Student Awards

Anasuya Das, a former student in Dr. Krystel Huxlin's lab who defended her PhD thesis on July 18, 2013 was awarded the Doty Award for Excellence in Neuroscience Dissertation Research during 2013 Neuroscience Retreat.

Christina Cloninger, a 4^th-year student in Dr. Gary Paige's lab, won second place in the John Bartlett Poster Session during 2013 Neuroscience Retreat, Rochester, NY.

Ryan Dawes, a third-year student in Dr. Ed Brown's lab, won a travel award from the Schmitt Program on Integrative Brain Research. Ryan plans to use this award to attend the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Advances in Breast Cancer Research Conference, which is being held in San Diego from October 3^rd-6^th, 2013.

Helen Wei, Neuroscience and MD/PhD student in Dr. Maiken Nedergaard's lab was awarded the HHMI Med-Into-Grad Fellowship (September 2013-August 2014). Helen's current project is astrocytes in neurodegenerative disease. Congrats Helen!

Jennifer Stripay, 3^rd year Neuroscience Graduate student in Dr. Mark Noble's lab was awarded F31 NIH (NRSA) Individual Pre-doctoral Fellowship for her project entitled: Identifying c-Cbl as a critical point of intervention in glioblastoma multiforme (September 2013-August 2016). Congrats Jennifer!

Adam Pallus, NGP graduate student in Dr. Ed Freedman's lab, Rebecca Lowery, NGP student in Dr. Ania Majewska's lab, and NGP student, Brianna Sleezer in Dr. Ben Hayden's lab were awarded a competitive graduate fellowship from the University of Rochester Center for Visual Science from 7/1/13 to 12/31/13. CVS offers competitive graduate fellowships for graduate students working in the lab of a CVS faculty member. Applications are made by a student's advisor to the vision training committee in CVS. Fellows receive full stipend support as well as funds to cover one academic conference per year.

Christina Cloninger and Colin Lockwood have been awarded a Hearing, Balance, and Spatial Orientation Training Grant by the National Institutes of Health. The Hearing, Balance, and Spatial Orientation Training Grant (T32) is funded by the NIH National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. The grant involves the collaborative efforts of the Departments of Otolaryngology, Biomedical Engineering, and Neurobiology & Anatomy. The grant supports PhD students, MD-PhD students, Post-doctoral fellows and Medical Residents in BME, Neuroscience, and Otolaryngology who are involved in research related to the auditory and vestibular systems. This Training Grant is an important resource for the University of Rochester's Center for Navigation and Communication Sciences, which provides technical and administrative support for 25 faculty members who are conducting research in this area. The grant provides financial support for several trainees each year. In association with the Training Grant, a graduate-level course entitled Hearing and Balance: Structure, Function and Disease is offered.

Matthew Cavanaugh, Michael Chen, Heather Natola, Felix Ramos-Busot, Rebecca Rausch, and Aleta Steevens have been awarded a competitive graduate fellowship, the Neuroscience Training Grant. This grant is funded by the National Institute of Health's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. This prestigious appointment provides stipend, tuition support, travel funds as well as funds to cover trainee related expenses. Students are appointed to the NSC Training Grant by the NGP committee.

Revathi Balasubramanian and her mentor,
Dr. Barbara Davis.

Revathi Balasubramanian, a Neuroscience Graduate Program student in Dr. Lin Gan's lab, studying the role of transcription factors in retinal neurogenesis, has been named a winner of the 2013 Edward Peck Curtis Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student. Only a handful of these are awarded each year, and all this year's nominees were extremely well-qualified. Congratulations Revathi!

Neuroscience Graduate Program student, Ryan Dawes, has been awarded a 2013 Breast Cancer Research Grant, from the Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester. The 1-year, $50,000 grant will fund his project, entitled Breast Cancer Exosomes, Novel Intermediaries in Psychosocial Stress-induced Tumor Pathogenesis and was only one of two applications to be awarded this prestigious grant. This work will investigate if psychosocial stress can modulate the number or content of secreted small vesicles (exosomes), and determine if this can alter the process of tumorigenesis in an animal model of spontaneous breast cancer as Ryan continues his research in Dr. Edward Brown's lab.

Michele, an NBA graduate student in the Fudge Lab, has just received a stipend to travel to New Orleans and present her work entitled, Differential numbers of bromodeoxyuracil (BrdU) positive cells in the amygdala of normal adolescent and young adult rats. This work shows that cell proliferation is one mechanism of plasticity in the rat amygdala, and that it occurs at a higher rate in young animals.

