University of Iowa Neuroscience MD/PhD student Ryan Kelley has won the 2019 Kwak-Ferguson Fellowship, a $10,000 award from the Iowa Neuroscience Institute for an upper level graduate student working in the area of neurodegenerative diseases. His research in the lab of Jeremy Greenlee, MD, Professor of Neurosurgery focuses on the neural mechanisms of speech production.Kelley is pursuing both MD and...

Alexandra Petrucci has received a predoctoral research fellowship award from the American Epilepsy Society (AES).Petrucci, who works in the Iowa Neuroscience Institute lab of Gordon Buchanan, MD, PhD, was one of four students nationally to receive this award. She will use the funding to support her epilepsy research investigating post-ictal generalized EEG suppression network and receptor...

Recent alumnus Thomas James (2018) recently published this study in eLife with his mentor, C. Andrew Frank. The Frank lab researches the ability of neurons to self-regulate their own activity (i.e., homeostatic plasticity), and this study examines the role of second messenger pathways at the fruit fly neuromuscular synapse.Abstract: Synapses and circuits rely on neuroplasticity to adjust output...

The Neuroscience Graduate Program congratulates Brittany Williams (Lee lab, Molecular Physiology and Biophysics) on her successful thesis defense yesterday! Her seminar title: Title: Characterization of the modulatory effects of alternative splicing on Cav1.4 Ca2+channels Pictured below Mentor Amy Lee, PhD (left) and Brittany (right)

Neuroscience doctoral candidate Brittany Williams loves conducting research, work that she likens to solving a complex puzzle. Through the support of mentors and the welcoming environment at the University of Iowa, she hopes to help those who suffer from visual impairments.Brittany Williams is familiar with the saying “Great minds think alike.” But it’s nowhere near her favorite quote—she prefers...

Guang Hao (Max) Liu, from the lab of Gloria Lee, successfully defended his thesis on Thursday, February 24th. His dissertation title is "Investigating the effects of Tau-Fyn interaction in healthy and disease states of the brain." Way to go Max!

The Neuroscience Graduate Program congratulates Jake Rysted in the Usachev lab (Pharmacology) on his successful thesis defense recently. Congratulations!In the picture: Mentor Yuriy Usachev, PhD (left) and Jake (Right)

The Neuroscience Graduate Program congratulates Jada Bittle in the Stevens lab (Psychiatry) on her successful thesis defense yesterday! Her title: "The role of redox dysregulation in the effects of prenatal stress on embryonic and adult brain"In the picture: Jada (left) and Mentor Hanna Stevens, MD., PhD (right)

The Neuroscience Graduate Program congratulates Thomas James in the Frank (Anatomy and Cell Biology) lab on his successful thesis defense recently! His title: "Discrete IP3 signaling requirements underlie acute and chronic forms of homeostatic synaptic plasticity" In the Picture: Mentor C. Andrew Frank, PhD(left) and Thomas (right)

The Neuroscience Graduate Program congratulates Alexander (Sasha) Tereshchenko, MSTP student, in Nopoulos lab (Psychiatry) on his successful thesis defense last week! His title: "Brain Structure and function in juvenile-onset Huntington's disease".In the picture: Mentor Peg Nopoulos, MD (left) and Sasha (right)