Official Story
Nicolas Tritsch is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neuroscience and Physiology at NYU Langone Health. He graduated from McGill University with a B.S. in Immunology and a M.S. in Neuroscience, and obtained a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University. As a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Bernardo Sabatini at Harvard Medical School, he explored how dopaminergic neurons modulate the activity of brain circuits that control voluntary movements. His laboratory currently focuses on understanding how these circuits orchestrate the initiation, execution and reinforcement of motor actions using a variety of optical, genetic and physiological approaches. He is the recipient of several awards, including the National Institutes of Health Pathway to Independence and New Innovator Awards, the Society for Neuroscience Peter and Patricia Gruber International Research Award and the Alfred P. Sloan Research fellowship in Neuroscience.
Unofficial Story
Nic grew up in a small village in Alsace, France, near the border with Switzerland and Germany, spending the better part of his youth enjoying the outdoors. Nic has been freakin' tall (a scientific term to mean well above average) most of his life, averaging a centimeter of vertical grown per month between the ages of 12 and 15. This was not lost on his sports teachers, who suggested he enlist in an intense sport-study program to play volleyball. And that's how Nic spent most of his time in middle school, ultimately earning an opportunity to train with France's national team near Paris. His dream to become a professional volleyball player were crushed (thankfully) when his family relocated to the US. Upon finishing high school at the French Lycée in New York, Nic didn't have a clear sense for what to do next other than 'go to university'. Having not taken the SAT or postulated to prestigious French preparatory schools, he was resigned to return to France to join a local college when he learned that he could apply to McGill University. A trip to Montreal was all it took to fall in love with the city and convince him to pursue a North American education. He owes passing his first semester classes to another foreign student who actually understood what was being taught and graciously shared her notes with him. It is only in his senior year that Nic discovered his interest for Neuroscience in a guest lecture by our very own Steve Burden. Convinced his CV was unremarkable, he did not apply to US schools and instead joined McGill's graduate program. There, Nic not only realized that he enjoyed bench work, he also learned to play ice hockey during 'lunch breaks' and met his future spouse. But he continued to wonder whether the grass was greener South of the border... Despite having initiated his PhD, he tried his luck (but still not to schools he believed to be out of reach), and eight months later he and his wife would pack their suitcases for Baltimore, where Nic would enjoy a wonderful PhD at Johns Hopkins. He might have not sought a postdoc if it weren't for his mentor, Dwight Bergles, who (kindly) pushed him out of the lab after 6 years. By then, Nic was ready to face his impostor syndrome and he joined the bustling lab of Bernardo Sabatini at Harvard. The next six years would be a whirlwind, beginning the work that continues to keep him busy to this day, being a dad to 3 children, interviewing for jobs and eventually realizing the elusive dream of starting his own lab at a top university. To be continued...