Zaden

Hey there!

My name is Zaden and I am a Psychology major with a minor in Italian and English. I have worked with this lab since Spring 2023, and I’m currently planning to attend graduate school for clinical therapy once I obtain all my credits here at UAlbany. I work with the behavior team, where we study and observe differences between wildtype and EAAC1 knockout mice with reward seeking behavior, how well they perform these tasks, how fast they learn the new tasks, and so on. Initially most of my time was spent training these mice, however with the help of my labmates I’ve been able to dedicate more time to data analysis using the Igor and SPSS software applications. It has certainly been challenging being in a new environment (and becoming more tech savvy with computers), oftentimes it feels that I am drinking from a fire hose when it comes to learning, but overcoming these obstacles is immensely gratifying. Not only has this experience taught me more about neuroscience, but also about being a more competent, responsible, and efficient worker. The people here are very cooperative, making the workload more manageable and enjoyable. It's been a genuine pleasure working here, and I’m eager to witness further progression of this lab. In times of leisure I typically read, play video games, go hiking with friends and spend time with family. When finances and spare time align, I love to travel and attend music festivals.

Massa

Hi everyone!

My name is Massa and I’m majoring in biology on the pre-med track with a business minor.  I would love to pursue a career in medicine as a doctor where I can learn about the human body and take care of patients. This was my first year at UAlbany after I had transferred from FMCC and my first semester at the lab. I was interested in joining so I can learn more about neurodegenerative disease, lab techniques, and just understanding how research is actually conducted beyond looking at a scientific paper. I’ve learned so much already with the help of my teammates and Annalisa, and am looking forward to learning more and working with everyone! My favorite thing about the lab is… mice! I used to be very scared of them, and after training them for a while I got used to them and now I enjoy it! I spend most of the time in LAR training the mice with the lever press training where they have to press the lever to get a reward. In my free time,  I like to discover new coffee shops and I LOVE to color.

Jessica

Hello everyone!

My name is Jessica and I’m a second semester freshman. I have been working in Annalisa’s lab since January 2024. I am a Biochemistry major with a Spanish minor on a pre-med track. Even though I am still fairly new to the lab, I can already say I’ve learned so much. As a part of the behavior team I’ve gained a lot of new skills including: handling lab animals, data analysis, and I am in the process of learning procedures using immunohistochemistry and further proficiency with analysis software with the help of my fellow lab members, Zaden, Abby, and Massa. Being in this lab has not only helped foster my interest in neuroscience but also given me hands-on experience while working in tandem with other lab members. In my free time you can find me sleeping, studying, or spending time with friends. I am grateful for this experience and for such an understanding PI for answering all of my questions when I was first starting out. I am excited to see what else I will learn here!

Abby

Hello everyone! 

My name is Abby, a second semester sophomore. I’ve been working in Annalisa’s lab since spring 2023. I’m pursuing a career in medicine and can say working in lab has given me lots of valuable skills I can carry into the future. I’ve been working on the behavioral EAAC1 project where I’ve learned skills in data analysis, immunohistochemistry, handling lab animals and performing stereotaxic surgery. Working hands on in the lab has given me experience past any class along with being able to work effectively on a team. I’m a chemistry major with a biological emphasis on the pre-med track. In my free time I love hanging out with my friends, working out and of course, studying.  

Mya

Hey everyone!

My name is Mya, and I’m a second semester freshman! I have been working with Annalisa since fall semester ’23, and have learned a lot. I always wanted to go into medicine and learning different techniques and methods to solving different problems and since being in this lab I have learned a bunch of new things I wouldn’t have learned in my classes. I am a biology major with a minor in medical anthropology and neuroscience, with a goal to learn more about the different regions of the brain and apply that to medicine. In my downtime I enjoy hanging out with friends, taking a nap or I’ll be in the library “studying”. But I can’t wait to continue next with the lab next year and see what happens along the way!

Aiden

Hello everyone!

