NBB NeuroPost Newsletter
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NBB Reference Sheet
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We would like to thank Dr. Christie Fowler for her dedicated service as Director of INP for the past three years! The INP program has flourished with notable excellence in the recruitment of doctoral students with outstanding gender and socio-economic diversity. It has been a pleasure to have her as Program Director!
We are delighted to announce that Dr. Nobert Fortin has accepted the position of Director of the Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program (INP). Dr. Fortin is an Associate Professor in our NBB Department and brings extensive experience in graduate education to this position. He is an experienced doctoral student mentor and has served the INP through |
| membership on both the Executive and Admission Committees. Dr. Fortin has excellent leadership and organizational skills to assume and excel in this position. Dr. Fortin’s appointment as INP Director is effective July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2026. |
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Dr. Mike Yassa named the 2023-2024 recipient of the Distinguished Faculty Award for Mentorship. The Senate confers this award on a faculty member who has made significant contributions to the university through mentorship. It is among the most prestigious awards University of California faculty members can receive from their colleagues. Congratulations!
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Dr. Frank LaFerla named the 2023-2024 recipient of the better World Award. The Senate confers this award on a faculty member whose professional contributions have positively impacted the world community in an extraordinary manner. It is among the most prestigious awards University of California faculty members can receive from their colleagues. Considering the large number of exceptionally qualified faculty members, this is indeed a fabulous honor. Congratulations!
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Dr. Elizabeth Chrastil has been awarded the Early Career Award from Psychonomic Society. The PS Early Career Award recognizes young scientists who have made excellent scientific contributions to the field of cognitive psychology early in their careers. Congratulations!
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UCI Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders neuroscientists led by Dr. Vivek Swarup have developed a new tool in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease. The new process creates a “meta-cell” that overcomes the challenges of studying a single cell. The technique can also be used to study other diseases throughout the body. Details about the meta-cell were published in the online journal Cell Press. READ MORE |
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UCI biologists Dr. Kim Green and Dr. Tom Lane have been awarded $250,000 from the Alzheimer’s Association to assess how COVID-19 affects the onset and severity of Alzheimer’s disease. READ MORE
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Wellbeing in a Busy Life (Part One): Pay Me Now or Pay Me Later
In life, it is often the case that things we ignore today only become worse in the future. There was an old TV commercial for Fram Oil Filters called “Pay me now or pay me later” ( seen here). In it, a mechanic holding a Fram oil filter mentions the importance of regular oil and oil filter changes for optimizing engine life. Another mechanic is behind him rebuilding an engine from a car owner who apparently did not heed that advice. The commercial ends with the first mechanic saying “you can pay me now” and the other mechanic saying “Or you can pay me later”. I think this metaphor speaks well to the crisis of physical and mental health problems in this country. READ MORE |
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Claire Butler
Postdoctoral Fellow (Green Lab)
Where are you from? I’m from the United Kingdom. Near Birmingham, not that many people will know where that is, until I say Peaky Blinders.
Where did you do your Undergraduate Degree and PhD? For my undergraduate and masters degree I went to the university of Southampton, UK (not many people have heard of it). For the PhD, I went to the University of Cambridge. It is very much like Hogwarts, my college, Selwyn, had the Gryffindor colors, however I’m a Ravenclaw, the best house of course.
What is your primary research focus? I am in Kim Green’s Lab and also part of the MODEL-AD consortium. We are striving to generate and characterize animal models that better recapitulate Late on-set Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD). I have a strong focus on the role of microglia in AD and the role of specific variants which have identified via genome wide association studies (GWAS), these are ABCA7 and ABI3. I am hoping to submit my first paper from UCI at the end of this month!
Tell us what you like to do when you aren't working on research. If I’m not working you’ll likely find me outside, either at the beach, trying to surf, or hiking. If I’m not outside you’ll find me at home with my cat Pippin (yes, she is named after the hobbit from Lord of the Rings).
What is something most people don’t know about you? I lived in Hungary for 3 years when I was about 1-4 years old. I used to speak the language, now all I can remember is the Hungarian word for scone. Don’t ask me why!
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Franklin Garcia
Postdoctoral Fellow (Wood Lab)
What is your favorite aspect of your research? I appreciate that my research is able to take on a multidisciplinary approach thanks to Prof. Marcelo Wood's ongoing effort for our research projects to strive for being at the crossroads of molecular biology, behavioral neuroscience and electrophysiology. This really makes the Wood laboratory a very unique and dynamic research environment.
What is your primary research focus? What do you want to achieve with your research? What papers do you have coming through in the next year? My research is focused on examining molecular mechanisms that are heavily active during memory consolidation, and essential to long-term memory processes, that may become less efficient or non-functional with aging or onset of neurodegenerative disorders. Ultimately, the goal with this work would be to identify new candidate pathways or regulatory mechanisms that can be leveraged towards the development of novel approaches to treat memory decline and memory impairments. At the moment, we are preparing to publish a study where we find that Crest (i.e., Calcium responsive transactivator) is essential for long-term memory formation and synaptic plasiticty and that post-translational phosphorylation is associated with a CREST-CREBBP-dependent signaling during memory consolidation. We plan to follow-up this study in the aging and AD brain to determine how Crest function may be affected.
If you could go back in time and make little changes to your childhood, what is one thing you’d learn and master over the years so you’d be an expert at it today? I would have taken a much earlier interest in learning music theory as another language during my childhood. I see music as a great outlet from my work, but I feel that there are some songs that aren't truly appreciated unless you understand the language of music.
What crazy activities do you dream of trying someday? Wingsuit flying and kite surfing.
What’s the last thing you learned? The Soprano ukulele
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UPCOMING SEMINARS & EVENTS
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JULY
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ICAN Symposium
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Thursday
8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
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Food, Keynote Speaker, Trainee Talks, Prospective Faculty Talks, and Lightning Talks
Join NBB for the annual Irvine Center for Addiction and Neuroscience (ICAN) Symposium. This event will be held at 1114 Natural Sciences I.
REGISTER
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SEPT
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NBB Department Retreat
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21
Thursday
8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
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Food, Keynote Speakers, Prospective Faculty Talks, and Lightning Talks
SAVE THE DATE for the annual NBB Department Retreat. This event will be held at The Cove, UCI.
More information coming soon.
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STUDENT UPDATES & REMINDERS
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Direct Deposit Update - UCPath
For those that were not paid last quarter in UCPath, the system automatically disenrolls your information from direct deposit. Please be advised to log into UCPath to confirm that your Direct Deposit is currently active. If not active, please go ahead and re-enroll as needed. If your direct deposit is not active, the system will default to mailing out a check to the mailing address you have on file through UCPath. |
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School of Biological Sciences
The School of Biological Sciences offers 12 Fellowship awards to exceptional graduate students.
LEARN MORE |
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Graduate Division
A variety of financial support options are provided for Graduate Students in both PhD and Master’s programs at UCI. LEARN MORE |
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