News

Neuroscience Faculty Position through Prominence-to-Preeminence Fund
The UVA Department of Neuroscience has an opening for a new faculty position through the Prominence-to-Preeminence Fund, which is a multi-million dollar initiative to support STEM research across UVA Grounds.
For more information about this exciting opportunity, please see the posting here.

NGP Faculty, Dr. Tajie Harris, receives Prominence-to-Preeminence Fund
Congratulations to Dr. Tajie Harris, Professor of Neuroscience and NGP faculty for leading one of the four projects that recently received support from the Prominence-to-Preeminence Fund.
Prominence-to-Preeminence Fund is a $19 million initiative to support interdisciplinary STEM research across Grounds.
Learn more about Dr. Harris’ plan to bring together collaborators across grounds to better understand neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s disease and the other STEM efforts supported.

UVAToday features NGP's Dr. Manoj Patel and Dr. Eric Wengert
Congratulations to Dr. Manoj Patel (NGP, Dept of Anesthesiology) Dr. Eric Wengert (NGP alum), and all the lab members for having their work featured in UVAToday this morning.
The article Epilepsy Research Reveals Previously Unknown Trigger for Seizures can be found here and covers their work published in Journal of Neuroscience.
Great job Patel lab!

Eric Wengert says, "Mentors, don’t neglect scientific trainees. Treat them as you’d like to be treated"
Eric Wengert, NGP student in Manoj Patel's lab shares valuable perspective on mentorship, while looking back on his first experiences in a lab.
He shares that with us here, in Science Working Life Magazine.

Dr. Meng Zhuang, Neuroscience Presidential Fellow publishes in Scientific Reports
Dr. Meng Zhuang (Chemistry, 2020) received the University of Virginia in Presidential Fellowship in Neuroscience in 2018 while completing her dissertation under the mentorship of Drs Cassandra Fraser (Chemistry, Biomedical Engineering) and Jaideep Kapur (Neurology). The fellowship was to develop and adapt novel oxygen sensing boron nanoparticles (BNPs) as functional probes of brain oxygen activity during seizures. That work has culminated in the Scientific Reports article Difluoroboron β-diketonate polylactic acid oxygen nanosensors for intracellular neuronal imaging.
Congratulations to Drs Zhuang, Fraser and Kapur as well as the members of their lab and the Brain Institute.

NGP's Gaultier Lab Discovery + COVID-19 Clinical Trial Find!
Check out this awesome piece in UVAToday, highlighting Dr. Alban Gaultier (Dept of Neuroscience, Director, NGP) and his former BIMS student Dorian A. Rosen.
Their finding that fluvoxamine may stop the deadly inflammation known as sepsis inspired clinical trials at Washington University to investigate potential reduction of cytokines in cases of COVID-19.
Here is where you can find Drs Gaultier and Rosen's original publication in Science Translational Medicine.
Anastasia Brodovskaya: American Epilepsy Society's Young Investigator Award Recipient
Anastasia Brodovskaya, a Neuroscience Graduate Program student in Dr. Jaideep Kapur's lab at the University of Virginia has received the 2020 Young Investigator Award from the American Epilepsy Society. This award recognizes young investigators conducting basic, translational, or clinical epilepsy research.
Anastasia's abstract titled “Indirect Basal Ganglia Pathway Propagates and Modulates Frontal Lobe Seizures” was one of 20 selected out of over 1,100 submissions for the honor.
Anastasia's ePoster will receive a recogntion ribbon and she will also be receiving a $1200 award.
Congratulations to Anastasia and the Kapur lab. Great work!
Congrats NGP Double Hoo Recipient, Joshua Milstein
Congratulations to Joshua Milstein, NGP second year in Dr. Heather Ferris’ lab, as well as Emily Blan, a second year undergraduate Neuroscience major for being recipients of UVA’s Double Hoo research awards.
The Double Hoo awards fund collaborations between undergraduate and graduate students and includes $6000 toward research expenses, funded through the Robert C. Taylor Fund.
Learn more about Josh's research and the remaining Double Hoo recipients here.

NGP Student Eric Wengert & Double Hoo Award
Congratulations to Eric Wengert, (NGP, Manoj Patel lab) who recently was awarded, along with Abrar Majidi Idrisso (3rd year mathematics major), the Double Hoo Award.
The “Double Hoo” research awards fund pairings of undergraduate and graduate students who collaborate on research projects. They are awarded up to $6000 towards research expenses. There were 56 pairs that applied this year, and Eric and Abrar were one of the 15 who were awarded!
Read more about it here.

