Journal Club

Fridays at Noon in the Neuroscience Library

The purpose of this journal club is to critically discuss the current literature relevant to CNIR and to gain experience with an oral presentation of data and comments in a mixed forum not unlike that at scientific meetings. All NIP trainees are required to attend and mentors are encouraged to join trainees!

Papers are disseminated the week prior to the presentation to all interested researchers. Once a semester an ethics discussion will occur instead of a scientific paper. The purpose of the ethics component is to demonstrate the consequences of unethical scientific behavior on the research community and on the public perception of science.

Fall 2026 Presentations

Schedule Coming Soon

Spring 2026 Presentations

January 9
IPN Student Interviews

January 16
Zac Colon (NIP trainee): Exercise training-induced benefits for Alzheimer’s disease are associated with modulation of the BDNF-TrkB signaling complex

January 23
Mateo Nelson (NIP trainee): Intranasal delivery of engineered extracellular vesicles promotes neurofunctional recovery in traumatic brain injury

January 30
Alex Sukharev (NIP trainee): Striatal lateral inhibition regulates action selection in a mouse model of levodopa-induced dyskinesia

February 6
Scott Litwiler: Astrocytic Sox9 overexpression in Alzheimer’s disease mouse models promotes Aβ plaque phagocytosis and preserves cognitive function

February 13
Anna Pearson (TPNH trainee): Dissecting the Role of GABA Neurons in the VTA versus SNr in Opioid Reward

February 20
Celine Ertekin: Intestinal macrophages modulate synucleinopathy along the gut–brain axis

February 27
James Donahue: Oligomeric alpha-synuclein causes early synaptic dysfunction of the corticostriatal pathway associated with non-motor symptoms

March 6
Spring Break

March 13
Briana Bernstein (NIP trainee): Chronic 40 Hz light flicker mitigates epileptogenesis through a visual pathway associated with the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus shell

March 20
Michaela Fisher: Backtracking α-synuclein pathology: social deficits precede motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease

March 27
Giorgi Shautidze: Microglia replacement halts the progression of microgliopathy in mice and humans

April 3
Easter Break

April 10
Phil Pikus (AART trainee): Erythropoietin signaling in peripheral macrophages is required for systemic β‐amyloid clearance

April 17
Gemma Haney: Intestinal interoceptive dysfunction drives age-associated cognitive decline

April 24
Greta Sten (AART trainee): Sono-mechanical nanostructures-enabled sustained precise ultrasound brain stimulation

May 1
Ethics of Brain Organoids in Neuroscience Research
Helena Schuch (NIP trainee): Brain organoids and organoid intelligence from ethical, legal, and social points of view
Pauline Wonnenberg (NIP trainee): Developmental GABA polarity switch and neuronal plasticity in Bioengineered Neuronal Organoids

May 8
MS Neuroscience Student Research Day

May 15
Commencement

Fall 2025 Presentations

September 5
Pauline Wonnenberg (NIP trainee): Divergent opioid-mediated suppression of inhibition between hippocampus and neocortex across species and development

September 12
Mateo Neslon (NIP trainee): Rate and noise in human amygdala drive increased exploration in aversive learning

September 19
Alex Sukharev (NIP trainee): Molecular and neural control of social hierarchy by a forebrain-thalamocortical circuit

September 26
Briana Bernstein (NIP trainee): Central Role of Hypothalamic Circuits for Acupuncture’s Anti‐Parkinsonian Effects

October 3
IPN Retreat

October 10
Helena Schuch (NIP trainee): A dual-pathway architecture for stress to disrupt agency and promote habit

October 17
Gemma Haney: Parallel processing of past and future memories through reactivation and synaptic plasticity mechanisms during sleep

October 24
Zac Colon (NIP trainee): Microglial activation elicits a negative affective state through prostaglandin-mediated modulation of striatal neurons

October 31
Lara Stefansson: Gene losses in the common vampire bat illuminate molecular adaptations to blood feeding

November 7
James Donahue: AAV9-mediated KCC2 upregulation enhances functional recovery following cervical spinal cord injury

November 14
Phil Pikus (AART trainee): Blockage of VEGF function by bevacizumab alleviates early-stage cerebrovascular dysfunction and improves cognitive function in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease

November 21
NIP Trainees Ethics Meeting: Ethics of AI in Neuroscience

November 28
Thanksgiving

December 5
Celine Ertekin: Meningeal lymphatic function promotes oligodendrocyte survival and brain myelination

December 12
Anna Pearson (NIP trainee): Social rank modulates methamphetamine-seeking in dominant and subordinate male rodents via distinct dopaminergic pathways

December 19
Winter Break

December 26
Winter Break

Spring 2025 Presentations

January 3
Winter Break

January 10
Matthew Amontree (AART trainee): Pathogenic hypothalamic extracellular matrix promotes metabolic disease

January 17
Pauline Wonnenberg (NIP trainee): Disruption of extracellular matrix and perineuronal nets modulates extracellular space volume and geometry

January 24
Helena Schuch (NIP trainee): Dynamic responses of striatal cholinergic interneurons control behavioral flexibility

January 31
Peyton Thomas (AART trainee): Exploring the impact of APOE ɛ4 on functional connectivity in Alzheimer’s disease across cognitive impairment levels

February 7
IPN Student Interviews

February 14
Zac Colon (NIP trainee): Transcranial optogenetic brain modulator for precise bimodal neuromodulation in multiple brain regions

February 21
IPN Student Interviews

February 28
NIP Trainees: Ethics/Rigor Discussion “The ethics of neuroscience in criminal law”

March 7
Spring Break

March 14
Lara Stefansson (NIP trainee): Negative feedback control of hypothalamic feeding circuits by the taste of food

March 21
Anna Pearson (TPNH trainee): Excitatory SST neurons in the medial paralemniscal nucleus control repetitive self-grooming and encode reward

March 28
Mateo Nelson (TPNH trainee): Microglial cannabinoid receptor type II stimulation improves cognitive impairment and neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s disease mice by controlling astrocyte activation

April 4
Gemma Haney (INNS MS student): Modulation of glymphatic system by visual circuit activation alleviates memory impairment and apathy in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease

April 11
Cancelled

April 18
Easter Break

April 25
Briana Bernstein (NIP trainee): Translational research approach to social orienting deficits in autism: the role of superior colliculus-ventral tegmental pathway

May 2
Final Examinations

May 9
Final Examinations

May 16
Commencement