NGP first year student, Heather Natola is 2012 recipient of the UR Merritt and Marjorie Cleveland Fellowship Award. She was selected based on her outstanding credentials and the faculty opinion that she has unusual potential for future meritorious contributions in neuroscience field.

Julianne Feola, 3^rd year NGP student in Dr. Gail Johnson-Voll lab was awarded a pre-doctoral fellowship from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Neurological Disordered and Stroke for her project entitled: The Role of Astrocytic Transglutaminase 2 in Mediating Ischemic Stroke Damage.

Adam Pallus, a Neuroscience graduate student in Dr. Ed Freedman's lab, was awarded a competitive graduate fellowship from the University of Rochester Center for Visual Science from 7/1/12 to 12/31/13. CVS offers competitive graduate fellowships for graduate students working in the lab of a CVS faculty member. Applications are made by a student's advisor to the vision training committee in CVS. Fellows receive full stipend support as well as funds to cover one academic conference per year.

Revathi Balasubramanian, a Neuroscience Graduate Program student in Dr. Lin Gan's lab, was appointed to the predoctoral NYSTEM Training Grant from 7/1/12 to 6/30/2013. NYSTEM training grant funds are utilized to provide up to two years of support to four graduate students and two postdoctoral fellows. The second year of support will be contingent on satisfactory progress in the first year. Graduate students will be supported at $23,000 per year, the maximum permitted in this application. Additional support in order to provide the standard University of Rochester graduate student stipends must be provided by the host laboratory, which will have to confirm the availability of funding to support the student through the completion of his/her degree.

MSTP and Neuroscience graduate student, Daniel Marker, has received an individual fellowship ($42,232) from NIMH on his project entitled MLK3 inhibition protects the murine CNS from the effects of HIV-1 Tat.

Congratulations to Danielle, who is in the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), for receiving NIMH Fellowship support for her project, An Extended Amygdala Path with Implications for Early Life Stress. Using a variety of techniques, Danielle is examining a pathway through the amygdala that appears plays a role in development of stress responses and is affected by early life stress. Her project is an outgrowth of collaborations with Dr. Judy Cameron (University of Pittsburgh) and Dr. Karoly Mirnics (Vanderbilt University), and previous support of the URMCCTSI Pilot Program.

Danielle has won a highly competitive travel award to the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP). This meeting brings together basic and clinical scientists in the field of psychiatric research, and is a wonderful opportunity to see the latest work in the field. Congrats!

Wei Sun, NGP Graduate Student

Congratulations to NGP student in Dr. Nedergaard's lab, Wei Sun, for receiving an individual predoctoral fellowship from the American Heart Association.

The American Heart Association has spent more than $3.1 billion on research to increase knowledge about cardiovascular disease and stroke since 1949. The predoctoral fellowship award is designed to help students initiate careers in cardiovascular and stroke research by providing research assistance and training.

Congratulations to Cory Hussar, a recent graduate of Neuroscience Graduate Program for receiving 2012 Wallace Fenn Commencement Award. Cory is currently a postdoctoral fellow in Mark Churchland's Lab at Columbia University.

This prestigious award was named for Wallace Osgood Fenn who was a member of the Department of Physiology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry from 1924 until 1971. He was chairman of the Department from 1924 until 1959. The author of 267 publications, Dr. Fenn was a physiologist of international stature, known for his pioneer work in muscle metabolism, electrolyte physiology, the physiology of respiration, and space and undersea physiology.

Dr. Peter Shrager and Dr. Steven Raiker at the 2011 Neuroscience Retreat

Stephen Raiker, Ph.D., a former student in the Neuroscience Graduate Program, has received the Robert Doty Award of Excellence in recognition of outstanding dissertation research in neuroscience. Through his thesis research, Dr. Raiker joined the laboratory of Dr. Roman Giger and began collaborating with Dr. Peter Shrager, who ultimately became his co-advisor.

Dr. Raiker's research on the physiological role of Nogo receptors in axon plasticity and regeneration culminated in two publications in The Journal of Neuroscience, one as co-first author and one as first author. He was a contributing author on two additional papers plus a review article, and he presented his research at several international meetings. After defending his thesis, Dr. Raiker was subsequently selected as the 2011 recipient of the Vincent du Vigneaud Commencement Award for Meritorious Research. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Thomas Schwarz in the F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center at Children's Hospital Boston.

Dr. Robert Doty was a leading brain researcher who helped create what is now the world's largest organization of neuroscientists, the Society for Neuroscience. Dr. Doty had served the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry since 1961, a central figure to a team of people that has made the University an internationally recognized powerhouse in neuroscience.

