricky environments to navigate and I feel it's better in the long run to communicate when you're having difficulties and setbacks as these are common occurrences in research.

 Pictures

  • Bryan Pencyla Profile
  • Bryan Pencyla presenting his research