lab news

Time is flying by this summer-- we can hardly believe that the International Congress of Neuroethology in Brisbane, Australia is less than a week away! We are looking forward to catching up with our friends and colleagues who will be at the meeting, and learning about the latest and greatest discoveries in neuroethology!

PI Karen Mesce and Ph.D. Candidate Morgan Newhoff will both be in attendance and showcasing their research with poster presentations. If you will be at the meeting, please stop by our posters... we are excited to show you what we've been up to this past year! The full poster citations are below:

Newhoff M, Ebbini E, Mesce KA. 2018. The effects of ultrasound neuromodulation on behaviorally relevant neuronal firing patterns.

Mesce KA, Puhl JG, Bigelow AW, Newhoff M. 2018. Locomotor recovery after injury in the medicinal leech: novel proprioceptive pathways correlate with the return of locomotion.

We hope to see you down under, mate!

Former Lab Technician Tony Bigelow and former Postdoctoral Researcher Joshua Puhl are co-first authors on an exciting new paper that was just published in eNeuro earlier this month! The paper, written with PI Karen Mesce and former Lab Technician Mara CP Rue, is the culmination of several years of work on the recovery of locomotor abilities and associated reorganization of the nervous system following traumatic injury in the medicinal leech. Be sure to check it out!

The full paper citation is below:

Puhl JG*, Bigelow AW*, Rue MCP, Mesce KA. 2018. Functional recovery of a locomotor network after injury: plasticity beyond the central nervous system. eNeuro 2018: 10.1523/ENEURO.0195-18.2018. eNeuro Link

*co-first authors; please cite as Puhl, Bigelow, et al. 2018.

Congratulations to Postdoctoral Researcher Joshua Puhl, who has accepted a new position as Assistant Professor at the College of the Sequoias in Visalia, CA! As a member of the college's Science Division, Joshua will specialize in teaching courses on human anatomy and physiology. Over the last few years, Joshua has discovered and embraced his passion for teaching, and most recently served as an adjunct instructor of biology at Metropolitan State University. We are very happy that he will be able to continue pursuing those passions in his new role, and we wish him all the best on his way to California!

Summer is here, and that means it's time to welcome a new summer undergraduate researcher into the lab! Christine Ellis is joining us from Virginia Tech this summer, where she is enrolled in the undergraduate biochemistry major. As a Minnesota native, she is happy to be back in MN, and we are happy to have her in the lab! She will primarily be assisting Ph.D. Candidate Anthony Auletta in his research into the evolution of biogenic amine signaling in the arachnids, which is an excellent match for her biochemistry background and budding interest in neuroscience. Welcome, Christine!

Congratulations to Ph.D. Candidate Morgan Newhoff, for recently receiving two competitive professional development awards!

First up, Morgan was named one of this year's recipients of the Stark Award for Advanced Scholarship from the Graduate Program in Neuroscience! The intent of the Stark Award is to support GPN students in the pursuit of advanced training, either in the U.S. or abroad, in specific lab techniques or via specialized courses. Morgan will be using her award to help fund her trip to Okinawa, Japan, where she will attend the 2018 Okinawa Institute of Science & Technology Computational Neuroscience Course later this summer!

Morgan also received the Heiligenberg Stuent Travel Award from the International Society for Neuroethology! This award will help fund her trip to the International Congress of Neuroethology in Brisbane, Australia this July, where she will present the latest and greatest findings from her doctoral research.

Way to go, Morgan! 

Ph.D. Candidate Anthony Auletta recently received the Department of Entomology Community Service Award, in recognition of his dedication to departmental service & community-building. The award was presented at the 20th Annual Hodson Alumni Event & Student Awards Ceremony this past Friday.

Since joining the department in 2013, Anthony has been a strong voice on several departmental committees, in addition to holding leadership positions within Frenatae (the Entomology Graduate Student Association) and being actively involved in teaching multiple entomology courses. He has also recently taken lead in organizing a number of departmental events in an effort to foster greater camaraderie and professional connections among Entomology students, staff, and faculty. Congratulations, Anthony, on being recognized for all of your efforts!

Congratulations to Ph.D. Candidate Anthony Auletta, who recently received a Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (DDF) from the University of Minnesota Graduate School! The DDF is  a competitive award designed to fund doctoral candidates in the final year of their degree programs. Anthony’s DDF will fund him for the 2018-19 academic year, putting him right on track to defend his thesis in Spring 2019. Congratulations, Anthony!

We’re very happy to announce that our latest paper has been published as the cover story in the new issue of Journal of Experimental Biology! Congratulations to PI Dr. Karen Mesce (lead author), as well as co-authors Magda Alania (former postdoctoral researcher), Quentin Gaudry, and Joshua Puhl (current postdoctoral researcher)!

The full citation for the paper is below: 

Mesce KA, Alania M, Gaudry Q, Puhl JG. 2018. The stomatogastric nervous system of the medicinal leech: its anatomy, physiology and associated aminergic neurons. Journal of Experimental Biology 221:jeb175687. PubMed Link

The cover photo was taken by PhD Candidate Morgan Newhoff, with assistance from Joshua Puhl, PhD Candidate Anthony Auletta, and Karen Mesce.

 

Behind the scenes of our leech photo shoot.

Congratulations to Ph.D. Candidate Morgan Newhoff, who will be heading off to Japan later this summer to attend the 2018 Okinawa Institute of Science & Technology Computational Neuroscience Course! Morgan is one of a handful of scholars from around the world selected to participate in this prestigious course. As part of the experience, Morgan will conduct a small independent project that will augment her PhD dissertation on the cellular mechanisms underlying ultrasonic neuromodulation. おめでとう, Morgan! 

To all of our friends and colleagues attending this year’s Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America in Denver from November 5-8th, please be sure to stop by the Exhibit Hall on Monday, November 6th and check out Ph.D. candidate Anthony Auletta’s poster presentation! Anthony will be standing at the poster at 6:00pm, and is excited to tell you all about our recent forays into scorpion electrophysiology and behavior. The full poster citation is below:

Auletta A, Bigelow AW, Newhoff M, Mesce KA. 2017. Dopamine and norepinephrine as neuromodulators of arachnid behavior: Anatomical and physiological insights from the scorpion Centruroides sculpturatus (Scorpiones: Buthidae). Poster D3026.

We hope to see you there!