My name is Aiden Cho, and I’ve been working with Annalisa throughout the course of my second-semester as a freshman student. I am a Biochemistry and Psychology Major at University at Albany, and there is still so much for me to learn. At first glance at the lab, all this neuronal terminology was a bit provoking, however through great lab-mates and a great PI, I was able to further understand the fundamentals of what I was actually learning. I realized I was not alone and was able to rely on my fellow mentors, Umair Hassan and Brianna Tsakh. This lab has given me so much experience, as well as knowledge on the human brain, and only piqued my interest in it further. From dot-blot to western-blot, I learned a variety of skills such as focusing on the measurement of expression levels of glutamate receptors in the hippocampus, communication, PCR, and brain slicing. Just by getting hands on experience, I could feel myself learning more information than I had learned in actual classes. Outside the lab, I am often actively participating in a wide variety of sports, or caught taking a nap in my dorm. Although I am relatively new, I see myself enjoying my time at the lab further throughout the course of my college years, and I am so excited to see what obstacles I will have to overcome. I can’t wait to see what next year has for me!

Working as a team

We are the PCR Team at the Scimemi Lab at UAlbany. We manage all the identification, genotyping, and breeding of the mouse colony. We mastered all these skills over the course of the Spring 2024 semester. Most importantly, we developed teamwork. Our Team consists of Victoria Fiorelli, Kathryn Casey, and Alaina Jeeson as well as our day-to-day mentor, Dr. Phillip Albrecht. 

Victoria: I feel honored to be working in Dr. Scimemi’s lab as a second-semester transfer student. I am currently a Biology Major at UAlbany. When I joined the lab, I thought I would witness research in action and contemplate the implications that follow, such as passing on learned information in the context of basic science with long-term implications on human health. My expectations were far exceeded: almost instantly I caught the neuroscience bug. Everyone within Dr. Scimemi’s lab is not only intelligent but also talented in the way they describe and orchestrate their methods within the mouse brain. I am always delighted with the buzz of activity and knowledge that fills her lab, and it has been such an inspiring atmosphere. Needless to say, I will be reading some neuroscience texts over the summer. When I am not wondering about how in the world Dr. Scimemi let me be a part of her work, I am usually found reading, training my dogs, volunteering, or out in the wilderness. 

Kathryn: Hi everyone, I’m a junior at UAlbany working in the Scimemi lab as of January 2024. I transferred to the school this past fall from Siena College and gained interest in Dr. Scimemi’s lab after taking an introductory neuroscience class. I have been able to meet like-minded peers and gain access to mentors who have really helped me develop my critical thinking, and practical skills and have provided guidance on how to tackle my journey in the world of research. Outside of the lab, you can find me at the gym, at Afrim’s playing for my Co-ed soccer league, or in line at Starbucks in the campus center for a matcha latte. 

Alaina: Hello everyone! I am a Freshman at UAlbany, the youngest member of the team. I also joined the Scimemi Lab in January 2024. Joining the lab was a completely new experience for me as I didn’t have prior familiarity with a bio laboratory, it was also a huge step out of my comfort zone. People in my team, my mentors as well as other lab members contributed greatly to my learning experience here. From knowing only theory about PCR, working in the lab has taught me about the hands-on aspect of it, greatly increasing my understanding of the process and its use in research. I developed skills like teamwork, communication, and problem-solving.

What do we do? Our main goal in the lab is to ensure that all the mice of interest in our colonies are properly genotyped. First, our team runs cage checks to ensure our mice are healthy. Second, we monitor potentially pregnant females and wean litters who are ready to be separated. To ensure we can identify pups within our litters we also use this time to give them an identification code consisting of their birth date, and unique tattoo markings on their hind and front paws. We take tissue samples from their tails and extract DNA from them. Third, we run PCR for the samples and gel electrophoresis for the analysis of specific genes. Fourth, We enter the information into a litter record to share the genotyping results with the rest of the lab.

 

Niitiggya

Hello everyone!

My name is Niitiggya and I am a junior in the honors college majoring in human biology. I am part of the Upstate Accelerated Scholars program and I will be matriculating to SUNY Upstate for medical school after graduating from UAlbany. In my free time, I enjoy working out and going on scenic drives.

