Léa Becker, PhD

Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: July 2026

Léa was born and raised in Strasbourg, France, right at the border with Germany, where she obtained a Bachelor of Science, a Master of Science in Neuroscience, and a Doctorate in Neuroscience — all from Strasbourg University. As a graduate student in the Yalcin Lab, Léa studied the contribution of the amygdalo-cingulate pathway in depression and its comorbidity with chronic pain and found that depression in humans and depression-related behaviors in mice were strongly associated with impaired myelination in the brain. Léa then had the unique opportunity to be a visiting scientific consultant at the Madagascar Biodiversity Center to help supervise MSc students and lead workshops on scientific writing and communication. She was also lucky enough to join on a few field trips and see some wild lemurs.

In October 2022, Léa moved to St. Louis for her postdoctoral training at WashU Medicine in the McCall Lab. Her research focuses on understanding how traumatic events such as pain or substance use disorder change the way organisms cope with their environment. Her current work aims to determine the effect of fentanyl withdrawal on pain and negative affect and the role of noradrenergic modulation of glial cells in those behavioral changes.

Outside of the lab, Léa enjoys hiking across Missouri and national/state parks, playing board games with her friends, and trying to improve her very limited art skills.