Researcher Enrique Servando Sánchez García from UCA recently hosted Marta Diaz Garcia, a third-year student of Psychology from the University of Cadiz, as part of a practical training programme.
Recently, the Neuropsychopharmacology and Psychobiology research group at UCA, led by Esther Berrocoso, hosted Marta Díaz García for an internship as part of the Psychology faculty’s practical training programme at the University of Cádiz. Guided by the researcher Enrique Sánchez, she learned about photopharmacology and topics related to the PHOTOTHERAPORT project.
During her stay from 3 April to 2 May, she worked closely with other researchers in the group, focusing on the peripheral implantation of photosensitive devices being developed in the project. Specifically, she assessed nociception, hyperalgesia and allodynia in response to various stimuli (mechanical, temperature, etc.) using behavioural tests on rodents. The ultimate goal was to produce analgesia by interrupting pain signals at peripheral and spinal cord levels.
From a psychological perspective, her work mainly involved inducing an inflammatory pain model in rodents and analysing behavioural tests. As part of her daily laboratory tasks, she performed animal maintenance (tagging and weighing), verified light emission from the PhotoTheraPorts, and assisted with the induction of the inflammatory model. She also monitored the animals’ wellbeing and carried out postoperative care to identify adverse effects of the implants. Finally, she took part in analysing the data generated by the experiments. One of the things that impressed Marta the most was studying nocifensive behaviour through animal models.
This proved to be an invaluable experience, broadening Marta’s perspective on scientific research and encouraging her critical thinking skills.
