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Neuroscience

The Neuroscience Program

The Neuroscience Graduate Program at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) promotes interdisciplinary training that crosses traditional departmental boundaries and offers a rigorous foundation in the core concepts of neuroscience. Our goal is to cultivate the development of leaders in neuroscience research. Ongoing research in the program employs a wide array of techniques and includes multiple levels of investigation, ranging from genes, molecules, and cells to neural networks, systems, and behavior. Our faculty's research interests range from molecular & cellular neuroscience, systems neuroscience, computational neuroscience, cancer neuroscience, and translational neuroscience, which focuses on neurological diseases such as brain tumors, neurodegeneration, aging and psychiatric disorders. Unique to the neuroscience program is the option of fast track, which allows those students with strong interest in Neuroscience to bypass the GSBS Foundation course. We welcome attendance and participation of all interested GSBS faculty, students and other trainees at our retreat, seminars and other program activities.

Faculty Seeking Students 2023-2024

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FACULTY RESEARCH AREAS

Events

News

PhD student Jing Cai has research published in Cell Reports

PhD student Jing Cai has research published in Cell Reports

Neuroscience PhD student Jing Cai published a first-author paper titled “AgRP neurons are not indispensable for body weight maintenance in adult mice,” in the July 25 Issue of Cell Reports...
August 30, 2023
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Photo of Rachel Van Drunen

Q&A with PhD Student, Fulbright Scholar Rachel Van Drunen

PhD student Rachel Van Drunen has always had a fascination with science, but when she was a novice summer intern working in a regenerative medicine lab at the Texas Heart Institute, she felt more like ...
June 13, 2023
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Heather Tsong, right, seen here with her advisor Andrea K.H. Stavoe, PhD, receiving the Crow Scholarship. (Photo: John Concha)

Tsong receives 2023 Terry J. Crow, PhD Scholarship in Neuroscience

Neuroscience PhD candidate Heather Tsong, has been named the 2023 recipient of the Terry J. Crow, PhD Scholarship in Neuroscience for her outstanding scholastic achievements . For her doctoral thesis research...
April 11, 2023
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Vasanthi Jayaraman, PhD

Jayaraman receives grant to study glutamate receptors involved in memory, other neurological processes

A five-year, nearly $3.5 million grant to study the mechanisms of brain receptors involved in neurological disorders such as learning disabilities has been awarded to Vasanthi Jayaraman, PhD, by the National...
December 26, 2022
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Dee S. and Patricia Osborne Endowed Scholarship in the Neurosciences

Dee S. and Patricia Osborne Endowed Scholarship in the Neurosciences

Congratulations to the 2022 recipients of the Dee S. and Patricia Osborne Endowed Scholarship in the Neurosciences:  First Place ( $1000): Xu Zhang Second Place ($600): Melissa Franch Third Place ...
December 22, 2022
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Program Events

Student Workshops and Poster Sessions

Students have the opportunity to deliver full-length seminars on their research to fellow students and faculty and receive extensive feedback on their presentation. Numerous poster sessions held throughout the year offer the chance to present research findings.


Program Events

  • Student Workshops and Poster Sessions

    Student Workshops and Poster Sessions

    Students have the opportunity to deliver full-length seminars on their research to fellow students and faculty and receive extensive feedback on their presentation. Numerous poster sessions held throughout the year offer the chance to present research findings.


  • Annual Student Retreat

    Annual Student Retreat

    Student-organized annual two day retreat which offers a mix of lectures by students, faculty, and alumni, poster presentations, and various social activities.

  • Journal Clubs & Invited Speakers

    Journal Clubs & Invited Speakers

    Journal Clubs offer the chance to present current papers to fellow students, postdocs and faculty. Students have many opportunities to invite speakers for in person and virtual seminars throughout the year.

  • Genetics & Epigenetics and Neuroscience Art Show­case

    Genetics & Epigenetics and Neuroscience Art Show­case

    Annual Arts Showcase involving students, faculty and postdocs. Exhibits include paintings, drawings, ceram­ics, crafts, photography, microscopy and culinary.

  • Master Calendar of Events

Student Spotlight!

