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BIDDEFORD, Maine

Students, faculty, staff represent UNE at Maine Society for Neuroscience Conference

The University of New England was well-represented at this year’s Maine Society for Neuroscience Conference, which was held November 1, 2014, at the Wells Conference Center. 

Of the 36 poster presentations, 15 were produced by UNE laboratories. Moreover, three of the nine oral presentations were presented by UNE faculty and graduate students.

Edward Bilsky, PhD., vice president of Research and Scholarship, director of the Center for Excellence in the Neurosciences (CEN), and professor of pharmacology, delivered the final keynote address.

Oral Presentations:

Michael Anderson, a second-year graduate student (Master of Science, biology), presented "Deletion of Sox11 in nociceptive neurons inhibits nerve regeneration and prolongs neuropathic pain after nerve injury," which explores the role of a transcription factor, Sox11 in regulating nerve regeneration and neuropathic pain following injury. Lei Lei, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and CEN faculty member, serves as Anderson’s mentor.

Other contributors to the work were Brittany Roy, B.S., Denise Giuvelis, B.S., Ivy Bergquist, B.S., Ling Cao, M.D., Ph.D., and Bilsky.

Taylor Follansbee, a second-year graduate student (Master of Science, biology), presented with his mentor Geoffrey Ganter, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and CEN faculty member. Their work, titled "The Role of Dpp/BMP2/4 in the Induction of Allodynia," explores a novel role for the Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP) signaling pathway, traditionally studied for its role in early development, in pain sensitization and chronic pain. 

Kayla Gjelsvik (Medical Biology/Mathematics, ’15) also contributed to the work.

John Streicher, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and CEN faculty member, presented "Novel Mu Opioid Receptor Regulators as New Targets for Pain Drug Discovery," which demonstrated the progress of his laboratory in identifying novel signaling regulators of the mu opioid receptor and the progress in using these regulators as new targets for pain drug discovery.

Poster presentations:

Geoffrey Ganter Lab

From the laboratory of Geoffrey Ganter, Kayla Gjelsvik (’15), presented a poster on a project titled "Glass Bottom Boat is Necessary for Pain Sensitization in Drosophila melanogaster." Related to the work of Follansbee, the project examined the role of BMP signaling in chronic pain

John Streicher Lab

 Several posters were presented by members of John Streicher's laboratory. Streicher’s research is in drug discovery. He examines the molecular interactions occurring downstream of opioid drug targets in order to develop improved drugs that are effective at relieving pain but lack the side effects typical of current opioid drugs.

Posters included:

  • "Identification of Novel Regulators of the Mu Opioid Receptor (MOR) by shRNA Library Screening" by Daniel Chiem (Biology/Biochemistry, ’16), Justin LaVigne (Neuroscience, ’12), Katie Edwards (Chemistry ’12) and Streicher
  • "The Role of Phosphatidylethanolamine-Binding Protein in Regulating Mu Opioid Receptor Signaling" by Edwards, LaVigne, Kathlene Pangilinan, and Streicher
  • "The Role of Stress-Induced Phosphoprotein 1 in Regulating Mu Opioid Receptor Signaling" by John Jarvis (Neuroscience ’15), graduate student Sarah McCarthy, Edwards and Streicher
  • "Functionally Selective Signaling of the Endogenous Opioid Peptides at the Mu Opioid Receptor" by LaVigne, Chiem, Keith Olson, Frank Porreca and  Streicher
  • "The Role of Hsp90 in Signaling Regulation of the Mu Opioid Receptor (MOR)" by McCarthy, Nate Mullen (Medical Biology ’15), Courtney Brann (Medical Biology, ’16), Edwards and Streicher
  • "Novel Mu Opioid Receptor Regulators as New Targets for Pain Drug Discovery" by Streicher, Edwards, LaVigne, McCarthy, Pangilinan, Brann, Mullen, Jarvis and Chiem

Michael Burman Lab

Several posters by researchers in the laboratory of Michael Burman, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Psychology and faculty member of CEN, were presented as well. Burman’s research examines fear conditioning. Specifically, he explores changes in fear conditioning behavior as rats progress from infancy to adolescence and correlates these changes to areas of the brain that are maturing during this time. 

Posters included:

  • "Fear Conditioning Circuitry in Rats Continues to Emerge Throughout the Periweaning Period" by Alex Deal, lab technician, Kristen Erickson, lab technician, and Burman
  • "Role of the Perirhinal Cortex in the Ontogeny of Fear" by Cassandra Simmons (Animal Behavior, ’15), Emily Mitchell (Neuroscience, ’15), Crystal Nason (Neuroscience, ’17), Victoria Eaton (Neuroscience, ’18) and Burman
  • "The Effects of Stimulus Intensity on the Emergence of Classical Fear Conditioning in Infant and Adolescent Rats" by Kerri Szolusha (Neuroscience, ’15), Jacob LeBree (Neuroscience, ’17) and Burman
  • "FAAH Inhibitor OL-135 Disrupts Contextual, but not Auditory, Fear Conditioning in Rats" by Szolusha, Rebecca Bind (CEN intern, summer ’12), Kristin Kerney (CEN intern, summer ’13), Dale Boger, Ph.D., (Scripps Research Institute), Bilsky and Burman

Ed Bilsky Lab

Ed Bilsky’s laboratory presented a poster as well. Bilsky’s research is in drug discovery and looks, in part, at behavioral readouts of drug efficacy and side effects. 

"Burrowing as a Non-Evoked Readout Assessment for Analgesic Efficacy" was presented by Kayla Lindros (Neuroscience, ’15).  Giuvelis and Bilsky contributed.

Additionally, the Center for Excellence in Neurosciences outreach program was represented in a poster titled "The University of New England’s K-12 Neuroscience Outreach Program," presented by Kelsey Schwarz (Medical Biology, ’15) with contributions from Alexandria D’Ambruoso (Medical Biology/Psychology, ’14), Deal, Erickson, Bilsky and Burman.

 

 

 

 

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The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.