I grew up in northern California, played soccer, and thought I wanted to work on Capitol Hill when I grew up. When I got to college at Penn, however, a course on 'Law, Ethics, and Neuroscience' prompted me to ditch my poli sci plans and major in neuroscience. I've studied hangry mice, the molecular basis of why daughters act like their mothers, the genome-wide impact of stress and drugs of abuse in the brain, and now how stress during development changes brain development itself. I'm still politically active, and now I play soccer with my two young boys. 

Pena Lab
 

Department page for Catherine Pena