I am an Assistant Adjunct Professor in the department of Integrative Biology and Physiology at UCLA.

In the van Veen lab we are applying systems neuroendocrinology approaches to questions in women’s health. We are interested in how changes in brain chemistry affect neural circuit responses, producing physiological outputs. Specifically, we are looking at how the constantly changing hormonal milieu influences homeostasis in the context of normal estrogen cycling, menopause, and the impact of estrogen receptor agonists and antagonists.

To answer these questions we use awesome tools designed by our friends and idols, like single cell RNA sequencing, stereotaxic microinjection, and high-res microscopy. We also develop our own tools when questions can’t be answered by existing technology. We have designed a virally delievered fluorescent estrogen receptor reporter (NeuroSee-ER) to study the response of individual neuronal-subtyoes in the hypothalamus to oscillating estrogen levels.