They target specific B and T cell subsets to determine how they contribute to AD pathogenesis after TBI. They also manipulate immune extravasation signals to elucidate the role of vascular-immune interactions in TBI-related exacerbation of AD pathology. 

For Post-Doctoral Fellowship Opportunities and instructions to apply, click Here.

 

Third year PhD student, Ashley Tucker, was recently featured in the Texas A&M Science series “Labors of Lab” where she discusses her work in Dr. Jennifer Dulin’s laboratory that focuses on repairing spinal cord injury with neural stem cells. Check it out below! 

Congratulations to TAMIN student Taylor Branyan who has been awarded an F31 from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke! The goal of Taylor’s grant, titled “Role of astrocytic miR-20a-3p as a potential therapeutic for ischemic stroke”, are to use AAVs to temporally express miR-20a-3p, a known neuroprotectant, in specific cell types (neurons or astrocytes), to look at how this miRNA affects extracellular vesicle signaling, and to determine how both of these factors influence stroke outcome. 

The purpose of NIH F31 awards are to enable promising predoctoral students to develop into a successful, independent research scientists. This award will fund Taylor during her remaining doctoral studies in Dr. Farida Sohrabji’s lab. 

Congrats again to Taylor and all other F31 awardees!

Dr. Sung Il Park and his laboratory have published new data in Nature Communications detailing an organic-specific, multimodal, wireless optoelectronic device for manipulation and phenotyping of peripheral nerve pathways. In this work they uncover a previously unknown role of the vagus nerves in suppressing appetite! Click here to read more about this work!

This work has been highlighted in numerous news outlets including Science Daily, Science Times, and the Daily Mail!

We are very excited to announce and welcome the incoming graduate students that will be join the Texas A&M Institute of Neuroscience in Fall of 2020! Please help us in welcoming them to TAMIN!

Omar Sial

Omar Sial is a Ph.D. student working in the laboratory of Dr. Carlos Bolaños. He received a B.S. in Exercise Science from Florida State University and began his graduate career at his alma mater before transferring to Texas A&M University in 2016. Omar currently studies the interactions between western-style diet, stress exposure, and mood regulation during adolescence, along with furthering understanding of the neurobiology of antidepressants and drugs of abuse. Omar has co-authored several publications in journals such as Biological Psychiatry, Neuropsychopharmacology, and Behavioural Brain Research. He has presented his research both national and internationally at scientific conferences such as the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP), Society for Neuroscience (SfN), and the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society (IBNS). In his free time, Omar enjoys going to the beach, playing video games, cooking, and spending time with his wife Tamara and dog Luna.

Matthew Alwood

After growing up in Canton Illinois, Matt received his B.S. in Psychology from Western Illinois University. He went on to pursue a Master’s in Experimental Psychology at WIU, working in the Blankenship Lab. Matt is primarily interested in researching the neural mechanisms that underlie the encoding and recall of aversive experiences. Outside the lab, Matt enjoys swimming, disc golf, hammocking, and playing board games of all shapes and sizes.

Gauri Pandey

Gauri Pandey is from Houston, TX and graduated from Texas A&M University with a BS in Psychology and a minor in Neuroscience. Her research interests include understanding the underlying molecular mechanisms and potential therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s Disease. Beyond research, her passion for animals led her to create an organization called Leias (Leaders Excelling in Academics and Success.) This organization aimed to help women become effective leaders while raising awareness for animal rescue. She is an avid movie buff, enjoys playing board games, taking her dogs on walks in the park, scarring her cats, and hanging out with friends/family.

Shelby Reid

Shelby Reid is from Searcy, Arkansas and earned her B.S. in Cognitive Neuroscience and Biochemistry from Harding University. Her work in Dylan McCreedy’s lab focuses on the role of neutrophils in inflammation following Spinal Cord Injury. In her spare time, she enjoys playing piano and guitar, painting, and spending time with her husband and cat.

