When you are born and raised in Breza, a small town central Bosnia & Herzegovina town, reaching Oxford University to work with leading neuroscience researchers in better understanding the long-term effects of psychedelic drugs on neuroplasticity may seem impossible. Not for Merima Šabanović! She didn't allow her surroundings to limit her potential and she knew that to reach her goals she would need to keep moving. Merima graduated from the First Bosniak High School, Sarajevo, in 2014 where she undertook the Cambridge International Curriculum. As one of the best students she went on to pursue her Bachelor’s Degree at the New York University in Abu Dhabi, graduating in 2018 with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology, majoring in Cognitive Science. During her time at NYU Abu Dhabi, Merima had the opportunity to work as a lab researcher at University College London in 2017, as well as the Undergraduate Research Assistant at her university for three years. In 2018, she was accepted to pursue her Masters and Doctoral Degrees in Neuroscience at the University of Oxford, where she’s working on her PhD research today. Merima’s PhD research is focused on long-term effects of psychedelic drugs on neuroplasticity.

We discuss with Merima her pathway to Oxford, how she overcame the challenges in front of her, what neuroscience is and what it takes to undertake cutting edge research at this level. Merima guides us through her research by explaining how experiments involving psychedelic drugs are performed and what exactly they do to the brain in the short term and long term. We also discuss the importance of science communication and the role each of us play in disseminating research in a way that the average citizen will understand the key takeaways.

Merima is one of Bosnia & Herzegovina up and coming science superstars, tune in to this episode and get to find out why!