Neuroscience graduate program student, Phillip Rappold has received an F30 NIH Individual Predoctoral Fellowship for 3 years, entitled Role of mitochondrial dynamics in Parkinson's disease processes and therapeutics.

First year student in the Neuroscience graduate program, Jennifer Stripay has been selected by the faculty to be this year's recipient of the Irving L. Spar Fellowship Award. Jennifer's selection was based on her outstanding credentials and the faculty opinion that she has unusual potential for future meritorious contributions in her field. The Irving L. Spar Fellowship Award honors the memory of Dr. Spar, a former Senior Associate Dean for Graduate Studies in the School of Medicine and Dentistry. It is awarded annually to a deserving graduate student entering the School through the Graduate Education in the Biomedical Sciences Program.

MSTP, NSC graduate student, Adrianne Chesser, has received an F30 Fellowship from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, for her project entitled: Mitochondrial Dynamics Underlie Gene-Environment Interactions in Parkinson's. The mission of the NIEHS is to reduce the burden of human illness and disability by understanding how the environment influences the development and progression of human disease.

Recently the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) awarded several of our Neuroscience graduate students training grants. This year, a first year NGP student, Jennifer Stripay, as well as second year students, Kelli Fagan, Julianne Feola, John O'Donnell, Fatima Rivera-Escalera, Grayson Sipe received funding. NINDS is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), with it's continuing mission to reduce the burden of neurological disease - a burden borne by every age group, by every segment of society, by people all over the world.

Neuroscience graduate student, Steven Raiker has won this year's Vincent du Vigneaud Award for meritorious research by a Ph.D. student in the Medical School. Raiker, who recently defended his thesis entitled, The Nogo-66 Receptor, NgR1, Regulates Structural and Functional Plasticity at Schaffer Collateral-CA1 Synapses, was advised by Drs. Roman Geiger and Peter Shrager.

MSTP and Neuroscience student, Susan Lee has received a Trainee Travel Award to present her research at the Organization for Human Brain Mapping's 17^th Annual Meeting in Quebec City, Canada on June 26-30, 2011. Susan is currently working in Dr. Loisa Bennetto's lab on Audiovisual Integration During Language Comprehension: The Neural Basis of Social Communication in Autism and Typical Development.

Crystal McClain, a graduate student in Neuroscience, was awarded an NIH Individual Predoctoral Fellowship Award. Crystal currently works in the Goldman Lab and studies the signaling pathways of both fetal and adult glial progenitor cells, and the molecular bases for the fate decisions that determine whether progenitors become oligodendrocytes or astrocytes, a key determinant of both remyelination and gliosis after injury.

John O'Donnell accepts his fellowship award

John O'Donnell, 1^st year graduate student in Neuroscience, was selected to be a recipient of the Merritt & Marjorie Cleveland Fellowship Award. The fund was established in 1991, with a gift from Mr. and Mrs. Merritt Cleveland. The fund supports a first year graduate student entering graduate study through the Graduate Education in the Biomedical Sciences Program with an interest in developing a neuroscience-related research career.

Grayson Sipe accepts his fellowship award

Grayson Sipe, 1^st year graduate student in Neuroscience, was selected to be a recipient of the Graduate Alumni Fellowship Award. Graduate Alumni in the School of Medicine and Dentistry established this Fellowship Award to recognize incoming student's promise for exceptional accomplishment in graduate study.

First year graduate students in Neuroscience Kelli Fagan, Julianne Feola, John O’Donnell, Fatima Rivera-Escalera, Grayson Sipe were appointed to the Neuroscience Training Grant. It is a prestigious appointment funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health. Adam Pallus, second year student has been reappointed to this grant for academic year 2010-2011.

KyungHwa Lee, Ph.D., a former student in the Neuroscience Graduate Program, has received the Robert Doty Award of Excellence in recognition of outstanding dissertation research in neuroscience. For her thesis research, Dr. Lee joined the laboratory of Dr. Douglas Portman. In her research, she established for the first time that the 294-neuron non-sex-specific component of the C. elegans nervous system is in fact an important focus of regulation by the sex of the animal.

Her work opened up a new dimension of plasticity of this system: not only is its function regulated by developmental stage, experience and environmental conditions, it is also modified according to the chromosomally determined sex of the animal. Moreover, Dr. Lee's work showed that, in C. elegans, sexual status acts cell-autonomously to regulate the function of specific cells. As the first part of Dr. Lee's thesis, this work was published in 2007 in Current Biology. Currently, KyungHwa Lee is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Coleen Murphy at Princeton University.

