Allen applies the same unconventional attitude to her neuroscience research as she does to rock climbing: Failure is not an option, but falling is part of the journey
Story by Ed Dorsch
Photos by Dusty Whitaker and courtesy of Angelique Allen
October 14, 2026
In celebration of 150 years, the University of Oregon is featuring portraits of 150 Ducks who are unstoppable - who embody the enduring strength and spirit of the university. OregonNews will profile a handful of them, including Angelique Allen, who explores neuroscience with the same grit and determination she brings while scaling a sheer cliffside.
Angelique Allen enjoys exploring rock walls as much as octopus brains. For the University of Oregon doctoral student, climbing and neuroscience share striking similarities.
"You're deliberately setting yourself up to fall," Allen said. "You're not going to complete a challenging climb on the first attempt, and research always includes setbacks. For both, you plan to fail, trust the process and just keep going."
Allen and her colleagues in Cris Niell's lab in the Institute of Neuroscience study how octopuses perceive their visual world and behave in response to what they see. Allen aspires to create a new scientific tool kit for studying these eight-armed creatures and other cephalopods.
That class of animals holds tremendous, untapped potential. Big discoveries have been made (some of them here at the UO) with fruit flies, zebrafish and other species because neuroscientists have tools to measure and manipulate their neural activity.
Angelique Allen at work in Cris Niell's lab
For various reasons, they're still cracking the code on cephalopods. Allen is working with researchers at the UO and Johns Hopkins University to develop innovative methods for studying the octopus brain using fluorescent proteins that glow bright green when neurons respond to black-and-white movies of circles and squares.
That would provide a vital tool for neuroscientists to explore uncharted waters, such as the extraordinary nervous system of the octopus.
One fascinating example: The octopus brain controls the color of its skin, allowing it to blend into its background faster than the blink of an eye. But octopuses have only one type of photoreceptor, which makes them colorblind according to conventional definitions.
Unlike humans, octopuses can also perceive the direction a light wave oscillates, known as polarization.
Allen explores the differences and similarities between the human and octopus brain. Those species evolved along separate genetic pathways, but they both have big, complex brains, eyeballs and visual processing systems.
Scientists hope to gain valuable insights by studying those similarities, differences and how both species evolved to solve problems in different ways.
Angelique Allen discusses how octopuses process what they see in this video produced by the Museum of Science
Exploring new waters
Growing up in Kansas, Allen was insatiably curious about plants and animals. At the University of Missouri, she studied biology and began to learn what researchers do.
Science, she came to realize, is not simply a static body of knowledge to learn so you can become a doctor or an engineer. Science is an ongoing mission to test ideas and expand knowledge.
At some point in the past, someone researched and tested all the fascinating facts she was learning in her science classes, Allen recalls thinking. What if she could someday unearth new discoveries as they had?
Allen decided to spend the rest of her life exploring the frontiers of knowledge. That was the first of several stars lining up.
She was also taking a 16-week scuba diving course. Then for extra credit in a science class, she attended a seminar on octopus senses led by a doctoral student who now sits on Allen's dissertation committee.
"Asking her to be on my committee was a full circle moment," Allen said. "She was the one who made me realize I could study octopuses, combining my scientific interests with this underwater world I fell in love with around the time we first met."
In 2021, Allen moved to Oregon to start her graduate studies at the Niell lab, one of just a few in the country that conducted this kind of octopus research and was accepting new students. Allen hadn't seen a live octopus until she started as a doctoral student at the UO. This year, she finally realized her longtime dream of discovering one in the wild.
"Spotting the animal that I normally see in the lab, octopus bimaculoides, in the wild was incredible," Allen said. "Getting to watch them move and change color in their natural environment was mesmerizing. It felt magical!"
Making a big splash for scientists
When she's not exploring tide pools, working in the lab or clinging to a sheer rock face, Allen runs the organization she founded, Dreams of a Scientist. Its mission is to bring science into people's daily lives through art and storytelling.
The group started with Allen's idea for a children's book, which was recently published. Anneliese Bishop-Perdue was coauthor and Halle Lindstrom illustrated the book. Both were UO marine biology majors and graduated in 2024.
Creating "Dreams of a Scientist: Lessons from the Sea" involved interviewing marine biologists from around the world. The book highlights their lives and research.
Through these stories, Allen hopes future generations will be captivated, like she was, by the curious researchers who made discoveries now widely accepted as scientific facts. She also aims to promote diversity in science by portraying many different researchers and increasing representation.
While working on the book, Allen began finding other ways to teach people about science research, including social media and special events for museums, aquariums and bookstores.
She also works with breweries, organizing trivia nights and designing beer labels that showcase science. After all, she says, there's no beer without chemistry and biology. For Allen, it's another way to celebrate science in a fun, surprising way that reaches new audiences.
Allen plans to continue promoting science communications after completing her Ph.D. Her team is working on a new board game that introduces players to notable scientists. And, of course, she'll continue her research journey, no matter where that leads.
Even if she doesn't know exactly what she will reveal, the pursuit of scientific knowledge is worth it, Allen said. She points to GLP-1, a hormone found in lizard spit that's now used for diabetes and weight-loss drugs.
"You never know what new knowledge will be used for or how it will help society," Allen said. "It's like rock climbing. You hope the next hold is good enough, figure out a way and keep going up."
Fast Facts
Education
While earning her bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Missouri, Allen was a McNair undergraduate researcher. She's currently a UO biology Ph.D. candidate. As a UO graduate student, Allen received a competitive Gilliam Fellowship from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Bringing science into daily life
Dreams of a Scientist is both a nonprofit organization Allen founded and the title of a children's book she coauthored with Anneliese Bishop Purdue. The organization's mission is to bring science into people's daily lives through art and storytelling.
Community outreach
How Allen spreads the word about science: Social media; special events for museums, aquariums and bookstores; projects with breweries such as trivia nights and beer labels showcasing science; and a board game about notable scientists.
