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NSB Faculty and Students
- "In The News"
Jeffrey Blaustein named Editor-in Chief of Top Journal
Beginning 2008 Jeff Blaustein will begin a 5-year term as editor-in-chief of Endocrinology, the flagship basic research journal of The Endocrine Society.
Center of Excellence in Apoptosis Research
UMass Amherst will receive a $3M
grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's John Adams
Innovation Institute to create a Center of Excellence in Apoptosis
Research. The purpose of CEAR is to both advance translational work
related to cell death and to facilitate regional econimc development.
The funds from this project will be used to support several new
initiatives, including recruitment of researchers at the Pioneer
Valley Life Sciences Institute as well as its parent organizations
UMass Amherst and the Baystate Medical Center. The membership in
CEAR includes researchers from a wide range of disciplines including
physicians, life scientists, physical scientists and engineers.
Faculty members in the Neuroscience and Behavior Program associated
with CEAR include: Drs. Geert De Vries, Nancy Forger, Abigail Jensen,
Rolf Karlstrom, John Nambu, and Thomas Zoeller.
Contact: Lawrence Schwartz, Ph.D.,
Science Director
Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute, 3601 Main St, Springfield,
Mass.
E-Mail: schwartz[at]bio.umass.edu
UMASS NEUROENDOCRINE
STUDIES PROGRAM GAINS TOP NOTCH TRAINEES THROUGH NEW GRANT
With the help of a $697,370 training
grant from the National Institutes of Mental Health, five researchers
at the University of Massachusetts will study how hormones interact
with the brain, other parts of the body, and behavior. The research
will be conducted through the multidisciplinary program in the Center
of Neuroendocrine Studies (CNS).
http://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/archive/2000/091200cns.html
To view other weekly news articles
check out the UMass News
Office website.
New Grant for Dr. Elizabeth Connor
Dr. Connor is the recipient of a
National Science Foundation grant for 3 years starting 9/1/03 in
the amount of $372,000. The grant, titled "The Cytoskeleton
of the Frog Motor Nerve Terminal", will use electron microscope
tomography to analyze the F-actin based cytoskeleton in resting
and stimulated motor nerve terminals. In addition the role of the
cytoskeleton in stabilizing nerve terminals will be examined at
developing and regenerating frog neuromuscular junctions.
New Grant for Dr. Leonard Norkin
Dr. Len Norkin was awarded a 5-year
(July 2004-June 2009) NIH grant in the amount of $820,000 for a
project entitled, "Genetics of SV40 Entry and Minichrosome
Transport". The purpose of the award is to identify the molecular
features of simian virus 40 (SV40) that cause it to follow an unusual
entry pathway into hosts cells involving uptake by caveolae, transport
to a new organelle called a caveosome, followed by trafficking to
the endoplasmic reticulum, where the virus disassembles. A major
goal of the project is to define the mechanisms by which the viral
genome then exits from the endoplasmic reticulum and traffics to
the nucleus, the site of virus replication.
New Grant for Dr. John Nambu
Dr. Nambu has been awarded a one-year
Faculty Research Grant entitled "Regulation of Cell Death Activation
in Drosophila: Functional Analysis of Slash, a Novel Grim-Reaper
Gene." Professor Nambu's lab recently identified the slash gene,
a new member of the grim-reaper gene family required for cell death
in Drosophila. With this new grant, the lab will be able
to focus on determining whether slash also induces cell death and
interacts with other cell death regulators.
New Grant for Dr. Jeffery Podos
In Sept. 2000, we welcomed Jeff Podos,
our new behavioral ecologist. Jeff comes to us with a B.A. magna
cum laude from Franklin and Marshall Univ, a Ph.D. from Duke
Univ and a postdoc at the Dept of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,
University of Arizona where he worked on the Analysis of Biological
Diversification project. He has just published evidence in the journal
Nature in which he identifies a possible cause for the rapid
evolution of both vocalization and species diversity in Darwin's
finches. Jeff has been awarded a three year grant ($175,106) from
the National Science Foundation for a project entitled "Morphological
Evolution, Vocal Performance, and Speciation in Darwin's Finches".
His annual field trips to the Galapagos Islands will focus on the
diversity, production mechanics, and perception of vocalizations
in Darwin's finches, with the aim of addressing questions about
the evolution of reproductive isolation and speciation.
New Grant for Dr. Eric Bittman
Dr. Bittman has been awarded a four-year
($996,000) grant from The National Institutes of Health to study
the neural circuits responsible for the regulation of seasonal reproduction
and circadian rhythms by melatonin, the hormone of the pineal gland.
This research combines anatomical and physiological approaches,
and uses tools made available by molecular biology, to study the
interactions between the nervous and endocrine systems and the workings
of a central biological clock.
New Grant for Dr. Rolf Karlstrom
A new National Institutes of Health
4-year grant award, which is in collaboration with Steve DeVoto
at Wesleyan entitled “Selecting for novel hedgehog signaling
mutations”. Total Direct costs (both institutions) $1,040,843.
