Gloria Choi

Gloria Bohyun Choi is an American neuroscientist and neuroimmunologist and the Samuel A. Goldblith Career Development Professor in the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Choi is known for elucidating the role of the immune system in the development of autism spectrum disorder-like phenotypes. Her lab currently explores how sensory experiences drive internal states and behavioural outcomes through probing the olfactory system as well as the neuroimmune system.

Early life and education

Choi was born in South Korea and immigrated to America in her teenage years. Her family settled in Southern California, where Choi developed a liking and interest in math and science because these subjects were easier to grasp while she was adjusting to the language barrier. Choi especially took a liking to biology throughout high school and continued to pursue biological studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

Since Choi had an early interest in applications of her studies, she joined the lab of Richard Harland to conduct laboratory research in molecular and cellular biology. Though she was just an undergraduate researcher, Choi became second author on a paper published in 2001 showing that the neural plate specifies somite size in the developing frog. Interestingly, Choi recalls a moment in her undergraduate degree where she asked her mother what she thought about her switching her focus to accounting. The lack of response on the other end of the phone further motivated Choi to stick to her path in biology, so much so in fact that after she received her bachelor's degree from UCB, she pursued a PhD in Biological Sciences at Caltech.