Category: News

On July 17th, Noah Miller (PhD student in Rodríguez-Romaguera Lab) was awarded an NRSA F31 predoctoral fellowship from Mental Health Research Grants entitled “Interoceptive regulation of pupil-linked arousal by connections in the brain’s prominent noradrenaline hubs”. Congratulations, Noah!

On June 11th, Sean Gay successfully defended his PhD Thesis: “Elucidating the interplay between sleep, synapses, and brain development”. Mentor: Dr. Graham Diering.  Congratulations Dr. Gay!

Preston Siegler, a 4th year PhD candidate in the Dudek lab was one of the students recognized for an outstanding poster presentation in the graduate category at the 2024 Neurobiology of Stress Conference held in Boston, MA this June. Preston presented her work on identifying hippocampal area CA2 in vole...

On May 15th, Rachel Sharp (Michael Love Lab) successfully defended and passed her oral qualifying exam! The title of her research proposal is, “Effects of Social Risk Factors on Genetic Liability for Bipolar Disorder”. Congratulations Rachel!!

The Graduate School has named Janay Franklin a 2024 recipient of the Boka W. Hadzija Award for Distinguished University Service, one of the Chancellor’s Awards at UNC-Chapel Hill. The award recognizes graduate or professional students with outstanding character, scholarship, leadership, and service to the University. Franklin, a PhD candidate studying neuroscience in...

On April 12th, Minna McFarland successfully defended her PhD Thesis: “Allopregnanolone regulation of phasic dopamine release and motivated behavior”. Mentor: Dr. Donita Robinson.  Congratulations Dr. McFarland!!

On March 21st, Reagan Bullins (Hantman Lab) successfully defended and passed her oral qualifying exam! The title of her research proposal is, “High resolution optogenetic perturbations to control motor cortical activity and skilled behavior”. Congratulations Reagan!!

On January 15th, Sara Yi-Ling Conley (McElligott Lab) successfully defended and passed her oral qualifying exam! The title of her research proposal is, “Investigating tonic and synaptic excitatory signaling in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis across models of alcohol exposure”. Congratulations Sara!!

Hippocampal area CA2—a region of the hippocampus that is involved in social memory and aggressive behaviors—has been characterized in vole and hamster brain. These findings are detailed in a preprint released to BioRxivs by the Dudek group. While mice and rats are among the most commonly used animal models in...

On January 15th, Nicholas Ringelberg (MD/PhD student in Philpot Lab) was awarded an NRSA F30 predoctoral fellowship from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) entitled “Neural Circuit Mechanisms of Seizure Susceptibility in a Mouse Model of Angelman Syndrome”. This grant will fund Nick’s project...