Dr. Jeannette Delva-Wiley, mentored by Dr. Morika Williams
Funded July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022
I received my B.S. in Chemistry from Bennett University in 2012. Under the advisement of Dr. Robert Newman, I received both my M.S. in Biology in 2016 and Ph.D. in Applied Science and Technology with a concentration in Bioscience and Computational Biology from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in 2021. My doctoral research investigated the impact of redox modification, via oxidation and glutathionylation, of the catalytic subunit of cAMP dependent Protein Kinase (PKA-Cα) has towards 100 various substrate interactions. Using in-vitro techniques and computational programing analyses, our studies suggest that redox modification of PKA-Cα impacts its ability to interact towards some substrates while having very little effects towards other. In June 2021, I joined Dr. Morika Williams’ Lab at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Division of Comparative Medicine (Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine). Here, I am examining the behavioral and mechanistic impacts that early life trauma have on later life osteoarthritis-associated pain using a rat model.
Dr. Geronimo Velazquez-Hernandez, mentored by Dr. Jose Rodriguez-Romaguera
Funded July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022
Dr. Velazquez-Hernandez obtained his graduate degree in biomedical sciences at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) under the mentorship of Dr. Francisco Sotres-Bayón. During his graduate work he studied how the lateral habenula is necessary to select between competing memories (safety vs aversive) and in particular how it facilitates behavioral responses to specific stimuli. Currently, Geronimo’s interests are in understanding the neural circuits that govern social avoidance and approach behaviors by employing calcium imaging and optogenetic strategies in freely moving mice in the Rodriguez-Romaguera Lab at UNC.