Bioscience Students Present at Regional Neuroscience Conference
Research students in Bioscience Professor Adam Stocker’s laboratory attended and presented their research at the MidBrains neuroscience conference in Sioux Falls, SD that took place from October 23rd through 24th. The opportunity to present their scientific research was an experiential learning opportunity that expanded their academic skillset and exposed them to relevant research in this subfield.
The students in attendance conversed with other students interested in neuroscience, as well as listened to scientists from the region present their recent findings on effective Alzheimer’s disease treatments, Parkinson’s disease treatments, cutting edge approaches to explore neural development, neural underpinnings of alcohol addiction, neural control of eating, neural representation of auditory stimuli, and several other topics. Students interacted with faculty and admissions staff during a graduate fair with numerous programs present. This was in addition to interacting with other students presenting their own neuroscience research at poster sessions.
A student team composed of Bioscience majors Deelan Hamdi and Aisha Chovuchovu, Bioscience and BCBT double majors Eyerusalem Kinfe and Adonis Kennedy, and pre-Nursing major Gloria Mckeown presented their work on the behavioral changes that occur during the critical period in Emx2 over-expression mice. These mice have an expanded primary visual area due to the increased Emx2 expression, and students employed a visual cliff behavioral test and a looming behavioral test to assess their visual function.
A student team composed of Bioscience majors Fatmata Kamara, Izzy Rausch, Colton Tapson, and Olani Tesgera, and BCBT, Bioscience, and Psychology triple major Guzoro Adumah presented their work on the behavioral changes that occur during the critical period in mice where Emx2 is deleted from the developing brain. These mice have a significantly smaller primary visual area due to the loss of Emx2 expression, and students employed a visual cliff behavioral test and a looming behavioral test to assess their visual function.
All 10 students did a tremendous job representing MSUM, were also able to make connections with graduate programs, scientists, and physician scientists working in Minnesota and the Dakotas, and physician scientists within the Sanford medical system.
Pictured are the students in front of the Emx2 over-expression poster (left to right: Deelan Hamdi, Aisha Chovuchovu, Gloria Mckeown, Eyerusalem Kinfe, and Adonis Kennedy); the students in front of the Emx2 deletion poster (left to right: Guzoro Adumah, Fatmata Kamara, Colton Tapson, Izzy Rausch, and Olani Tesgera); and all 10 attendees in front of the MidBrains conference logo (left to right in the first row: Izzy Rausch, Fatmata Kamara, Deelan Hamdi, and Gloria Mckeown, L to R in the back row: Adonis Kennedy, Guzoro Adumah, Aisha Chovuchovu, Eyerusalem Kinfe, Colton Tapson, and Olani Tesgera).
