Seminars & Events
Monday, October 4, 2010: Dr. Geoffrey Schoenbaum (University of Maryland Baltimore) will speak on "The Orbitofrontal Cortex and Adaptive Behavior" at 4:45pm in Goodpaster Hall 195.
Monday, December 6, 2010: Dr. Catherine Carr (University of Maryland College Park) will speak on "Binaural Hearing: Lessons from Evolution" at 4:45pm in Goodpaster Hall 195.
Alumni Highlight
Dr. Erin Johnson '02 recently received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Rochester School of Medicine, and was inducted as an alumni member of Nu Rho Psi.
SMP Spotlight
Ron Saul, "Chronic activation of the substantia nigra nociceptin/orphanin receptor induces motor deficits similar to Parkinson's disease," 2008. Saul, the 2008 winner of the Neuroscience Award, infused a drug into the substantia nigra of rats and measured the resulting motor behaviors, mood disturbances, and cognitive abilities.
News
The Third Annual Brain Bee was held on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2009. Participants included 15 teams and 12 individual contestants from 5 local high schools.
"Neuroscience Day" at St. Mary's was held on November 14, 2008 to celebrate 25 years of neuroscience research at St. Mary's College of Maryland. Sixty neuroscience alumni, faculty, students, and guests attended the day-long celebration which included neuroscience games and trivia, a poster session featuring current student and alumni research, a keynote address by Dr. Catharine Rankin, and a banquet.
Faculty and students attended the Society of Neuroscience 2008 Annual Meeting November 15 - 19 in Washington, DC. Rob Blackwell presented a poster describing his SMP research.
The Second Annual Brain Bee was held on Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008. Participants included 10 teams and 5 individual contestants from 3 local high schools.
SMCM faculty, students and alumni attended and presented research at the Society of Neuroscience 2006 Annual Meeting Oct. 13 through Oct. 18 in Atlanta, GA.
Matthew Wiest was awarded a travel grant from the Biology Division of the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) to present findings from his directed research experience (with Ron Saul), "Effect of a Neonatal Ventral Hippocampal Lesion on Working Memory in Rats," at the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting in Atlanta in October 2006. The travel grants (up to $250 each) are for undergraduate students presenting original research results at a regional or national, discipline-specific meeting during the fiscal year 2006 - 2007.
Gwen Calhoon was awarded a Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN) Student Travel Award to attend the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting in Atlanta in October 2006. This competitive national award is given to about 10 undergraduate students each year. Gwen presented her SMP research at the meeting.
Meg MacFarland was the recipient of the inaugural Neuroscience Award. This book award is given to a graduating senior demonstrating superior depth of understanding, critical thinking, and research and communication skills in the field of neuroscience; and participation over and above what is expected in the SMCM Neurosciences program.
Two students presented research at the SYNAPSE meeting, April 1, 2006 (SYNAPSE = Symposium for Young Neuroscientists and Professors of the Southeast) at Davidson College, Davidson, NC. Gwen Calhoon presented her SMP work via a poster entitled "The Effects of Cognitive Intervention in Adolescence on Behavioral Abnormalities in a Rat Model of Schizophrenia" (authors Gwendolyn G. Calhoon, Anne Marie Brady). Ron Saul presented his directed research work via a poster entitled "Effect of a Neonatal Ventral Hippocampal Lesion on Working Memory in Rats" (authors Ronald D. Saul, Matthew K. Wiest, Anne Marie Brady).
Dr. Anne Marie Brady was awarded two grants to support summer research for undergraduate students who will spend 10 weeks collaborating with her on a project of common interest, the SOMAS (Support of Mentors and their Students in the Neurosciences) Award of $10,000 (includes a $3000 student stipend) which was one of six grants that was funded this year (out of 50 submitted proposals) and the CUR (Council on Undergraduate Research) Award of $4,500 (includes a $3000 student stipend). The students who will be working with Dr. Brady this summer are Ron Saul (a rising junior, currently a biology major, planning to do a self-designed major in neuroscience) and Cassie Ruiz (a rising senior, psychology major with a neuroscience minor).
In the project, they will be investigating potential cognitive deficits in a rat model of addictive behavior. Rats will be given repeated doses of methamphetamine, and then their behavior will be measured on a variety of learning and memory tasks. The eventual goal of this work is to understand the neurobiological mechanisms that may underlie the cognitive and behavioral impairments seen in drug-addicted humans.
SMCM faculty and students attended and presented research at the Society of Neuroscience 2005 Annual Meeting Nov. 12 through Nov. 16 in Washington, D.C. (students attended on the 12th and 13th). Angy Kallarackal was the only student who presented research and did so via a poster entitled "Olfactory Discrimination Learning in a Mouse Model of Neurofibromatosis" (co-authored by Dr. Aileen Bailey). Dr. Anne Marie Brady presented a poster of her research entitled "Methamphetamine Self-administration is Enhanced in the Neonatal Ventral Hippocampal Lesion Model of Schizophrenia" and Dr. Aileen Bailey presented a poster of her research entitled "192 IgG-saporin Lesions to the Nucleus Basalis Magnocellularis do not Disrupt the Retention of Learning Set Formation."