I joined the Scimemi lab in spring 2022 to learn more about Alzheimer’s. To my surprise, I learned more than I thought imaginable in such a short period of time. Over the last four months, I performed stereotaxic surgeries, PCR, and perfusions. To be able to see a project through all the way from the characterization of a young mouse’s genotypes to an analysis of its cortical tissue has been a rewarding experience. The first project I worked on was understanding the role of amyloid-beta plaques in synaptic transmission in the CA1 region of the hippocampus. I injected a viral vector bilaterally into the hippocampus and performed a perfusion of the brain to analyze hippocampal slices after 3 weeks. While I read about this procedure multiple times in textbooks, to see perform it in person expanded my knowledge of the subject tenfold. Aside from lab skills, I learned a great deal about data collection and analysis. I learned how to not only interpret data, but to also convey my findings to an audience. I am so grateful for my time in the Scimemi lab thus far and I cannot wait for all that I will learn over the upcoming semesters!

Niitiggya Taneja

And then came graduation time!

Hello everyone,

My name is Saad Ahmad, and I am a graduating senior at SUNY Albany. I have been an undergraduate researcher in the Scimemi Lab since freshman year in 2018. I have recently completed my honors thesis on the Circadian Modulation of Astrocyte Morphology and Synaptic Transmission. I would like to extend my gratitude to everyone in the Scimemi Lab for supporting me through my undergraduate research career, as without their help I would never have been able to complete an honors thesis. Furthermore, the Scimemi Lab has been instrumental in helping me develop skills that I would not have been proficient in with just classwork. From learning PCR in my freshman year to performing image analysis with Imaris, they have been consistently patient and encouraging despite my many mistakes. One of the most valuable lessons I have learned through my undergraduate career is to own up to my mistakes and understand why they happened. By doing this, I gained a better understanding of procedures and troubleshooting steps. The lab also frequently hosted speakers and attended seminars together so I knew if I didn’t understand something there would be others to lean on for help.

My future career goals are to attend medical school and eventually become a physician. While I prepare my application, I will be working with Dr. Jaqueline Burre and Dr. Manu Sharma at the Appel Alzheimer’s Disease Research Institute. I hope to continue to expand my interest in neuroscience and research during my gap year and hopefully carry the skills I learn over into my career as a physician.

Saad

Corey

Hi!

I am Corey Nilon and I am about to finish my third year here at SUNY Albany. I am pursuing a Bachelor’s in biology and have minors in sociology and neuroscience. I originally joined the Scimemi lab in Fall 2020 and have happily been here for two years now! In my free time, I like to be outdoors, play sports, and travel.

In Fall 2020, I started learning polymerase chain reaction and the process of genotyping. Now, for over the last year, I have been focusing on the behavioral aspect of the EAAC1 project. With the help of others in the lab, I was able to truly organize and design my own experiment. I was  knee-deep in each part of the project- it’s planning, data collection, analysis, and conclusions. While there have certainly been many bumps in the road, I am thankful for them, as they’ve directly contributed to my learning. Overall, I would say this experience so far has been incredible. My knowledge of scientific theory, experimental design, general motor behaviors, and neuroscience have all expanded significantly. I presented my research on behavior twice this semester, first at the 19th Annual Student Conference and then at the Biology Undergraduate Symposium. This were my first experiences creating a scientific poster and presenting my research- it was awesome. Of all I’ve learnt in college, these have definitely been among the most rewarding experiences I’ve had.

Going forward, I am excited to build upon my studies by trying something new- computational neuroscience. This summer, I will be interning at the lab and I’ll be taking my first dive into astrocyte imaging/modeling and analysis through programs like Imaris. I look forward to trying something new!

Sarah

  

   Hello everyone!

    I am Sarah Anderson, I am just about to finish my junior year here at SUNY Albany. I am currently working towards a Bachelor’s in Science with a double major in biology and psychology! I joined the team as an undergraduate research assistant in September of 2021 and it has been an incredible experience thus far! I will continue to gain experience in the Scimemi lab throughout the rest of 2022 and into 2023. This research has expanded my knowledge of neuroscience tenfold and continues to be a learning experience.

