CTMHR Fellows Complete Summer Research Program

Undergraduate Student Group

Our Department’s NIMH Center for Translational Mental Health Research’s Undergraduate Research Program offers young scientists a unique opportunity to engage in hands-on, cutting edge neuroscience research under the mentorship of highly successful clinical and basic neuroscientists in the Department of Psychiatry.

Eleven undergraduates participated in the 10-week summer program this year, many of whom will continue their work at the Center in the coming year. The program is designed to prepare talented students for doctoral training leading to a successful career in mental health research.  In addition to offering students the opportunity for guided independent research and peer group training in the skills needed for a successful research career, it also features ongoing engagement in a longitudinal program of research and exposure to the clinical challenges of schizophrenia and related disorders. 

CTMHR Fellows Present Their Work
After presenting on the work they had completed over the summer (left image), the students celebrated the completion of the program with pizza and cake (right image).

 

The list below contains the students’ names and presentations given at a special event hosted by the Center on July 27, 2018 at the Starzl Biomedical Science Tower:

Pia Alderman
NPAS2 Regulates Astrocyte Lactate Metabolism and Fentanyl Addiction

Jacqueline Bridges
Analysis of Chandelier Cell Bouton Density in Schizophrenia

Ziyi Gong
Optogenetic Tools for the Investigation of Reward Seeking

Cassandra Helmer
A Schizophrenia Associated Mutation and Its Function as a Dendritic Morphogenesis Model

Shirley Jiang
The Effect of Overexpression of Slc1a1 on Behavior and Neural Activity

Benedicta Olonilua
Volumetric Analysis of the Globus Pallidus: Assessing the Relationship Between Volume and Functional Connectivity in First-Episode Psychosis

Dominick Openko
Studying the Effects of DNA Methylation (DNAm) on Dendritic Spine Density (DSD)

Alexandra Pizzuto
Mitochondrial and Actin Related Transcript Levels in Area 18 in Schizophrenia

Elizabeth Profozich
Cell Specific Developmental Trajectories of GABA Receptor Subunits in Monkey Visual and Prefrontal Cortices

Ashwin Reddy
Postsynaptic Protein Networks in Schizophrenia

Anameeka Singh
Glutamate: Friend or Foe of Dopamine Neurons?