Christina Hung

Hi! My name is Christina Hung, a graduate student on the seahorse/vole side of the lab. Using prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster), my research interests center around the neurobiology of non-reproductive social relationships, such as same-sex sibling bonds and alloparental care.

I began working with voles in early 2019, while I was an undergraduate in the Beery Lab at Smith College. In the Beery Lab, I assisted with projects studying same-sex peer relationships and group living in both meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus), a seasonally social species of vole, and prairie voles. While at Smith, I also completed an honors thesis project in the Mangiamele Lab, where I used machine learning to examine foot-flagging behavior in the Bornean rock frog (Staurois parvus).

After graduating from Smith College in 2022, I worked as a technician in the Schafer Lab and SCOPE light microscopy core facility at UMass Chan Medical School. In the Schafer Lab and the SCOPE, I worked on projects that used spatial transcriptomics (mainly MERFISH) to answer questions ranging from the role of microglia in neurodegenerative diseases to gene expression patterns in skin. In 2023, I joined the Bales Lab at UC Davis as a graduate student in the Psychology program.

Outside of the lab, I enjoy creative writing, playing video games, and crochet. Please feel free to contact me at clhung@ucdavis.edu with any questions!