William Purvines

Will is from Amarillo, Texas and is a 2020 graduate of Texas A&M where he completed his undergraduate degree in Biomedical Sciences. Will entered the TAMIN graduate program in the Fall of 2020. He is interested in researching the neurocircuitry of addiction and other psychiatric disorders at the cellular level. Outside of the lab, Will enjoys the outdoors, being with friends and listening to music.

Congratulations to TAMIN student Ashley Tucker who has received a grant from the Wings for Life Spinal Cord Research Foundation.

The purpose of the Wings for Life Spinal Cord Research Foundation grant is to promote basic and clinical research related to spinal cord injury with the perspective to improve outcomes after injury. This award will facilitate Ashley’s doctoral work in mapping integration of transplanted neurons within locomotor circuitry following spinal cord injury.

For more information on the Wings for Life Spinal Cord Research Foundation and grant can be found at the WFL home page.

Congrats again to Ashley and all other Wings for Life awardees!

Congratulations to TAMIN student Jessica Huebschman who has received a National Institutes of Health award from the Outstanding Scholar in Neuroscience Award Program (OSNAP)!

The Outstanding Scholar in Neuroscience is a new recruiting effort designed to recognize and support senior predoctoral candidates and early stage postdoctoral fellows who are conducting exceptional research and have great academic potential in their scientific PhD programs across the nation.

More information on the OSNAP program and awards can be found at the OSNAP home page.

Congrats again to Jessica and all other OSNAP awardees!

Texas A&M Institute for Neuroscience is proud to host its 12th Annual neuroscience symposium April 3rd, 2020. Please register and submit your abstracts before March 20th.

Register: https://forms.gle/zA1YfpHhs3f9ujxx7

Abstract submission: https://forms.gle/6LFfA2KRFkWTd6zj8

Date of event: April 3rd, 2020

Deadline for abstracts: March 20th, 2020

Location: Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building (ILSB) @ Texas A&M University

Event time: 10AM-5PM

Keynote speaker: Dr. Catherine Dulac – “Neurobiology of Social Behavior”

Congratulations to TAMIN student Nihal Salem who has been awarded a prestigious F99/K00 D-SPAN award from the National Institutes of Health! Nihal is the first student at Texas A&M to ever receive this award!

The purpose of the NIH Blueprint Diversity Specialized Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Advancement in Neuroscience (D-SPAN) Award is to support a defined pathway across career stages for outstanding graduate students who are from diverse backgrounds underrepresented in neuroscience research. This two-phase award will facilitate the completion of Nihal’s doctoral work on alcohol use and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, as well as the transition to a strong neuroscience research postdoctoral position.

More information on Nihal’s research, as well as all the other awardees,  can be found at the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research.

Congrats again to Nihal and all other D-SPAN awardees!

Texas A&M Institute for Neuroscience is proud to host its 11th Annual neuroscience symposium. Please register (https://goo.gl/forms/yXDZ0YiPzHlNTiHi1) and submit your abstracts before march 22nd through the following link: https://goo.gl/forms/208CXnkw8SEcIist2

10:00-10:30 Check-In

10:30-11:30 POSTER SESSION 1

11:30-12:30 Lunch

12:35-12:40 Opening remarks

12:45-1:50 Short talks

1:55-2:55 POSTER SESSION 2

3:00-3:50 Short talks

4:00-5:00 Keynote Address by Dr. Edward Callaway: Functional Micro-Architecture and Joint representation of Shape and Color in Primate Primary Visual Cortex.

Texas A&M Institute for Neuroscience is hosting a local chapter for the Society of Neuroscience on Dec 5th 2018. Please submit your abstracts before Nov 16th through the following link: https://goo.gl/forms/G9TA5TuTwul0FonU2 

 

Congrats to Dr. Stephen Maren!

Five Texas A&M University faculty members have been appointed as University Distinguished Professors. The title, which is bestowed in perpetuity, is among the highest honors awarded to Texas A&M faculty members.

The 2018 University Distinguished Professor honorees join a select group of more than 90 current faculty members that hold the prestigious title. This designation denotes a faculty member who is pre-eminent in his or her field, has made at least one seminal contribution to the discipline, and whose work is central in any narrative of the field and is widely recognized to have changed the direction of scholarship in the field.