  • External Fellowships

    Kiersten Scott AHA Pre-doctoral Fellowship (Mentor Urayama)
    Paula Bender, Houston Area Molecular BioPhysics (HAMBP) T32 Fellowship Program (Mentor Jayaraman)
    Eyad Shihabeddin
    , F31 (Mentor: O'Brien) 
    Alexander Andersohn, AHA Predoctoral Fellowship
    Janelle Korf, AHA Predoctoral Fellowship (Mentors: Ganesh and McCullough)
    Shun-Ming Ting, AHA Predoctoral Fellowship (Mentor: Aronowski)
    Cana Quave, F31 (Mentor: Do Monte)
    Rachel Van Drunen, F31 (Mentors: Mahan and Tong)

  • 2022-2024 Awards, Scholarships and Fellowships

    Alexandra McConnell
    Sam Taub and Beatrice Burton Endowed Fellowship in Vision Disease

    Amanda Solbach
    City Federation of Women’s Clubs Endowed Scholarship in Biomedical Sciences

    Paula Bender
    Oates Family GSBS Endowment Scholarship
    Dee S. and Patricia Osborne Endowed Scholarship in the Neurosciences 
    Dee S. and Patricia Osborne Endowed Scholarship in the Neurosciences (NRC Poster Session)

    Vicky Chuong
    GSEC Poster Award
    Ralph B. Arlinghaus, PhD Scholarship
    Larry Deaven Ph.D. Fellowship in Biomedical Sciences
    Dee S. and Patricia Osborne Endowed Scholarship in the Neurosciences 

    Stephen Farmer
    GSEC Poster Award
    Dr. John J. Kopchick Fellowship
    Dee S. and Patricia Osborne Endowed Scholarship in the Neurosciences (NRC Poster Session)
    President’s Research Excellence Award
    CCTS-TL1 Grant 

    Chrystine Gallegos
    Dr. John J. Kopchick Fellowship
    T32
    Dee S. and Patricia Osborne Endowed Scholarship in the Neurosciences

    Damian Goski
    Dee S. and Patricia Osborne Endowed Scholarship in the Neurosciences

    Dounya Jalloul
    Roberta M. and Jean M. Worsham Endowed Fellowship
    Dee S. and Patricia Osborne Endowed Scholarship in the Neurosciences

    Sumayyah Khan
    Dee S. and Patricia Osborne Endowed Scholarship in the Neurosciences

    Janelle Korf
    Dee S. and Patricia Osborne Endowed Scholarship in the Neurosciences

    Meredith McCarty
    Sam Taub and Beatrice Burton Endowed Fellowship in Vision Disease

    Takese McKenzie
    Dee S. and Patricia Osborne Endowed Scholarship in the Neurosciences (NRC Poster Session)
    Dr. John J. Kopchick Fellowship
    Marilyn and Frederick R. Lummis, Jr., M.D., Fellowship in Biomedical Sciences
    Linda M. Wells GSBS Outreach Award
    Roberta M. and Jean M. Worsham Endowed Fellowship
    Dee S. and Patricia Osborne Endowed Scholarship in the Neurosciences

    Bridgitte Palacios
    Dr. John J. Kopchick Fellowship
    Russell and Diana Hawkins Family Foundation Discovery Fellowship
    1st Place Poster Presentation, ACTS Annual Conference 2023, Washington D.C.
    Burroughs Welcome Fund Trainee Travel Award
    Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences (CCTS) TL1 Fellowship

    Mekenzie Peshoff
    Charlene Kopchick Fellow
    American Legion Auxiliary Fellow in Cancer Research
    Dean's Dean's Excellence Scholarship 
    American Legion Auxiliary Fellowship in Cancer Research
    1st Place GSBS Graduate Student Research Day Poster Presentation
    Dee S. and Patricia Osborne Endowed Scholarship in the Neurosciences

    Cana Quave
    Dee S. and Patricia Osborne Endowed Scholarship in the Neurosciences

    Eyad Shihabeddin
    Knights Templar Eye Foundation Travel Grant
    Dr. John J. Kopchick Fellowship

    Mitchell Slapik
    George M. Stancel, Ph.D. Fellowship in the Biomedical Sciences
    Clinical and Translational Science Predoctoral Fellowship (TL1)
    Dee S. and Patricia Osborne Endowed Scholarship in the Neurosciences

    Kiersten Scott
    Deans Excellence Scholarship

    Shun-Ming Ting
    Mordecai Y. T. Globus New Investigator Award
    Dean’s Research Award

    Heather Tsong
    Dee S. and Patricia Osborne Endowed Scholarship in the Neurosciences (NRC Poster Session)
    Investing in Student Futures Scholarship
    Terry J. Crow Scholarship in Neuroscience
    Dee S. and Patricia Osborne Endowed Scholarship in the Neurosciences

    Rachel Van Drunen
    John J Kopchick Award
    Fulbright Scholar
    Dee S. and Patricia Osborne Endowed Scholarship in the Neurosciences
    GSBS Presidents' Research Scholarships

    Xu Zhang
    Dr. John J. Kopchick Fellowship
    The Russell and Diana Hawkins Family Foundation Discovery Fellowship
    Dee S. and Patricia Osborne Endowed Scholarship in the Neurosciences
    GSBS Presidents' Research Scholarships

     

  • First Author Publications

    Jing Cai, Jing Chen, Joshua Ortiz-Guzman, Yuyan Shi, Qingchun Tong, Cheng Zhan; AgRP neurons are not indispensable for body weight maintenance in adult mice; Cell Reports (2023)

