Sheila Steiner is a 3rd year PhD student in the UCSD Neurosciences Graduate Program. She is co-advised by Dr. Rusty Gage and Dr. Carol Marchetto. She uses stem cell-derived neurons to understand how energy metabolism changes across neuronal development and neuronal aging in humans as compared to other primate species. She is broadly interested in whether there is a trade-off between both humans' unique level of cognitive functioning and humans' relative longevity compared to other primates and our susceptibility to certain neurodegenerative conditions.