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From November 15 to 19, 2014, more than 30 ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ faculty, staff, and students traveled to the nation’s capital to participate in the 44th annual Society for Neuroscience (SfN) meeting.

This year’s conference in Washington, D.C., amassed more than 31,000 neuroscientists from all over the world. Being the largest neuroscience gathering, SfN allowed scientists to present research, collaborate with colleagues, learn from experts, and experience the newest advancements in tools and technologies.

This year, ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ had representatives from the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), the College of Osteopathic Medicine (COM) and the College of Pharmacy (CoP) and presented more than 18 posters, ranging in topics from addiction, chronic pain and side effects of antipsychotic medications to outreach programs and fear and anxiety. 

Among the research projects presented, five received financial support from the Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) for the Study of Pain and Sensory Function.  The COBRE is funded by a $10 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) given as part of its Institutional Development Award (IDeA) program.

Two ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ students, past and present, received prestigious awards at the meeting. Kerribeth Szolusha (’15), a Neuroscience major and Art Therapy minor, won the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN) Travel Award, and Alexandria D’Ambruoso (’14), a Medical Biology major and Psychology minor, was given the FUN Brain Awareness Week Travel Award. D’Ambruoso will be starting a 24 month intensive Master of Physician Assistant Program in January at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Professions Manchester, New Hampshire campus. 

In addition to ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ’s scientific accomplishments at the meeting, faculty and students also had the chance to meet with some highly esteemed people while at SfN. Vice President for Research and Scholarship and COM Professor Edward Bilsky, Ph.D., and Assistant Professor Michael Burman, Ph.D., report being "star struck" when they met one of the biggest names in neuroscience: Nobel Laureate Eric Kandel, M.D. Kandel received the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the physiological basis of memory storage in neurons.

Associate Professor Geoffrey Bove, D.C., Ph.D., reconnected with famous pain research Larry Kruger, Ph.D., from UCLA. Bilsky and Meng, along with a few other faculty members and students, also met with Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, Senator Susan Collins and Senator Angus King.

Posters were presented from the following Center for Excellence in the Neurosciences (CEN) laboratories:

Tamara King Lab

Tamara King, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, and students Joshua Allen (Medical Biology, ’15) and Ian Pelletier (Medical Biology and Biochemistry, ’15) represented the King lab. Allen presented his research on forced exercise and how it alleviates evoked and ongoing pain in a model of advanced, NSAID-resistant osteoarthritis. Pelletier presented on a potential mechanistic evaluation of cancer-induced ongoing and breakthrough pain.

Glenn Stevenson Lab

Glenn Stevenson, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Psychology, along with students Katherine Cone (Neuroscience and Medical Biology; Psychology minor, ‘15), Phillip Atherton (Nursing, ’15), Emily Warner (Neuroscience, ‘16) and Rebecca Krivitsky (Neuroscience ’16) represented the Stevenson lab at the conference. Cone, as first author of research conducted with the Streicher and Bilsky labs, presented data on the in vivo and in vitro pharmacology of the mixed-action delta/mu opioid compound MMP-2200. 

Colin Willis Lab

Holly Beaulac, M.S., a Neuroscience major from the class of 2011, presented research that she conducted with primary experimenter Stephanie Brule (Neuroscience ’14) as well as Annie McGregor (Neuroscience, ’17) and Colin Willis, Ph.D., former assistant professor of pharmacology. "Triptan-induced modulation of claudin-5 expression: an in vitro study" investigated how extensive exposure to triptans,often prescribed treatment for migraine sufferers, may induce blood-brain barrier dysfunction and lead to medication overuse headaches.

Ling Cao Lab

Ginny McLane, a Ph.D. student working in the lab of Ling Cao, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of microbiology, presented her poster, titled "Glial M1/M2 Balance in Morphine-Potentiated LP-BM5 Murine AIDS." The research focused on elucidating the contribution of opiate drug abuse to HIV/AIDS-associated cognitive disorders.

Lei Lei Lab

Michael Anderson, a second-year graduate student of biological sciences, presented research that he performed with Lei Lei, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Biology. "Deletion of Sox11 in Nociceptive Neurons Inhibits Nerve Regeneration and Prolongs Neuropathic Pain After Nerve Injury" outlined the role of the transcription factor Sox11 after nerve injury. 

John Streicher Lab

John Streicher, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, and Justin LaVigne (Neuroscience, ’13) presented "The Dynorphins are Functionally Selective Ligands at the Mu Opioid Receptor," an investigation of preferential signaling activation as a potential means by which peptides, which all activate the mu receptor, could still have a specific role.

Ian Meng Lab

Ian Meng, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, Jelle Weirsma, a research staff scientist, Stephen Barton (’12), laboratory technician, and Neal Mecum, a Ph.D. student completing his thesis under Meng, presented research conducted with colleagues from Niigata University in Japan. "The effect of acute dry eye on the properties of rat corneal primary afferent cold receptors and ocular inflammation" explores the role of the corneal afferent sensory neurons in Dry Eye Syndrome.

Michael Burman Lab

Representatives from the lab or Michael Burman, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, presented three posters at the conference:

D’Ambruoso, K Schwarz (Medical Biology, ’15), Alex Deal, lab technician, Kristen Erickson, lab technician, Ed Bilsky, Ph.D., vice president for Research and Scholarship, and Burman presented "The ³Ô¹Ï±¬ÁÏ’s K-12 neuroscience outreach program," which reported on the K-12 curriculum and recent assessment results for the Center for Excellence in the Neurosciences (CEN) outreach program. In addition, this poster was featured during the Brain Awareness Week celebration event.

Szolusha, Rebecca Bind (CEN intern, summer ’12), Kristin Kerney (CEN intern, summer ’13), Dale Boger, Ph.D., (Scripps Research Institute), Bilsky and Burman presented "Faah inhibitor ol-135 disrupts contextual, but not auditory, fear conditioning in rats." Their research demonstrated that the FAAH inhibitor OL-135 disrupts the acquisition of contextual fear conditioning.  This poster was also presented at the FUN poster session. 

Deal, Erickson, and Burman presented "Fear conditioning circuitry in rats continues to emerge throughout periweaning period," demonstrating that fear conditioning circuity continues to develop between infancy and early childhood in the developing rat.