Director Spotlight
On location with Neuroscience Program Director Daniel Tranel, PhD
"Join the Neuroscience Graduate Program at the University of Iowa and become part of the bright team of scientists trying to solve the mystery of the human brain."

Iowa Neuroscience Institute
Provides collaborative support for the neuroscience community.
IDGP Neuroscience Events
Neuroscience & Pharmacology Postdoctoral Seminar - Mauricio Oliveira, PhD
Tuesday, March 25, 2025 10:30am to 11:30am
"Regulation of cell type-specific translatomes in response to neuronal activity and behavior"
Presented by Mauricio Oliveira, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Scholar
New York University
New York, NY
Neuroscience & Pharmacology Workshop - Isaias (Izzy) Herring and Emma Simpson-Wade
Thursday, March 27, 2025 12:30pm to 1:30pm
Presented by Izzy Herring
Graduate Student in the labs of Drs. Krystal Parker and Aislinn Williams
Presented by Emma Simpson-Wade
Graduate student in Dr. Marie Gaine's lab
Neuroscience & Pharmacology Workshop - Gabrielle (Gabby) Bierlein-De La Rosa and Alex Dou
Thursday, April 3, 2025 12:30pm to 1:30pm
Presented by Gabby Bierlein-De La Rosa
Graduate Student in Dr. Catherine Marcinkiewcz's lab
Presented by Alex Dou
Graduate student in Dr. Chris Ahern's lab

Neuroscience Interdisciplinary Program Thesis Defense Seminar: Bill Milanick
Friday, April 4, 2025 12:00pm
Bill Milanick is a current PhD candidate in the Neuroscience Interdisciplinary Graduate Program. He is apart of Dr. Sam Young's lab.
Neuroscience & Pharmacology Workshop - Nathan Gentilman and Hannah Hazzard
Thursday, April 10, 2025 12:30pm to 1:30pm
Presented by Nathan Gentilman
Graduate Student in Dr. David Roman's lab
Presented by Hannah Hazzard
Graduate student in Dr. Serena (Banu) Gumusoglu's lab

Neuroscience Interdisciplinary Program Thesis Defense Seminar: Maya Evans
Friday, April 18, 2025 2:30pm
Maya Evans is a current PhD candidate in the Neuroscience Interdisciplinary Graduate Program. She is apart of Dr. Hanna Stevens's lab.
Hawk-IDDRC Seminar Series: Elizabeth Berry-Kravis, MD, PhD; Rush University Medical Center
Friday, May 9, 2025 12:00pm
Please join us for the Hawk-IDDRC Seminar Series
Elizabeth Berry-Kravis, MD, PhD; Rush University Medical Center
Professor, Departments of Pediatrics, Neurological Sciences, Anatomy and Cell Biology
Director, RUSH Pediatric Neurosciences F.A.S.T. Center for Translational Research
Friday, May 9, 2025, noon CST
in the Pediatric Conference Center JCP2415
More information to come!
Outstanding Alumni

8
DISSERTATION PRIZE WINNERS AWARDED BY THE GRADUATE COLLEGE. Joseph Parvizi, Michael Koenigs, and Benton Purnell (right) EARNED THE SPRIESTERSBACH DISSERTATION PRIZE. Matthew Sutterer, Arianna Rigon, Banu Gumusoglu, Victoria Muller Ewald (left) and Alex Petrucci WON THE REX MONTGOMERY DISSERTATION PRIZE.

"The fact that I was able to perform at this level and do this work is representative of this program. The strength of the Neuroscience Program at the University of Iowa is what makes it such a destination program for people.”
News & Events

Congratulations to program alumnus Erik Zorrilla, PhD!
Monday, March 3, 2025
Dr. Zorrilla is the first author of the recent paper, “Combined effects of cannabidiol and Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol alleviate migraine-like symptoms in mice,” which has been selected as the Editor’s Choice for the February issue of Cephalalgia.


Four students from the neuroscience graduate program featured in the 2025 Dare to Discover Campaign
Thursday, January 23, 2025
Carver College of Medicine Research Events

Hardin Open Workshops - PubMed (Zoom)
Wednesday, March 12, 2025 10:00am to 11:00am
This hands-on session will help you improve your searching through best practices for basic and advanced searching and show you features for saving or exporting citations. The session will also help you understand medical subject headings (MeSH) and how they improve your search as well as the benefits of a MyNCBI account.
PLEASE NOTE:
Class will be taught via Zoom. Advance registration is required. Registrants will be emailed the Zoom link 30 minutes before the class time.

Hardin Open Workshops - EndNote Desktop (Zoom)
Wednesday, March 12, 2025 1:00pm to 2:00pm
EndNote is a reference management tool that helps you to easily gather together your references in one place, organize them, and then insert them into papers and format them in a style of your choosing. This session will walk you through the basics of using EndNote to collect and format your citations. The class will be hands-on, and there will be time for questions at the end.
Biomedical & Health Informatics Community Meeting
Thursday, March 13, 2025 12:00pm to 1:00pm
We have established a community of CCOM Informaticists who are applying these skills in their work at UIHC. You are invited to join us during our monthly seminar presentations.
Biomedical & Health Informatics Community Meeting
Thursday, March 13, 2025 12:00pm to 1:00pm
We have established a community of CCOM Informaticists who are applying these skills in their work campus-wide and at Iowa Health Care. You are invited to join us during our monthly seminar presentations.
Neuroscience & Pharmacology Workshop - Pravda Quinones-Labernik and Yutong Wang
Thursday, March 13, 2025 12:30pm to 1:30pm
Presented by Pravda Quinones-Labernik
Graduate Student in Dr. Ted Abel's lab
Presented by Yutong Wang
Graduate student in Dr. Ted Abel's lab
ACRC Seminar Series
Friday, March 14, 2025 1:00pm to 2:00pm
Neuroscience & Pharmacology Postdoctoral Seminar - Mauricio Oliveira, PhD
Tuesday, March 25, 2025 10:30am to 11:30am
"Regulation of cell type-specific translatomes in response to neuronal activity and behavior"
Presented by Mauricio Oliveira, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Scholar
New York University
New York, NY
Pain Research Program Seminar - Deepak Kumar, PT, PhD
Wednesday, March 26, 2025 9:00am to 10:00am
"Pain with activity and exercise in knee osteoarthritis: Measurement, mechanisms, and implications for interventions"
Presented by Deepak Kumar, PT, PhD
Associate Professor, Physical Therapy
Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences
Boston University