Rolf states: “Our long-term goal is to understand how cell-cell
interactions regulate patterning in the development of the fore-brain
and the trunk musculoskeletal system. Our labs have demonstrated
that Hedgehog signaling is required for both of these processes.
We propose to use a genetic selection protocol to identify large
numbers of mutations in a variety of genes in the Hedgehog signaling
pathway. All of the mutations will be useful tools for understanding
not only the mechanism of Hedgehog signaling, but also the consequences
of the activation of Hedgehog signaling on muscle and brain development.
New Grant for Dr. Daniel Chase
Daniel
Chase (Dept. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) has been awarded
a 2006 – 2008 Smith Family New Investigator Award from the
Medical Foundation. Launched in 1991 by the Richard and Susan Smith
Family Foundation, the Smith Family New Investigator Awards Program
supports promising young scientists engaged in basic research in
the areas of AIDS, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and
neuroscience. Dan joined the BMB faculty as an Assistant Professor
in September 2006 and is well on his way to a successful research
career.
New Grant for Dr. Thomas Zoeller
Dr. Zoeller recently received a five-year
($1.4 million) grant from the National Institute of Environmental
Health Science to study PCB Disruption of Thyroid Hormone Action
in Brain Development.
Association of Neuroscience
Departments and Programs
The ANDP is a national organization
of departmental chairs and program directors from over 100 academic
institutions in North America. Since 1981, this group has assessed
the nature of neuroscience training and fostered information exchange
and enhancement of education in this discipline. Over the past 25
years, the number of neuroscience training programs has not only
grown, but they have matured and become more sophisticated, complex
and better organized. "Neuroscience" has become a formal part of
the lexicon of academia and competes - quite successfully so - with
the many traditional disciplines of biology and biomedicine, such
as anatomy, physiology, cell biology, biochemistry, pharmacology,
psychology and behavior, from which this exciting new discipline
draws its remarkably diverse heritage.
Association of Neuroscience Departments
and Programs
11 Dupont Circle, N.W. - Suite 500
Washington, D.C. 20036
Phone: (202) 328-9713 graduate membership directory is:
http://www.andp.org/members/members.htm
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If you have questions concerning
the survey report, please feel free to contact the President
of ANDP, Dr.
Edward Stricker.
Peterson's
Peterson's is the country's largest educational
information/communications company, providing the academic,
consumer, and professional communities with books, software,
and online services in support of lifelong education access
and career choice. Peterson's Web site at petersons.com
is the only comprehensive - and most heavily traveled - education
resource on the Internet.
(complete information on entrance and degree
requirements, faculty research specialties, cost of study, and
financial aid for the UMass NSB Program).
Velocity, is an electronic monthly
newsletter from Peterson.com that reache s over 450,000 subscribers
each month with timely education news and advice. Here is a
sample article:
UMass/Baystate Biomedical Affiliation
Dr. Frank Cannon, Biotechnology Program Director,
reports that on October 21, 1998 Baystate Health System and
the University of Massachusetts Amherst signed a comprehensive
agreement that will expand their affiliation in the area of
biomedical research and technology. The new initiative builds
on the success of the Collaborative Biomedical Research (CBR)
Program between Baystate Medical Center and UMass, which was
established in 1996 and supported by the City of Springfield.
The state legislature, through the efforts of Senator Linda
Melconian, included $250,000 for the Biotechnology Program at
UMass in the budget for FY99 to assist the University and Baystate
in promoting the development of biomedical technology in western
Massachusetts. The funds will be used to develop a biomedical
institute in Springfield that would house an enterprise center
for technology development and commercialization, research laboratories,
training facilities, and administrative offices.
NSB Committees
Steering Committee Members
As of September 1, 2006
Dr. Jerrold Meyer (Director)
Dr. Gerald Downes (3-year term)
Dr. Lisa Sanders (3-year term)
Dr. UnJa Hayes (2-year term)
Dr. Eric Bittman (2-year term)
Dominik Biezonski - graduate student steering rep
Admissions Committee for Fall 2007
class
Annual Recruiting Weekend: Thursday, Friday, Saturday
March 1-3, 2007
Admissions Chair: Jerrold Meyer
NSB Graduate Student Committees
(effective Sept..2006 to Aug. 2007)
NSB Liaison to GEO: Carrie Mahoney
Treasurer - Yibei Shen
Historian: Eliza Nelson
Steering Committee Rep. - Dominik Biezonski
Social Chair: Amanda Dettmer, Nina Shinday
Retreat Organizers - William Bush, Karlie Intlekofer
Recruitment - Marianne Seney, Lori Astheimer, Amanda Dettmer,
Brian Kelly, Arthur Seelig
Vincent G. Dethier Award
This is an award given to an NSB graduate
student to honor academic performance, research performance,
and contributions which enhance the quality of the NSB program.
This award is named after the late Dr. Vincent
Dethier, the first director of the Neuroscience and Behavior
Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (1986).
He began teaching at UMASS in 1975 and at the time of his
death (Sept 8, 1993) he was teaching here as Gilbert L. Woodside
Professor of Biology.
 Dr.