For 2018, the new University Distinguished Professors are as follows.

Vytas A. Bankaitis, professor in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, College of Medicine, and holder of the E.L. Wehner-Welch Foundation Chair in Chemistry, with joint appointments in the Department of Chemistry, College of Science, and in the Department Biochemistry and Biophysics, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, received his doctorate in microbiology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He trained as postdoctoral fellow of the Helen Hay Whitney Foundation at the California Institute of Technology and went on to hold faculty positions at the University of Illinois, the University of Alabama at Birmingham Medical Center, and was chair of the Department of Cell & Developmental Biology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine before joining the Texas A&M faculty in 2012. Dr. Bankaitis has made seminal contributions in the field of phosphoinositide signal transduction. His laboratory discovered that lipid signaling is an essential regulatory component of membrane trafficking—a discovery that opened an entirely new field in cell biology. He has served as chair of the Nuclear Signaling Gordon Conference, theme co-organizer of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Annual Meeting Symposium—Lipid and Membrane Metabolism, co-chair of the FASEB Conference of Phospholipid Metabolism, co-chair of the American Society of Cell Biology’s annual meeting (minisymposium), director of the Lipid Division of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and member and chair of multiple National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation review groups. Dr. Bankaitis has approximately 160 refereed journal articles, one book, and numerous other publications.

Timothy R. Elliott, professor in the Department of Educational Psychology, College of Education and Human Development, received his doctorate from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1987. Before joining the Texas A&M faculty in 2006, he held faculty positions at the Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He completed his clinical internship at Seattle Veteran’s Administration Medical Center, is a licensed clinical psychologist in Alabama and Texas, and holds board certification from the American Board of Professional Psychology, Rehabilitation Psychology Specialty. Dr. Elliott has changed the science of rehabilitation psychology. One of his greatest accomplishments is in the field of telehealth. Because of Dr. Elliott’s research and innovative vision for training students, the doctoral program in Counseling Psychology at Texas A&M is the only accredited program in the nation that staffs and manages a telepsychology clinic that provides training and clinical services. He is a fellow in Rehabilitation Psychology, Health Psychology and Society of Counseling Psychology, all in the American Psychological Association. His numerous awards include the Roger G. Barker Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Division of Rehabilitation Psychology, the Dorothy BoozBlack Award for Counseling Health Psychology from the Society of Counseling Psychology, the Outstanding Educator Alumni Award from the Auburn University College of Education, and The Association of Former Students University-Level Distinguished Achievement Award in Research. He has 215 articles in peer-reviewed journals, 1 book, and 52 book chapters.

Stephen Maren, professor and holder of the Claude H. Everett, Jr. ’47 Chair in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, College of Liberal Arts, joined the Texas A&M faculty in 2012. He received his doctorate in neurobiology from the University of Southern California in 1993. After postdoctoral training at the University of California, Los Angeles, he joined the faculty at the University of Michigan. He is a behavioral neuroscientist that specializes in the neurobiology of learning and memory. Dr. Maren has made several seminal contributions to uncovering the neurobiological basis of emotional learning and memory, particularly memory for fearful experiences. Each of these contributions has driven new empirical and theoretical work in the field and has been foundational to understanding the basic synaptic and circuit mechanisms underlying both normal and pathological fear memories. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Association for Psychological Science. In 2001, he received a prestigious Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early Career Contribution to Psychology from the APA. He received the Memory and Cognitive Disorders Award from the McKnight Foundation in 2015. In 2017, Dr. Maren received the D.O. Hebb Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award from the APA in 2017, was named a Presidential Impact Fellow at Texas A&M and was appointed to the Scientific Council of the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation. He is recognized in Essential Science Indicators (Thomson Reuters) as a Highly Cited Author (top 1%) in the field of neuroscience and behavior with over 18,000 citations and more than 136 articles in refereed journals and 9 books, chapters, or reviews; he has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1995.

