Four Students Attend Neuroscience Conference

Assistant professor of biology Cara Constance and four students attended the third annual mGluRs conference (Midwest/ Great Lakes Undergraduate Research Symposium in Neuroscience) at the College of Wooster on Oct. 22, 2011.

They were among more than 130 attendees representing 19 colleges and universities.

Constance presented as a part of the Medical School Panel, to inform pre-med undergraduate students about how best to prepare for medical school admission, and the students gave the following presentations:

• Jemika Kastee ’12 – “Expression of Clock Genes in the Brain of Xenopus Tropicalis.” Kastee, a biology major, is investigating the molecular basis of rhythmic behavior in the Xenopus Tropicalis species of frog by identifying the areas of the brain that express clock genes.
• Lauren Jasko ’13 and Lynette Neldon ’13 – “Characterization of Behavioral Rhythms and Generation of Transgenic Xenopus laevis to Examine Clock Function.” Jasko, a neuroscience major, and Neldon, a biochemistry major, worked on disrupting gene expression by making a transgenic animal and asking whether this disrupts behavior of the frog. This research revealed whether a gene was important for rhythmic behavior. Biology major Anthony Clemente ’13 is currently working on this project, and also attended the conference.

Kastee and Jasko will both be presenting their research at  the F.U.N. (Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience) poster symposium at the neuroscience conference  on Nov. 14, 2011, in Washington, D.C. This international conference is expected to have approximately 30,000 attendees.

Tagged biochemistry, biology, cara constance, center for deciphering life's languages, neuroscience