Undergraduates in Neuroscience: Summer Research
Fourth year psychology student Isabel Rodriquez talks about her summer research experience.
This summer, I had the pleasure of conducting research under the mentorship of Dr. Henry Colecraft at Columbia University’s Medical Center through SPURS (Summer Program for Underrepresented Students) a biomedical summer research program. Dr. Colecraft’s research investigates the role of Voltage Dependent Calcium Channels (CaV) on the cardio- vascular system and on the central nervous system. The overall experience of participating in SPURS was rewarding since the program was enriched with weekly seminars, professional training, and departmental lectures. Additionally, I had the opportunity to attend the annual Physiological & Cellular Biophysics Conference. The best part of the program, however, was really the opportunity to fully dedicate myself to a research project of my interest and work with supportive lab members.
Voltage Dependent Calcium Channels (CaV) are a class of calcium channels that activate upon depolarization of the membrane. CaV are crucial to biological responses since they convert electrical signals into chemical signals in all excitable cells. In the Cardiovascular system, deregulations of CaV are implicated in Angina, Hypertension and Arrhythmia. In the Central Nervous System, CaV are implicated in Migraines, Epilepsy, and Neuropathic Pain. Dr. Colecraft’s lab has been investigating a new approach involving Genetically Encoded Molecules that Inhibit Calcium Channels (GEMICCs for short) as an alternative to current pharmaceutical treatments for these ailments.
GEMICCs, unlike large drug molecules, have the capacity of targeting specific cellular and sub-cellular proteins. In my project, I had to create and investigate the effectiveness of a GEMICC encoded with a Pleckstrin Homology (PH) protein. A PH protein is a fast reacting agent, unlike other proteins, such as those previously used for other GEMICCs. Based on preliminary confocal imaging results, it seems that the generated PH-GEMICC successfully attaches to the membrane of cells and then quickly detaches from the membrane.
Unfortunately, due to the eight-week constraint of the SPURS program, it is too soon to tell if the PH-GEMICC is serviceable. Further experiments are needed to really examine the efficacy and conditions under which this PH GEMICC will successfully function; however, this new PH GEMICC appears to be a promising therapeutic modulator with numerous implications for biotechnology, cardiovascular, and neurological health.
Start thinking about what you could do next summer! (many deadlines are Nov/Dec)
In New York City:
Outside of New York City:
Research Opportunities During the School Year - Earn Course Credit!
The Psychology and Biology Departments offer college credit for independent research projects. Here are some of the Brooklyn College faculty members involved in neuroscience research: Professors Israel Abramov, Jennifer Basil, Elizabeth Chua, Andrew Delamater, Paul Forlano, Yu Gao, Frank Grasso, Natalie Kacinik, Dan Kurylo, Laura Rabin, Anthony Sclafani, and Deborah Walder. You can also work with researchers at SUNY Downstate.
Student Researchers' Work Presented at National and Regional Conferences
(undergraduates in bold)
Delamater, A.R., Derman, R., Fein, M., & Desouza, A. Temporal and non-temporal factors modulate the US preexposure effect. Associative Learning Symposium (XV), 2011, Gregynog, Wales.
Forlano, P.M., Nielsen, L. and Timothy, M. 2011. Monoamine innervation of vocal-acoustic circuitry in the plainfin midshipman fish. (Invited talk for Fish Bioacoustics: Sensory biology, sound production, and behavior of acoustic communication in fishes; Acoustical Society of America, Seattle, WA)
Fein, M.I., Derman, R., Campese, V., Balsam, P., & Delamater, A.R. The time between USs critically affects the magnitude of the US preexposure effect. Annual Meeting of the Pavlovian Society, 2010, Baltimore, MD.
Saint-Dic, R. & Delamater, A.R. Goal-directed discriminative instrumental responding after limited and extended training. Annual Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, 2011, Cambridge, MA.
Science Day - On May 13, Scientists across the Brooklyn College Community got together!
 This conference brought together graduate, undergraduate, and high school students from many departments and programs associated with Brooklyn College. Neuroscience research had a strong showing, including undergraduate Travis A. Alvarez (pictured above with Dr. Peter Lipke), who won 3rd Place in the Undergraduate Division for his project, "The BSI as a screening tool for psychological disorders in patients with traumatic brain injury" with Drs. Laura Rabin and Joseph Rath. For more on Science Day, visit this link: http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/pub/2447.htm
Representative Neuroscience Presentations (undergraduates in bold):
Alvarez, T., Rabin, L., & Rath, J. “Elevated Brief Symptom Inventory Scores in Outpatients with Acquired Brain Injury: Psychopathology or Cognitive/Physical Symptoms?”
Charcape, M., Rabin, L., Spadaccini, A., & Grant, K. “Trends in Neuropsychological Assessment of Ethnic Minorities: A Survey of North American Neuropsychologists.”
Cooley, B., McAusland, T., Eskine, K.J., & Kacinik, N.A. “Idiomatic representation: Can live bodies wake up dead metaphors?”
Desouza, A. & Delamater A., “Temporal and Competitive Processes in the US Preexposure Effect in Pavlovian Learning.”
Derman, R.C., Campese V., Delamater A. “The Effect of Dorsal Hippocampal Lesions on Acquisition of Conditional Control by Temporal Cues in a Feature Positive Occasion-Setting Task.”
Kraus, S., Rabin, L. “Sleep America: Managing the Crisis of Adult Chronic Insomnia and Associated Conditions.”
McAusland, T., Eskine, K.J., & Kacinik, N.A. “Feeling moved by art? Fear, not physiological arousal, increases sublime feelings about abstract art.”
Petersen, C.L., Kurochkin, P., Nielsen, L., Timothy, M., Sisneros, J., & Forlano, P.M. “Brain Activation and Neurochemistry Underlying Behavioral Response to Social Auditory Signals in the Plainfin Midshipman Fish.”
Rapariaa, E., Walder, D.J., Daly, M., Chua, K., Azimova, N., Crumbley, A., Harkavy-Friedman, J., Ben David, S., & Corcoran, C. “Comorbid Symptoms in Individuals at Clinical High-Risk for Psychosis.”
Rodriguez, I., El-Haddad, R., & Kacinik, N.A. “Are there hemispheric differences in generating literal versus figurative meanings?”
Saint-Dic, R. & Delamater, A. “Goal-directed Discriminative Instrumental Responding after Limited and Extended Training.”
Timothy, M. & Forlano, P.M. “The Distribution of Serotonin in the Brain of a Vocal Teleost, Porichthys notatus, Localized through Immunohistochemistry.”
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