Ryland F. Young III, Regents Professor, Sadie Hatfield Professor of Agriculture, professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, with a joint appointment in the Department of Biology, College of Science, earned his doctorate as an NSF Postgraduate Fellow in molecular biology at the University of Texas at Dallas. Before joining the Texas A&M faculty in 1978, he did postdoctoral training as an NIH Fellow at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Young’s research is focused on bacterial viruses, also known as bacteriophage or phage. He and his colleagues have made a series of seminal discoveries that have impacted not only our understanding of phage, but also of bacteria themselves. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Microbiology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In addition to continuous competitive support from NIH since 1980, Dr. Young received a MERIT Award—a special 10-year grant awarded on long-term success in research achievements. Dr. Young was named a Texas Agriculture Experiment Station Faculty Fellow, received the University-Level Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award in Research, the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research, the University-Level Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching, and the Dean’s Achievement Award for Faculty Mentoring. He has 156 peer reviewed journal articles, 5 book chapters, and 4 editorial articles.

Guoliang Yu, professor and holder of the Powell Chair in Mathematics, Department of Mathematics, College of Science, earned his doctorate in mathematics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1991. Before joining the Texas A&M faculty in 2012, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley and held faculty positions at the University of Colorado and Vanderbilt University. Dr. Yu is recognized for his contributions which are central for a rather large area of mathematics, centering around problems such as the Baum-Connes conjecture, the Novikov conjecture, and related geometric properties of groups. The techniques developed by him are fundamental for that field. He is one of the world leaders in the area of noncommutative geometry. His influential work has opened the path for a host of new developments and techniques. Dr. Yu is an Inaugural Fellow of the American Mathematical Society and has received the Thousand Talent Award from the Ministry of Science and Ministry of Organization in China. He has been an invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians, the International Congress of Chinese Mathematicians, and the American Mathematical Society. He has more than 58 publications and 4 books.

http://dof.tamu.edu/…/U…/UNIVERSITY-DISTINGUISHED-PROFESSORS

 

 

Congratulations to TAMIN student Travis Goode who has been selected as a 2018 recipient of the prestigious U.S. Senator Phil Gramm Doctoral Fellowship from Texas A&M University!

This fellowship, available only to currently enrolled doctoral students at Texas A&M University, recognizes scholarly excellence. The Gramm Fellowship was established to promote, encourage and reward outstanding teaching and research by doctoral students whose command of their respective disciplines exemplifies the meaning of scholar/mentor in the highest sense.

Dr. Gramm spent two decades serving in the U.S. Congress and Senate, using his economic and financial expertise to create important laws and policies and to provide advice to legislators and the White House. Currently, Dr. Gramm serves as Senior Partner of Gramm Partners, a public policy firm in Washington, D.C.

Along with other Gramm Fellows, Travis will be honored at an awards ceremony in early April. Congrats Travis!

 

Many thanks to Congressman Bill Flores for visiting Texas A&M to discuss the importance of research funding! Congressman Bill Flores toured lab-spaces with TAMIN faculty Michelle Hook and SANDI president Mabel Terminel!

 

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Dr. Jun Wang and his laboratory have published new data in Nature Neuroscience identifying brain mechanisms that control alcohol-seeking behavior! Click here to learn more!

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In collaboration with Australian scientist, Dr. Pankaj Sah, and others, Dr. Stephen Maren and his laboratory have published new data in Nature Neuroscience identifying and characterizing a neural circuit governing fear relapse! Click here to learn more!

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Texas A&M Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) hosted its annual poster session and vendor show! Congratulations to all of the presentation awardees!

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TAMIN SANDI students taught 6th grade girls about neuroscience at Texas A&M’s Women in Science and Engineering – Expand Your Horizons event!

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A HUGE thanks to all those that supported and contributed to our team (TAMIN NEURONS!) for the 2017 Walk to End Alzheimer’s! Through these efforts, our team raised over $2500 this year! $2660 to be exact! Each year, our team consistently raises thousands of dollars for Alzheimer’s research and support. Fantastic!

 

Texas A&M Institute for Neuroscience (TAMIN) and Students for Advancing Neuroscience Discovery and Innovation (SANDI) recently hosted their annual “Applying to Graduate School” Workshop for students of Texas A&M! Thanks to all who helped and attended!