New Contributor to Age-Related Hearing Loss Identified
Read more about how Jung-Bum Shin, PhD (NGP, Department of Neuroscience) and Ting-Ting Du, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in the Shin lab have identified a potential contributor to age-related hearing loss.

NIH Salutes UVA Brain Discovery in List of 2018’s Most Promising Medical Advances
A University of Virginia School of Medicine discovery about the role of the brain’s cleaning system in aging and Alzheimer’s disease has been recognized by the National Institutes of Health as one of 2018’s most promising medical advances.
Read the full article here.

"UVA Brain Discovery Could Block Aging’s Terrible Toll on the Mind"
Dr. Jonathan Kipnis (Chair, Department of Neuroscience & NGP faculty) and lab members are featured in a UVA Today piece covering their recent Nature publication investigating the link between the brain's lympthatic system and the aging brain.
Congratulations to the Kipnis lab for this groundbreaking work!

UVa study: Health of pregnant mom’s gut can indicate risk of autism
Dr. John Lukens (The Department of Neuroscience) and doctoral student Catherine Lammert (Neuroscience Graduate Program) have been featured in multiple newspieces for their work linking the risk of autism in children the health of the mother's gut.
See the Daily Progress article here and the Newsweek piece here.
Congratulations to the entire Lukens lab!

Out of the Lab and onto the Hill - #MakingtheCASE with AAAS
Irene Cheng, a NGP student in the Deppmann Lab, was selected to attend the AAAS Catalyzing Advocacy in Science and Engineering (CASE) workshop, sponsored by UVA’s Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs.

The Alzheimer’s Association is awarding the School of Medicine’s John Lukens, PhD, a 2018 Research Grant Award.
"The Alzheimer’s Association is awarding the School of Medicine’s John Lukens, PhD, a 2018 Research Grant Award. This funding will support research critical to developing more-effective strategies for detecting/treating/preventing Alzheimer’s."

UVA Brain Institute Funds Another 10 Multi-Disciplinary Research Teams
Click here to read more about the newest round of pan-University UVA Brain Institute funding.
Photo: Dr. Jaideep Kapur directs UVA’s multi-disciplinary Brain Institute. (Photo by Dan Addison, University Communications)

From Brain Development to Alzheimer’s, Grad Fellows Take a Wide View
NGP Director Chris Deppmann and NGP student Sushanth Kumar are highlighted in this UVA Today piece about the UVA Brain Institute's Presidential Fellowships in Neuroscience.
https://news.virginia.edu/content/brain-development-alzheimers-grad-fell...

Thaddeus Weigel Named Peach Fellow
Congratulations to Thaddeus Weigel, NGP first year student, who has just received the Peach Fellowship. This fellowship is awarded to first year BIMS students in their 2nd semester who show exceptional promise as determined by (1) their achievements and honors prior to matriculating in BIMS and (2) their academic performance thus far in our graduate program. In recognition of this honor, he will be receiving a one-time monetary award of $500. The Peach Fellowship also covers a portion of the student's stipend.

Shahzad Khan is Famous
Shahzad Khan (NGP, George Bloom lab) is famous!
His face made it to the Society for Neuroscience 2018 Annual Meeting website page, as well as the ASCB website home page! Check him out here:
https://www.sfn.org/annual-meeting/neuroscience-2018

Decoding Brain Injuries With 5 Questions
Congratulations to Dr. Javier Provencio for being featured in UVA Today for ground-breaking work!
https://www.news.virginia.edu/content/decoding-brain-injuries-5-question...

NGP's Alban Gaultier and Ioana Marin in UVA Connect: UVA Reverses Depression Symptoms in Mice Using Probiotics
The NGP is pround to share today's UVA Connect article featuring NGP’s very own Alban Gaultier (Department of Neuroscience) and Ioana Marin, PhD (NGP May 2017)
The article features their ground-breaking work using microbiome to treat depression.

"Emergent Role of Coronin-1a in Neuronal Signaling."
Congratulations to Kelly Barford, (NGP, Winckler lab) for her latest publication.

BIMS and PHS Degrees Moving to the School of Medicine.
As of June 1, 2017, UVA’S Biomedical Sciences (BIMS) and Public Health Science (PHS) graduate students will receive their degrees from the School of Medicine (SOM). Learn more about this on the Dean's Office Blog!