Kaja Jasinska is a Research Scientist at Haskins Laboratories in New Haven, affiliated with Yale University. She completed a PhD in Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Toronto. Kaja is fundamentally interested in the brain systems that support child development. She uses neuroimaging technology in combination with genetic and behavioral analyses to gain new insights into the biological underpinnings of language, reading, and human cognition. She is a Jacobs Foundation early career fellow. Her work, supported by the Jacobs foundation, aims to promote literacy development in children in growing up in rural cocoa producing communities of Cote d’Ivoire, and improve our understanding of the cognitive and brain basis of learning in poverty.