Undergrad Research Training
Students of the CTMHR & CABD Fellowships Complete
the 2014 Undergraduate Summer Research Program
On Friday, July 25, 2014, the ten week summer portion of the Undergraduate Research Fellowship Programs, funded by the NIMH Conte Center for Translational Mental Health Research (CTMHR) and the PA Department of Health Grant on Cannabis and Adolescent Brain Development (CABD), ended with the students' final presentations. The undergraduate programs, both directed by Dr. David Lewis and coordinated by Dr. John Enwright, Dr. Debra Montrose and Lisa Murphree, have engaged students in cutting-edge neuroscience and psychiatry research since 2010. Faculty from the Department of Psychiatry who were involved in the mentorship and training of these students included Drs. Susanne Ahmari, Charles Bradberry, John Enwright, Kenneth Fish, Yanhua Huang, Bea Luna, Michael Marshal, Colleen McClung, Vishwajit Nimgaonkar, Kirsten O?Hearn, Dean Salisbury, Robert Sweet, and Mary Torregrossa.
Click here to read about the research undertaken by prior fellows in this program.
During the summer, the fellows spent many hours in their mentors' labs collecting and analyzing data for a research project. In addition to their research experience, the students participated in several training activities, including journal club discussions, clinical shadowing opportunities, and didactic sessions on research strategies, ethics and career development. Each student's work culminated in an oral presentation of their summer research project to an engaged audience of faculty, post-doctoral fellows, graduate students, and peers. Once again, the overall quality of the presentations was extremely high. Students also participated in the Department of Psychiatry Research Day.
The fellows? names and areas of research are as follows:
| Aaron Foglio | Alterations in Perineuronal Nets in Subjects with Schizophrenia: Potential Effects on Antipsychotics |
| Abigail Wang | The Effects of repeated Cortical-Striatal Stimulation on Reversal Learning in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder |
| Ali McCathern | Missing Stimulus Mismatch Negativity in Chronic Schizophrenia |
| Ann-Elodie Robert | The Role of Deviant Peer Association, Positive Alcohol Expectancies, and Family Support in Adolescent Heavy Drinking |
| Dhruv Kohli | Neural Substrates Underlying Face Processing in Autism |
| Jackson Mitzner | The Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Self-Administration of Sucrose in Mice |
| Jennifer Cortes | Effects of Cocaine Self Administration on Sleep in Rhesus Macaques |
| Joseph Klein | The Effect of Chronic ?9-THC on Working Memory in Non-Human Primates |
| Mark Zaki | Altered Cortical Expression of NARP: Impact on PV Neurons in Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, and Major Depressive Disorder |
| Melinda Pierdomenico | Chandelier Cell Cartridges in Layer 2 in Schizophrenia Prefrontal Cortex |
| Michael Scheetz | Superficial White Matter Cell Density Alterations In Schizophrenia |
| Raissa Berry | Modifications in Perineuronal Nets Surrounding Pyramidal Cells in Schizophrenia Subjects |
| Robert Tessier | Effects of Chronic Corticosterone Treatment on Fear Memory in Rats |
| Rujuta Patil | Thalamic Plasticity in Cortico-Striato-Thalamo-Cortical Circuits |
| Sennay Ghenbot | Cartridges in Prefrontal Cortex Layers 5/6 in Schizophrenia |
| Spencer Waplinger | The Opposing Actions of CLOCK and CREB Regulate Tyrosine Hydroxylase Gene Expression |
| Tadhg Schempf | Vilip-1 in Alzheimer's Disease |
| Tulsi Malavia | Finding Genetic Clues for the Causation of Schizophrenia through Associations with Auto-Immune Diseases |
| Zachary Jessen | Artifact Removal in MEG Research |