Hardin Open Workshops: Data Sharing and Publication (Zoom)
Wednesday, March 26, 2025 11:30am to 12:30pm
You’ve received funding for a project, and your research funder expects you to share the data. Or perhaps you are working on an article, and the journal requires you to share your data. In this workshop, we’ll walk through the process of preparing data for sharing or publication, important decisions to make, and ways to enable your data to have a broader impact.
PLEASE NOTE
Class will be taught via Zoom. Advance registration is required. Registrants will be emailed the Zoom link 30 minutes...
Neuroscience & Pharmacology Workshop - Isaias (Izzy) Herring and Emma Simpson-Wade
Thursday, March 27, 2025 12:30pm to 1:30pm
Presented by Izzy Herring
Graduate Student in the labs of Drs. Krystal Parker and Aislinn Williams
Presented by Emma Simpson-Wade
Graduate student in Dr. Marie Gaine's lab
Interdisciplinary Graduate Programs Events
Women In Micro & Immuno Coffee Hour
Monday, January 13, 11:00am to Monday, December 8, 2025 12:00pm
Join us for the Women in Micro & Immuno Coffee Hour. It is the monthly coffee hour on the second Monday of the month from 11 a.m. to noon in 1289 CBRB. Enjoy coffee, pastries and contribute to the discussion!
This is open to ALL — students, staff, postdocs, and faculty interested in promoting women in science.
Speakers change monthly. Contact: jessica-tucker@uiowa.edu for details.
Women In Micro & Immuno Coffee Hour
Monday, March 10, 2025 11:00am to Monday, February 2, 2026 11:00am
Join us for the Women in Micro & Immuno Coffee Hour. It is the monthly coffee hour on the second Monday of the month from 11 a.m. to noon in 1289 CBRB. Enjoy coffee, pastries and contribute to the discussion!
This is open to ALL — students, staff, postdocs, and faculty interested in promoting women in science.
Speakers change monthly. Contact: jessica-tucker@uiowa.edu for details.

ACB Seminar Series - Bethany Moore
Wednesday, March 12, 2025 9:30am to 10:30am
Dr. Bethany Moore, Professor and Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Michigan will present a seminar titled "Prostaglandin Signaling Regulates Male but not Female Lung Host Defense Against P. aeruginosa in Diabetes.”
Computer Science - Founders Day Celebration
Thursday, March 13, 2025 3:30pm to 4:30pm
On the occasion of our 60th anniversary, the Department of Computer Science at Iowa cordially invites you to attend our 3rd Annual Founders Day Celebration. This event will be held Thursday, March 13, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in 2520D UCC (On 2nd floor of Old Capitol Mall).
Please join us for ice cream sundaes as we celebrate the achievements of the extraordinary students and faculty in our department!
RSVP by Monday, March 10.
Big Ten Neuroscience Seminar
Monday, March 24, 2025 11:00am to 12:00pm
The 2024-2025 Big Ten Neuroscience Seminar Series is organized by our colleagues at Penn State University and will feature virtual seminars from a different Big Ten neuro program on the 4th Monday of each month (November, December, May dates are adjusted for holidays.) The links will be shared in the Neuroscience this week email. Contact iowa-neuroscience-institute@uiowa.edu if you do not receive this email and would like to attend a seminar.

CS Colloquium - Bridging Stochastic and Adversarial Worlds: A New Paradigm for Online Learning
Monday, March 24, 2025 3:30pm to 4:30pm
Changlong Wu (Purdue) on "Bridging Stochastic and Adversarial Worlds: A New Paradigm for Online Learning"
Neuroscience & Pharmacology Postdoctoral Seminar - Mauricio Oliveira, PhD
Tuesday, March 25, 2025 10:30am to 11:30am
"Regulation of cell type-specific translatomes in response to neuronal activity and behavior"
Presented by Mauricio Oliveira, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Scholar
New York University
New York, NY

Future Careers: Translation & World Languages in Galleries, Libraries, Archives & Museums
Tuesday, March 25, 2025 4:00pm
Join us for a presentation and discussion about future translation and world language careers in the the Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums (GLAM) contexts. We'll hear from Charles Fineman as he gives the keynote and Colleen Theisen, Lauren Lessing, Timothy Shipe, and our own Aron Aji as they discuss their professional trajectories and backgrounds.
A reception will follow the event on the third floor of the Main Library.

ACB Seminar Series - Jeanne Stachowiak
Wednesday, March 26, 2025 9:30am to 10:30am
Dr. Jeanne Stachowiak, a Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin will present a seminar titled, "Intrinsically Disordered Proteins as an Organizing Principle for Membrane Biology."

CS Colloquium - Learning Symbolic Concepts and Domain-specific Languages
Wednesday, March 26, 2025 3:30pm to 4:30pm
Paul Krogmeier (UIUC) on "Learning Symbolic Concepts and Domain-specific Languages"