    Being a member of the Scimemi lab has been such a great experience. From the moment I joined this lab, everyone has been incredibly welcoming and always willing to help one another out. This was very reassuring, as I had done all of my previous biology labs virtually, I was nervous that the hands-on work would present a tough learning curve. However, with the support of everyone within the Scimemi lab, the transition from virtual to in-person was made relatively easy.

    Throughout the fall 2021 semester, I was learning PCR and the proper way to maintain the mouse colony by backcrossing the mice to prevent genetic drift. Towards the end of the fall semester, I began to focus on other projects that were being done by Gabrielle Todd. During the spring 2022 semester, I had transitioned to helping Gabrielle perform a dot blot that compares the glutamate transporter concentrations in wild type and Aß mice at different age cohorts. By learning each step of the complex process from Gabrielle, I was eventually able to perform protein purifications, Bradford assays and dot blots almost entirely independently. I was fortunate enough to get to present my research in the 39th Annual Biological Sciences Research Symposium. This event broadened my horizons to the range of research that is being conducted here at SUNY Albany, and it was overall a really fun event!

    The opportunity that Dr. Scimemi gave me by letting me become one of the undergraduate researchers in her lab is priceless, I have learned so much and will continue to actively learn until I graduate! I can’t wait to be a part of the Scimemi lab for another year!

Sarah Anderson

Mustafa

Hello everyone!

My name is Mustafa Muhi, a Junior Biology major at SUNY Albany. I joined the Scimemi lab in January 2022 and have been working since then. I enjoy reading, traveling, playing video games, and playing soccer. Since I joined the Scimemi I have learned a wide variety of skills ranging from learning to do literature reviews, write papers, PCR, and the ability to scientifically approach challenges that I may face. At the start of my time in the lab, I learned how to handle the mice colonies and genotype the mice through PCR. Although at that time I was very inefficient at those tasks and often needed help, with the help of everyone in the lab I became very efficient and comfortable with my roles. As the lab received the new mouse strains mice, I began with optimization of their PCR protocol. This required me to combine everything I have learned throughout the semester. Although I am still working on some protocol optimization, I hope I could eventually create an efficient protocol for people to use in the future. I have learned so much in the time I have been in this lab, I plan to continue to be a part of the lab this semester and next year. I hope to be able to learn how to do stereotaxic brain surgeries and to be more involved in the lab. I cannot wait to learn more from all the kind people in the Scimemi lab!

Mustafa

Garrett

 

Hi everyone!

   My name is Garrett Wagner, and I am about to graduate here at SUNY Albany with a Bachelor’s in Science in Biology and a minor in Neuroscience. I joined the Scimemi lab in July of 2021 hoping to further my knowledge on how certain mechanisms work within the brain.

   From my interview with Dr. Scimemi, before I even began, I knew that her current work would be quite fascinating to learn.  I began my time in the lab learning PCR as well as how to take care of the mouse colony. In the fall of 2021, I began working with Nurat Affinih and Monica Rodriguez to analyze mouse brain images to determine the effects that the loss of the glutamate transporter, EAAC1, has on dopaminergic cell survival within the mouse midbrain.  My role involved using programs such as Fiji to count the dopaminergic cells and determine regions of interest such as the VTA and SNc.  I also began to familiarize myself with Igor which was used for analysis of our cell count totals and create figures to present our data in a more reasonable format.  Those figures were then included in my presentation at the 39th Annual Biological Sciences Undergraduate Research Symposium.  I valued this opportunity greatly as I gained more experience in presenting to others. 

   From my time in the lab, I have learned so much in just a short period of time.  I’ve gained a much better understanding of how research is performed and the time and effort it takes from everyone in the lab.  As I continue my journey following undergrad, I plan to take a gap year and apply for medical school.  I look forward to continuing my time in the Scimemi Lab this summer as well as other opportunities that may come about. 

Garrett

Jaci

Hello! 

