The Second Annual Undergraduate Research Forum in Neuroscience featured more than 40 posters and 2 invited symposia, all presented by our outstanding undergraduates. Congratulations to our winners!

Symposium Speakers:

1st – Lindsay Milich

Advisor: Dr. Dana McTigue

"The role of indirect PAR1 activation in tissue repair after spinal cord injury"

2nd – Khalid Abdulla

Advisor: Dr. Derick Lindquist

"Impaired Pavlovian conditioning and altered forebrain N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor subunit composition in a rat model of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder"

Collaborative Research:

1st - Brian A. Upton

Advisor: Dr. John P. Bruno

"Kynurenine aminotransferase II inhibition potentiates glutamate release in the prefrontal cortex"

2nd - Mariam A. Hussain

Advisor: Dr. Ruchika Prakash

"Mindfulness and stress in the elderly: Identifying potential mediators"

Independent Research:

1st - Sujay Mehta

Advisor: Dr. Albert de la Chapelle

"Identification of microRNA as a novel tumor suppressor miR"

2nd - Sam Dubin

Advisor: Dr. Balveen Kaur

"Assessing HSV-1 oncolytic virus therapy in an immune-competent model for breast cancer brain metastases"

Proposed Research:

1st - Paige Trojanowski

Advisor: Dr. Jonathan Godbout

"Age-related impairments in the dynamic regulation of microglia by astrocytes: Relevance to depression"

2nd - Tess Lewis

Advisor: Dr. Dirk Bernhardt-Walther

"Investigating the effects of spatial frequency on the perception and memory of natural scenes"

Forum Distinction:

Christopher John Cowley

Advisor: Dr. Kevin Foust

"Enteric nervous system transduction of AAV serotypes"

David Sweet

Advisor: Dr. Philip Popovich

"Preconditioning with lipopolysaccharide activates spinal cord microglia without causing neuropathology"