Congratulations to Laura West, Dr. Day’s MS student, who won 2nd place in the Mississippi Academy of Sciences Neuroscience Division for her poster presentation in Biloxi from March 20-April 1st!
Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Links to Previous Showcase Speakers!
In case you missed it, here are the links to listen to our last two showcase speakers!
Thinking of attending the first ever virtual SICB 2021?
Thinking of attending the first ever virtual SICB 2021? Meet some of our symposia organizers by clicking here.
6th annual Neuroscience Research Showcase WINNERS!!
CONGRATULATIONS to the following winners of the poster competition for the 6th annual Neuroscience Research Showcase!!
Graduate Student Winners:
1st Place: Alaa N. Qrareya, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Advisor: Jason Paris.
“HIV-1 Tat Promotes Age-Related Cognitive, Anxiety-like, and Antinociceptive Impairments in Mice that are Moderated by Aging Endocrine Status .”
Honorable Mention: Salahuddin Mohammed, Pharmacology, Advisor: Jason Paris.
“HIV-1 Tat Dysregulates the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Stress Axis and Potentiates Oxycodone-mediated Psychomotor and Anxiety-like Behavior of Male Mice”.
Undergraduate Student Winners:
1st Place (2nd Year in a row!): Nikki Sullivan, Biology Major with Neuroscience & Chemistry minors, Advisor: Alberto del Arco.
“Effects of repeated intermittent episodes of social stress on the acquisition and extinction of a reward-seeking task.”
2nd Place: Zahra Jiwani, Catherine Kania, and Perry Mullins, Biology Majors with Neuroscience minor (ZJ), Advisor: Lainy Day.
“Exploration of cerebellar function in Taeniopygia guttata using spatial maze and log roll.”
Honorable Mention: Luke Nguyen, Biochemistry Major, Advisor: Lainy Day.
“Novel understanding of avian biomechanics and sonations usinghigh-speed video of the white-ruffed manakin (Corapipo altera altera).”
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Despite a global pandemic, we carried on online and had 13 presenters and 11 separate posters. Posters with citation details and filmed zoom presentations will soon be up on eGrove, details to follow!
Special thanks for our judges: Tossi Ikuta, Nicole Ashpole, Jason Paris, Carolyn Higdon, Kristie Willett, Xin Ye, and Robert Doerksen
Dr. Frans de Waal, March 4th
Dr. Frans de Waal will be speaking on March 4th at 4pm in 134 Brevard Hall.
Click here to see a bigger image.
“Lando: Star Wars smuggler or possible ally against Alzheimer’s disease?”
https://blogs.stjude.org/progress/lando-process-possible-ally-against-alzheimers-disease/
Neuroscience Minors complete Ronald McNair Summer Program
Scholars in the Ronald McNair Summer Program at the University of Mississippi have just finished 8 weeks of intense research and academic education. We are proud to have our own LeMarcus Echoles complete his manuscript, “Sex Differences in the Role of Estradiol on Recovery after Cerebellar Lesion in the Zebra Finch” with his mentor, Dr. Lainy B. Day, Director of the Neuroscience Minor, and the support of Biology PhD candidate Chyna-Rae Dearman, and INBRE Scholar Jervia Mia Powell. Manuscripts will be published in the McNair program report in Fall. Mr. Echoes is a rising junior Psychology Major and Neuroscience Minor on the Dean’s List.
Echoles is joined by fellow McNair scholar, Dejun Jackson, who has completed a manuscript entitled, “Neuroprotective Effects of Estrane and Pregnane Steroids in Response to Combined Exposure to an HIV-1 Protein and Oxycodone” under the tutelage of Dr. Jason Paris, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology. Mr. Jackson is a rising senior Psychology Major, a Neuroscience Minor, and is a member of the Sally M. Barksdale Honors College.
Neuroscientist is Keynote Speaker for Brain Awareness Week
Vanderbilt assistant professor Erin Calipari to address opioid addiction
FEBRUARY 8, 2019 BY
Erin Calipari, assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the Vanderbilt University Brain Institute
A leading neuroscientist will discuss the impact of opioids and other drugs on the human brain during Brain Awareness Week, set for Feb. 19-21, at the University of Mississippi.
Erin Calipari, assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the Vanderbilt University Brain Institute, is the keynote speaker for the first two days of a three-day series of events. All events are free and open to the public.
“Dr. Calipari will illustrate how drug abuse changes the activity of the brain to promote drug-seeking behavior,” said Alberto Del Arco, associate professor of health, exercise science and recreation management and coordinator of the week’s activities. “Dr. Calipari utilizes cutting-edge research techniques to look at specific populations of neurons inside the brain of animals and determine how addiction changes their brains.”
Each of Calipari’s presentations will focus on the environmental and biological factors that explain why some people are more vulnerable to developing addiction than others. She also will discuss how drugs change the brain in a way that makes people choose drugs at the expense of other things in their lives.
Calipari’s first appearance is Tuesday (Feb. 19) at the Oxford Science Cafe at Uptown Coffee, 265 North Lamar Blvd. The program, titled “The Neuroscience of Addiction,” begins at 6 p.m. Science Cafe sponsors are the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Women in Physics and Office of the Provost.
“Drug addiction has always been a major public health concern, but in recent years we have seen overdose deaths that are higher than we have ever experienced,” Calipari said. “Right now, it is particularly important to engage in science communication in order to help people understand how drug addiction develops and what factors contribute to addiction vulnerability.”
By using animal models that allow subjects to “self-administer” drugs, Calipari can determine which cells in the brain are controlling their decision to take the drug and then silence or activate these neurons to change the way animals behave in their environment.
“By combining complex behavioral models with tools that allow us to record and manipulate different cells and circuits in the brain awake and behaving animals, we can determine how these cells help animals make decisions and develop pharmacological tools to promote abstinence and prevent relapse in addicted individuals,” she said.
Calipari’s keynote address is 3 p.m. Wednesday (Feb. 20) in Coulter Hall, Room 211. She plans to speak on how women are particularly vulnerable to the addictive properties of cocaine and how differences in the dopamine system underlie these effects. Audience members will get free erasers, brochures and a chance to win two of Calipari’s best-selling books.
Brain Awareness Week ends Thursday (Feb. 21) with a research showcase organized by Lainy Day, director of the neuroscience minor in the Department of Biology. Posters made by Ole Miss students minoring in neuroscience will be on display from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Bryant Hall gallery.
A closing seminar begins at 4 p.m. in Bryant Hall, Room 111. John Godwin, professor in the North Carolina State University Department of Biological Sciences, will address “Beneath the Waves: The Science of Sex Change.”
The annual program is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts, School of Applied Sciences, Graduate School and Office of Research and Sponsored Programs.
Brain Awareness Week is a global campaign to increase public awareness of the progress and benefits of brain research. For more information about Brain Awareness Week, go to http://www.dana.org/ and https://brainstorm267.wordpress.com/.
For more on Oxford Science Cafe programs, go to https://www.phy.olemiss.edu/oxfordsciencecafe. For more information about the Department of Physics and Astronomy, visit https://www.olemiss.edu/depts/physics_and_astronomy or call 662-915-5311.