My name is Jaci Yong and I am a sophomore at the University at Albany majoring in Psychology and minoring in Neuroscience. I joined Dr. Scimemi’s neuroscience research lab as a volunteer from Fall 2021 to Spring 2022. After attending one of Dr. Scimemi’s virtual seminars in the Honor’s College during my freshman year about glutamate transporters and the mechanisms that control neurotransmitter release and information transfer among neurons, I became very interested in her research and wanted to get involved with it. Later that summer, the Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Engagement sent out an email saying that Dr. Scimemi was looking to recruit 2 undergraduate students to join her lab in Fall 2021, so I filled out an application, was interviewed, and then accepted into the lab.

As a student who was spending my first year in college learning remotely from home, I felt a bit isolated from the campus community and from research opportunities, which is a big reason why I wanted to get involved in research as soon as I was able to go to campus in-person. I had never worked in a research lab previously, so my first day touring the lab felt a bit intimidating, but I met a lot of great people in the lab who were eager to share their work with me and explain things that I was unsure about. 

In Dr. Scimemi’s research lab, I shadowed PhD student Ben Bennink for my first semester and was trained in mouse colony management and behavior analysis. I worked with the other new undergraduate student, Stephanie Fischer in running behavioral experiments with different groups of mice. Having never worked with animals in a research setting, working with mice (especially newborn mice) took some getting used to, but eventually as I worked with them more frequently and they got older, I became a lot more comfortable. Another challenge I faced was learning how to run software such as MATLAB and Igor Pro for data collection and analysis. I had very little knowledge about technology and coding before this lab, but after becoming more familiar with these programs, I have definitely learned a lot more and I am still learning more new things every day! I have applied to continue conducting behavior research in the 2022-2023 academic year under the Honors Psychology Department and I am excited to explore more aspects of neuroscience research in this lab as well!

Hasan

Hello reader!

My name is Hasan Mehdi and I am an upcoming senior at the University at Albany, pursuing a BS in Biology. I joined the Scimemi lab in the summer of my junior year and have been here ever since!
In my free time, I love playing videogames, ping pong, and basketball. I also love hiking.
Doing research at the lab has taught me a wide range of skills that I never would have imagined. Over the summer, I was taught how to care for a mice colony by Gabrielle Todd as well as genotype them using the polymerase chain reaction. I watched and performed stereotaxic brain surgeries with Patrick Wehrle and learned how to read and present research papers to the rest of the lab. During the school year, I worked with Saad Ahmad and learned the software side of neuroscience, using programs like Imaris to reconstruct confocal images of astrocytes and dendrites, and Igor to conduct density analyses and compile our raw data into figures to present in papers and posters. I also learned how to use Fiji to perform a simple neurite tracer analysis to create figures of all the neurons we analyzed and observed and conducted mouse perfusions with Saad.
Being at the lab has kept me busy. Just in the last couple weeks I presented our poster Dendritic spine morphology changes following stereotaxic injections of A𝛽42-AAV for the 39th Annual Biological Sciences Undergraduate Research Symposium and the CURCE 19th Annual Student Conference. In the future, I want to combine my love of Biology with the world of coding, in the Bioinformatics field. This summer I have been accepted to do a Bioinformatics fellowship at the RNA Institute to get some direct experience with the field.

Hasan

Nikki's life in the lab

Welcome to our neuroscience blog everyone! 

My name is Nikki Dolphin and I am a senior here at the University of Albany finishing my Bachelor's degree in biology this spring! I first became interested in Dr. Scimemi’s neuroscience lab during my junior year after reading her previous research work and laboratory interests. I have always been interested in neuroscience and learning ways to apply certain laboratory skills in order to learn new things about the brain caught my eye. I came with little to no background about caring for or working with our laboratory animal models, mice. During my first week I was brought up to speed and certified to work them. I first initially shadowed another undergraduate student, Nurat, who was preforming surgeries. Later, I learned my role in the lab. I now have been working with different mice colonies for two years and have been put in charge of running our behavioral experiments (I even get to name them!). But of course, with fun also came a lot of work that I was unfamiliar with. I was also responsible for becoming very tech savvy with Igor and MATLAB, both software's I had never even heard of. I was really pushed out of my comfort zone and expected to perform was during this time I really grasped onto my love research and the obstacles that it came with. In addition, we also had weekly lab meetings which I believed were really helpful and knowledgeable. It was during these meetings I was also able to learn about what my peers in the lab were researching and how it pertained to my work. Not only that but we also took turns presenting on various academic journals which gave me a great opportunity to sharpen my reading and presenting skills while also learning something new. 