    Salvador Alejo#, Bridgitte E Palacios#, Prabhakar Pitta Venkata, Yi He, Wenjing Li, Jessica D. Johnson, Yihong Chen, Uday P. Pratap, Sridharana Jayamohan, Kyra Clarke, Yi Zou, Suryavathi Viswanadhapalli, Zhao Lai, Zhenqing Ye, Yidong Chen, Andrea R. Gilbert, Takayoshi Suzuki, Rajeshwar R. Tekmal, Weixing Zhao, Siyuan Zheng, Ratna K. Vadlamudi, Andrew J. Brenner, Gangadhara R. Sareddy; Lysine-specific histone demethylase 1A (KDM1A/LSD1) inhibition attenuates DNA double strand break repair and augments efficacy of temozolomide in glioblastom; Neuro-oncology (2023)

    Mekenzie M. Peshoff, Pravesh Gupta, Rakesh Trivedi, Shivangi Oberai, Prashanth Chakrapani, Minghao Dang, Nancy Milam, Mark E. Maynard, Brian D. Vaillant, Jason T. Huse, Linghua Wang, Karen Clise-Dwyer, Krishna P. Bhat;Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM2) regulates phagocytosis in glioblastoma; bioRxiv (2023)

    Celso S. G. Catumbela, and Rodrigo Morales; Transmission of amyloid-β pathology in humans: A perspective; Neural Regeneration Research. (2023)

    Tuba Aksoy, Harel Z. Shouval; Active intrinsic conductances in recurrent networks allow for long-lasting transients and sustained activity with realistic firing rates as well as robust plasticity; Journal of Computational Neuroscience (2022)

    Ghalya Alrousan, Arham Hassan, Aditya Anilkumar Pillai, Fatin Atrooz, Samina Salim; Early Life Sleep Deprivation and Brain Development: Insights From Human and Animal Studies; Front Neurosci. (2022)

    Janelle Korf, B.P. Ganesh, L.D. McCullough; Gut dysbiosis and age-related neurological diseases in females. Neurobiol. Dis. (2022)

    Janelle Korf, P. Honarpisheh, EC Mohan; CD11bhigh B Cells Increase after Stroke and Regulate Microglia. J Immunol. (2022)

    Meredith McCarty; The Listening Zone of Human Electrocorticographic Field Potential Recordings; eNeuro (2022)

    Rachel Van Drunen, Baharan Fekry, Aleix Ribas?Latre, Rafael Bravo Santos, Samay Shivshankar, Yulin Dai, Zhongming Zhao, Seung?hee Yoo, Zheng Chen; Hepatic circadian and differentiation factors control liver susceptibility for fatty liver disease and tumorigenesis; The FASEB Journal (2022)

    Xu O. Zhang, F.H.Do-Monte; Positioning the brainstem within the neural network of threat prediction; Trends in Neurosciences (2022)

    Meredith McCarty; Rethinking Stereotypies in Autism; Seminars in Pediatric Neurology (2021)

    Jing Cai, Ryan M. Cassidy, Jessie Morrill, Qingchun Tong (in press). Neurotransmitter Co-transmission in Brain Control of Feeding and Body Weight. Book chapter in Neural signaling. Brain Metabolism 2021

    Cana Quave, Nieto, S. J., Haile, C. N., Kosten, T. A. Immune receptor Toll-like receptor 4 contributes to stress-induced affective responses in a sex-specific manner. Brain, Behavior, & Immunity - Health, 14 2021

    Shun-Ming Ting, Zhao X, Sun G, Obertas L, Ricote M, Aronowski J. Brain Cleanup as a Potential Target for Poststroke Recovery: The Role of RXR (Retinoic X Receptor) in Phagocytes. Stroke 2020

    Shun-Ming Ting, Zhao X, Zheng X, Aronowski J. J Cereb. Excitatory pathway engaging glutamate, calcineurin, and NFAT upregulates IL-4 in ischemic neurons to polarize microglia. Blood Flow Metab 2020

  • NGP Stuco Newsletters

Alumni Spotlight

Deepna Devkar, PhD
Vice President, Machine Learning and Data Platform at CNN Media Company.

To view more Neuroscience Alumni, click here

deepna

Neuroscience Social Media

Neuron for the Contact Us column

contact us

For more information about the Neuroscience Program, please contact

Program Director
Kartik Venkatachalam, PhD 
(713) 500-7504
Kartik.Venkatachalam@uth.tmc.edu

Program Co-Director 
Rodrigo Morales, PhD
(713) 500-7442
Rodrigo.Moralesloyola@uth.tmc.edu

Program Manager
Amanda Williamson
MSB 7.262, (713) 500-5193
Amanda.J.Williamson@uth.tmc.edu