 

 

 

Congratulations to TAMIN students Kushal Bakshi (laboratory of Samba Reddy) and Tom Giustino (laboratory of Stephen Maren) on earning travel awards from the Graduate & Professional Student Council at Texas A&M University!

 

 

Congratulations to TAMIN students Travis Goode and Tom Giustino for being selected for Trainee Professional Development Awards from the Society for Neuroscience! Travis and Tom will receive $1000 for travel-related expenses and complimentary registration to attend SfN’s 2017 annual conference! Additionally, Travis and Tom will present their work at a special poster session for awardees. Congrats!

 

 

Congratulations to TAMIN graduate student Travis Goode for being elected co-chair for the 2019 Gordon Research Seminar on Amygdala Function in Emotion, Cognition and Disease! Travis will help to raise funds, organize speakers, and manage this highly important and popular meeting. The Amygdala Gordon Research Seminar occurs immediately prior to the larger Amygdala Gordon Conference, both of which are held every two years and are attended by some of the world’s most eminent amygdala researchers. Congrats Travis!

 

 

Graduate student Tom Giustino and his mentor Dr. Stephen Maren are featured in a recent episode of Neuropsychopharmacology’s official podcast! They discuss the lab’s new paper in the journal, in which they demonstrate that intra-amygdalar propranolol (a nonselective β-adrenoceptor antagonist) facilitates extinction learning under stress. Click here to listen to the podcast!

 

2017 Brain Day @ Henderson Elementary

 

Congratulations to TAMIN student Tom Giustino (Maren Lab) whose NRSA entitled “Noradrenergic modulation of stress-induced deficits in fear extinction” was recently funded!

 

Congratulations to our inaugural Excellence Award winners Misty Strain-Malamakal and Dr. Rajesh Miranda!

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A huge thanks to all the organizers, participants, and speakers that made our 9th annual neuroscience symposium a great success!

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Click here for more info about the march!

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KBTX News speaks to Dr. Jessica Bernard of the Department of Psychology to create a story about her research into how the brain changes as people age.

 

Drs. Arum Han (College of Engineering), Stephen Maren (College of Liberal Arts), and Farida Sohrabji (College of Medicine) have been selected as Presidential Impact Fellows by Texas A&M University President, Michael K. Young. The Presidential Impact Fellows program includes the use of the honorific title for life, and an annual stipend of $25,000 each for the next three years to accelerate each recipient’s pedagogy, research and service impacts. Identified by his or her Dean and confirmed by academic leadership, these faculty are considered candidates for continued or new national and international acclaim and will utilize this honor to participate in national dialogue, advance their scholarship and create new partnerships. The 2017 honorees will be honored officially at a ceremony on March 21, 2017.

Congratulations!

 

 

Dr. Steven Woltering is featured in an article by Texas A&M Today!

 

Dr. Stephen Maren was recently selected for the D.O. Hebb Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award from the American Psychological Association (APA). This is a prestigious award recognizing a psychologist who has made distinguished theoretical or empirical contributions to research in neuroscience. Steve will be delivering an award address at the upcoming APA convention in August. Congratulations, Steve!

 

Samba Reddy, PhD, RPh, professor in the department of Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics at Texas A&M College of Medicine, has been named a Fellow of the American Epilepsy Society (FAES), a lifetime professional honor in recognition of his accomplishments and dedication to excellence in epilepsy in the United States and all over the world.

 

https://medicineinsider.tamhsc.edu/reddy-named-fellow-of-the-american-epilepsy-society/

Texas A&M receives gift from the Institute for Rehabilitation and Research (TIRR) Foundation for spinal cord injury research! Click here to learn more.

Congratulations to TAMIN student Travis Goode whose NRSA entitled “Neural Circuits for Reinstatement of Fear” was recently funded!

Samba Reddy elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science! Click here to learn more.

The TAMIN Graduate Program was recently ranked #1 among Neuroscience Graduate Programs according to GraduatePrograms.com! Click here to learn more.

Dr. Louise Abbot has been named a recipient of the 2015 Piper Professor Award! Click here to learn more.