I hope to attend graduate school in the future to further my research skills and become my own independent researcher!

Nikki

Saad's comment on "Region specific astrocyte subtypes"

Astrocytes are glial cells that tile the nervous system and have complex morphology characterized by multiple branch levels and fine processes. Astrocytes have been regarded as largely identical until recently despite having a large degree of functional diversity. Batiuk et al (2020) explored the molecular diversity of astrocytes using single-cell RNA sequencing. Astrocytes were divided into 5 subtypes (AST1-5) based on the expression of 886 highly variable genes with AST5 being the least abundant (1.4%) and AST1 being the most abundant (36.5%). Furthermore, some subtypes are localized to specific brain regions as AST1 and AST4 are predominantly hippocampal while AST2 is mainly cortical. While some genes are expressed across all subtypes over 70% of enriched genes are specific to a subtype. AST4 was linked to neurogene sis as the enriched genes in this subtype show involvement in mitosis, cell cycle control, transcriptional regulation, neurogenesis, and neuronal differentiation. While AST5 showed considerable overlap with AST4, it was also enriched in genes coding for traditional astrocyte functions such as glucose metabolism. AST1-3 were grouped together as they all showed gene enrichment profiles indicating mature astrocyte function. AST1 showed a distinct specialization in synaptogenesis, synaptic plasticity, and glutamatergic neurotransmission. After establishing the molecular differences among astrocytes, Batiuk et al (2020) looked to explore morphological differences. They found smaller territorial volume in AST2 and 3 which are localized in cortical layers 2-4 when compared to AST3 which is localized to the hippocampal CA3 region. Going forward, it may be interesting to see more studies correlating the transcriptome to morphology and function as we learn more about region-specific astrocytes.

Saad

Reference

Batiuk, M.Y., Martirosyan, A., Wahis, J. et al. Identification of region-specific astrocyte subtypes at single cell resolution. Nat Commun 11, 1220 (2020). 

Hello everyone!

My name is Danielle Saint Hilaire and I am a Senior Biology Major and Neuroscience Mnor. I joined the lab last semester (Fall 2020) and have been really enjoying it! On my first day, I learned all about what Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is, and since then it has been my primary job in the lab, along with colony management. In my short time here in the lab, I have learned more than I thought possible in just a few months. As a new member in the lab, I got acquainted with the various mouse genotypes and the different projects being worked on; I learned quickly that determining the genotype of the mice is an imperative first step to any experiment. So I dove right in. I learned how to decide which genes to type for and I also learned how to follow the extensive protocol for preparing the samples for PCR. I found it really fascinating how I could collect the DNA samples and see it through all the way until we got the final product: the genotype. Aside from technical skills, being a member of the lab has taught me so much about how to analyze scientific literature. In our weekly lab meetings, we rotate (from PhD students, to Masters students, to Undergrads), and we all take turns choosing, dissecting, and presenting a new and cutting edge research article. When I presented my first paper, I remember having to do so much research behind the scenes of the various data collection techniques (as a newly declared Neuroscience Minor, my background in lab techniques was, let’s say, lacking). Not only dissecting these papers for myself, but hearing others from the lab contribute has been so critical in learning how to consume research papers; most papers aren’t as ‘black and white’ as they seem, if you look deep enough, you’ll find a lot of grey areas too. Another unexpected benefit of working in the lab has been overcoming my dislike of public speaking. Before joining the lab, if I was asked to present to the class or share my thoughts, I would’ve high-tailed it in the other direction. But working in the lab and discussing papers in lab meetings/presenting my work at research conferences has made all the difference. And now I actually love presenting - what a reversal! It’s great to be passionate and knowledgeable about a topic and be able to share it with others. Working in the lab has been, by far, my favorite experience at UAlbany. I’ve been able to work with a wonderful group of passionate, focused people, and have been able to learn from them throughout it all. Not only that, but I’ve also been able to contribute to a project that’s bigger than me, that will, hopefully, one day make a difference for someone living with a neurodegenerative disease or OCD.

