Invertebrate Neurobiology
And last, but certainly not least, we would like to join the rest of the Entomology Department in welcoming our new Department Head, Dr. Sujaya Rao, who will be arriving in Minnesota later this month. Sujaya is an alumna of the department, and upon graduating with her Ph.D., completed a postdoc in our lab in 1992. We are excited to have her back with us, and look forward to working with her to create a bright new future for the department.
Undergraduate researcher Maria Godinez gave a wonderful poster presentation of her summer project at the Multicultural Summer Research Opportunities Program (MSROP) Research Symposium yesterday. Maria’s poster highlighted some of her preliminary findings on the responses of different mechanosensory neurons in injured leeches before and after recovery, a project that she hopes to continue working on in the upcoming semester. Way to go, Maria!
Can you believe that it’s already been a full year since our lab hosted a Bugs ’n Brews (Entomology Social Hour) and turned Hodson Hall into a 1920s speakeasy? Well, the time has come for us to host Bugs ’n Brews again, and this time… we want to see what you got! That’s why the Mesce Lab is pleased to present Entomology’s Got Talent: the first-ever Entomology Department talent show! That’s right— in addition to all of the usual refreshments & comeraderie you’ve come to love from Bugs ’n Brews, this time there will also be an optional talent competition! So, come strut your stuff! We even have a few prizes for the very best acts….
It’s going to be so much fun, and we look forward to seeing all of our friends and colleagues in the Entomology Department there! The festivities will take place this Friday (August 4th), from 4-6pm in Hodson Hall 490. We hope that you can make it!
Karen has been busy as a bee (ha— get it?) working on this paper over the last few months, so we are very excited that it is now published and available for reading! Congratulations, Karen! The full citation is below— please take a look:
Tedjakumala SR, Rouquette J, Boizeau ML, Mesce KA, Hotier L, Massou I, Giurfa M. 2017. A tyrosine-hydroxylase characterization of dopaminergic neurons in the honey bee brain. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience 11:47. PubMed Link
Summer is off to a great start here in the Mesce Lab, as we welcome two new members of the lab family (and welcome back a familiar face)! Making their lab debut are undergraduate students Camille (Cami) Brod and Maria Godinez. Cami and Maria are both rising juniors enrolled in the neuroscience major, and will be developing projects to complement our ongoing studies into the mechanisms of recovery following nerve cord injury in the medicinal leech. We are looking forward to working with them this summer (and beyond)!
In several weeks, we will also welcome back Dr. Michael Baltzley from Western Oregon University, who is once again joining us as a visiting scholar this summer. Mike had previously visited the lab in Summer 2016, and will be continuing to work on the projects he started in the lab then. We are thrilled to have him back in the lab, and hope that this will become a summer tradition!
Welcome, welcome, everyone!
Ph.D. candidate Morgan Newhoff will be presenting preliminary findings from her doctoral research next Wednesday (May 17th), as part of the Graduate Program in Neuroscience Colloqium series. Her talk, entitled An Investigation into the Cellular Mechanisms Underlying Ultrasonic Neuromodulation, will take place from 12:00-1:00pm in Jackson Hall 2-137. Come join us if you can! And good luck, Morgan (we know you’ll do a great job)!