Dethier was raised in a suburb of Boston and was both an undergraduate
and a graduate student at Harvard University, graduating with
a Ph.D. in 1939. Immediately after graduating he was hired
by John Carroll University in Cleveland Ohio where he stayed
until he was drafted into the army in 1941. Despite his duties
in the Army Air Corps in the Africa-Middle East theater Dr.
Dethier still carried on an active research program publishing
at least 16 papers. Towards the end of the war Dr. Dethier
collaborated with Leigh Chadwick at Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland
in a long series of experiments which analyzed the behavioral
effects of many families of chemicals on the chemoreceptors
of flies and so he began to define the molecular nature of
the taste receptors. Following the war he taught briefly at
Ohio State University and then at The Johns Hopkins University.
There he had a joint appointment in the Zoology and Psychology
Departments which he found to be very fruitful. He stayed
there for 10 years and then went to Princeton University where
he held the Class of 1877 chair as Professor of Biology for
9 years. UMASS was incredibly privileged to attract him to
be the Gilbert L. Woodside professor of Zoology in 1975 and
we enjoyed his erudition, knowledge and charm until his death
in 1993. His major research interests lay in sensory physiology,
particularly chemoreception (taste and smell) in insects and
he was a founder of the study of insect-plant interactions.
This breadth of interests and depth of knowledge gained him
acceptance into many prestigious societies, including the
National Academy of Sciences which invited him to become a
member in 1965.
Vincent Dethier was an active scientist
until his death, wrote more than 170 scientific papers, 15
scientific books, and at least one childrens' book. Several
of his scientific books were written for non-scientists since
he thought it important to communicate the fascination and
methods of science to as many people as possible. One of his
earlier books, To Know A Fly, is still treasured by a wide
audience and his last, Crickets and Katydids, won the John
Burroughs Medal for distinguished Nature Writing.
In addition to the pleasure he got from
his research and writing, Dr. Dethier was also a talented
artist, he illustrated many of his early papers, and he loved
music. His weekly recorder quartets were a great joy to him.
Darlene Brunzell gave an introduction to
the Dec. 4, 1998 Dethier award banquet. She stated at the
banquet "Dr. Vincent Dethier was an esteemed scientist and
communicator. This can be said of many scientists in our field,
but rarely have I heard these praises spoken of Vincent Dethier
without mention in the same breath of what a spirited and
giving individual he was. I might feel deprived at only knowing
Vincent Dethier through his writings except that I believe
his spirit is alive and well at the University of Massachusetts.
While Vincent Dethier was the founding director of the Neuroscience
and Behavior (NSB) Program, it is not surprising that the
founding students established the Graduate Student Organization
(GSO). The first GSO president, (now Dr.) Diana Blazis, told
me that the goals of the GSO were to bridge communications
across our various areas of scientific expertise and to enhance
the local scientific community. This is no small endeavor.
Every graduate student knows, some faculty remember, and some
of the undergraduates here will find out that graduate school
is a life-changing event! After making time to do your research,
attend classes, study, attend journal clubs, brown bags, and
colloquia, teach, and stay abreast of the latest developments
in your field, there is little personal time left. Despite
this, there is a large number of students in our program who
are not only committed to their own academic and scientific
advancement, but who are committed to the quality and success
of the NSB program.
First Annual Dethier Award
Darlene Brunzell and
Anthony Auger received the First Annual Dethier
Award on December 4, 1996 at the NSB Banquet and Poster Session.
Second Annual Dethier Award
Horacio de la Iglesia
and Catherine Auger received the Annual Dethier
Award on December 5, 1997.
Third Annual Dethier Award
Mrs. Vincent Dethier presented Meredith
Curran with the award on December 4, 1998.
Fourth Annual Dethier Award
Dr. Gordon Wyse presented
Tina Han with the Dethier Award on April 28,
2000 at the NSB annual poster session and banquet held at
The Lord Jeffery Inn.
Fifth Annual Dethier Award
Susan L. Zup
received the Award on March 2, 2001 at the NSB annual poster
session and banquet held at The UMass Campus Center.
Sixth Annual Dethier Award
Erich N. Ottem received
the 6th Annual Dethier Award on December 14, 2001 at the NSB
Banquet.
Seventh Annual Dethier Award
Heather A. Molenda
and Dena A. Jacob received the 7th Annual Dethier
Award on September 10, 2003 at the annual Welcome Reception
held at the University Club.
Eight Annual Dethier Award
Brian J. Piper received
the Dethier Award on May 5, 2004 at the annual NSB Banquet
at The Lord Jeffery Inn.
Ninth Annual Dethier Award
Marianne L. Seney received
the Dethier Award on April 29, 2005 at the annual NSB Banquet
at The Lord Jeffery Inn.
Tenth Annual Dethier Award
Christa D. Skow and
Iris L. Price received the Dethier Award on
May 12, 2006 at the annual NSB Banquet at The Lord Jeffery
Inn.
Eleventh Annual Dethier Award
Elaine K. Murray received the Dethier Award on
May 11, 2007 at the annual NSB Banquet at UMass Campus Center.
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