Dr. Robert Doty was a leading brain researcher who helped create what is now the world's largest organization of neuroscientists, the Society for Neuroscience. Dr. Doty had served the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry since 1961, a central figure to a team of people that has made the University an internationally recognized powerhouse in neuroscience.

Congratulations to Kathleen McAvoy, a graduate student in Neuroscience. Katie received Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards for Individual Predoctoral Fellows. The title of her grant is, The role of the von-Hippel Lindau protein in developmental cell death in sympathetic neurons.

Congratulations to Adam Pallus, 1st year Ph.D. student in Neuroscience for receiving the Merritt and Marjorie Cleveland Fellowship Award. The fund was established in 1991, with a gift from Mr. and Mrs. Merritt Cleveland. The fund supports a first year graduate student entering graduate study through the Graduate Education in the Biomedical Sciences Program with an interest in developing a neuroscience-related research career.

Congratulations to Nancy Ann Oberheim Bush, Ph.D., for receiving the 2009 Vincent du Vigneaud Award! This award is given annually by the School of Medicine to a graduating student judged to have performed especially meritorious research that stands out for its potential for stimulating and extending research in the field.

Yasser Elshatory, M.D., Ph.D., a former student in the Neuroscience Graduate Program and Medical Scientist Training Program, has received the Robert Doty Award of Excellence in recognition of outstanding dissertation research in neuroscience. His doctoral thesis, carried out under the direction of Dr. Lin Gan, was in the field of developmental neurobiology and entitled The LIM-homeodomain protein Islet-1 is a key regulator of restricted neuronal subtypes in the retina and forebrain.

His work uncovered a novel gene network involved in the establishment of restricted neuronal lineages in the developing retina and a similar network important for development of the cholinergic phenotype in the forebrain. Collectively, Dr. Elshatory's thesis research resulted in three first author publications, two in the Journal of Neuroscience and one in the Journal of Comparative Neurology. After graduating, Dr. Elshatory completed an internship in transitional medicine in San Bernardino County, California and is currently an ophthalmology resident at the Dean McGee Eye Institute in Oklahoma City, OK.

Dr. Robert Doty was a leading brain researcher who helped create what is now the world's largest organization of neuroscientists, the Society for Neuroscience. Dr. Doty had served the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry since 1961, a central figure to a team of people that has made the University an internationally recognized powerhouse in neuroscience.

Congratulations to Maria Diehl for winning a travel fellowship to attend the 10^thInternational Multisensory Research Forum in New York City. The forum will be held June 29 - July 2 at the City College of New York. Featured keynote speakers this year are Dora Angelaki, Jon Kaas, and Nikos Logothetis.

Maiken Nedergaard, M.D., D.M.Sc., has been elected a member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences, the premier scientific society in Denmark. The society elects only six new members worldwide every other year.

Nedergaard has been a pioneer in brain research, demonstrating that brain cells known as astrocytes play a role in a host of human diseases. For decades, much of the attention of neuroscientists had been focused on brain cells known as neurons, which send electrical signals. Astrocytes were long considered cells whose primary function was to support the neurons.

Nedergaard has turned that notion on its head, showing that astrocytes themselves play an important role in epilepsy, spinal cord disease, migraine headaches, stroke, and Alzheimer's disease.

Xiaohai Wang, M.D., Ph.D., a former student in the Neuroscience Graduate Program, has received the Robert Doty Award of Excellence in recognition of outstanding dissertation research in neuroscience. He received his M.D. from China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China in 1999, and then worked as an instructor in the Department of Histology & Embryology at the same university until 2002 when he moved to the United States to begin Ph.D. studies in Neuroscience at New York Medical College.

Dr. Wang joined Dr. Maiken Nedergaard's laboratory for his thesis work. Dr. Wang's dissertation entitled Role of astrocytic Ca²⁺ signaling in response to sensory stimulation in vivo demonstrated that astrocytes can mediate slow sensory adaptation through Ca²⁺ dependent release of adenosine. During his tenure as a graduate student, Dr. Wang co-authored a very impressive nine publications with Dr. Nedergaard, including two first author papers in Nature Neuroscience and Nature Medicine. After graduation, he accepted a position as Senior Research Biologist at Merck Research Laboratories.

Dr. Robert Doty was a leading brain researcher who helped create what is now the world's largest organization of neuroscientists, the Society for Neuroscience. Dr. Doty had served the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry since 1961, a central figure to a team of people that has made the University an internationally recognized powerhouse in neuroscience.