Danielle

Hello everyone!

My name is Corey Nilon, and I am a sophomore studying Biology with minors in Neuroscience and Sociology. Last semester, because of COVID-19, I was only a virtual member of the lab. This has been my first semester coming to the lab in person and I have enjoyed every part of it. It is a great educational environment to be in and it is so fascinating to see all the projects that people around me are working on! So far, my experience in the lab has been a significant amount of ezTrack data analysis, mouse colony management, and PCR. ezTrack is a Python-based program that I have been using to track the location and trajectories of mice and they perform reward-based motor tasks. Furthermore, going forward, I plan to use this program to note differences in behavior relative to differences in various genes. By studying these mice, we hope to gain insight into the neural circuits controlling behaviors similar to that of obsessive-compulsive disorder. 

Outside of the lab, I am the president of the Special Olympics club and a part of the TriBeta honors society. I also have been volunteering at Albany Medical Center since last Fall, which has been an extremely rewarding experience being able to have primary interactions with all types of medical personnel: doctors, nurses, technicians, and patients. 

I am proud to be a part of the lab as it is a great opportunity to contribute to real-life science. It is very different from most other sciences classes where you're only learning material and things that have already been, for the most part, figured out. The experimental side of science is a pleasure to be a part of, and I look forward to being a part of future discoveries!

In the future, I have hope to attend medical school. From there, I am excited to see where life takes me!

Corey

Ian's synopsis on: "Glutamate signaling and plume characteristics in a genetic mouse model of migraine with aura" by Parker et al.

Migraine is a neurological disorder that commonly consists of symptoms such as extreme headaches and sensory amplifications. It is commonly associated with aura, which is characterized by spreading sensory hallucinations (flashing visual perceptions, numbness, and tingling). Spreading depolarization (SD) is known to be the underlying cause of migraine aura. Familial hemiplegic migraine type 2 (FHM2) is a form of migraine with aura that arises from loss-of-function mutations to the gene ATP1A2 (the gene encoding the predominantly astrocytic alpha2 Na+/K+-ATPase). Astrocytes in heterozygous FHM2 mice show slower uptake kinetics of glutamate due to a 50% reduction in the concentration of glutamate transporter GLT-1a in perisynaptic astrocyte processes. This serves as an effective mouse model for migraine with aura. How this astrocytic mutation reshapes glutamate signaling in awake FHM2 mice is largely unknown. Here, they use the fluorescent glutamate reporter iGluSnFR to measure glutamate in FHM2 and WT mice. They found that FHM2 mice exhibited spontaneous glutamatergic “plumes” that were generally circular in nature and appeared to spread from a central origin. Plumes occurred predominantly in superficial cortical layer 1 (L1a), and much less frequently in deeper L1b and L2/3. This correlated with the density of GLT1a+ astrocyte processes, as L1a exhibited a reduced density of these processes as compared to L2/3, and superfusion of the glutamate transporter inhibitor TFB-TBOA caused a large number of plumes in L1a, leading the researchers to believe that plumes are a result of impaired glutamate uptake. Glutamate release during plumes is likely due to Ca2+-mediated vesicular release from neurons. Once glutamate is released, the presence of plumes is gated by impaired or inefficient glutamate clearance by astrocytes. Plumes tend to occur during the depolarization phase, following the glutamatergic wavefront commonly seen in SD and rises in glutamate and plume frequency predict the onset of SD. This links plumes to the key translational phenotype of FHM2 and all other models of migraine with aura.

Ian

Reference 

Parker, P. D., Suryavanshi, P., Melone, M., Reinhart, K. M., Sawant-Pokam, P. A., Kaufmann, D., Theriot, J. J., Pugliese, A., Conti, F., Shuttleworth, C. W., Pietrobon, D., Brennan, K. C. (2020). Non-canonical glutamate signaling in a genetic model of migraine with aura. NEURON, 109(4), 561-740. doi:10.1101/2020.01.02.891770