News

New Locations

The main faculty and administrative office has relocated to the newly renovated 143 Biological Sciences Building II. Dr. Timothy Cope, chair, can be reached in this new location. Additional department faculty will be moving into this building in the following weeks.

2009 Faculty News

On October 26, 2009, Christopher N. Wyatt, Ph.D., will give a seminar in the Department of Molecular Biosciences, Kansas University, Lawrence, KS, entitled, "The role of AMP-activated protein kinase in acute oxygen-sensing."

Christopher N. Wyatt, Ph.D., presented a seminar at Kettering College, in Dayton, March 19. The title was "Hypoxia and the control of breathing."

On March 4, 2009, Tim Cope, Ph.D., and Robert Fyffe, Ph.D., were invited speakers to Case Western Reserve University, Center for Translational Neuroscience Interest Group. Their title was "Reorganizing Spinal Synapses and Ion Channels After Nerve Injury and Regeneration."

The WSU Office of Research and Sponsored Programs has announced that Robert W. Putnam, Ph.D., received $21,925 from the Research Challenge Early Start/Augmentation internal awards program for his proposal "The Role of Ion Channels and Reactive Oxygen Species in the Control of Breathing."

The Ohio Miami Valley Chapter Society for Neuroscience (OMV-SfN) 2009 Winter Meeting was held at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, on January 30. Kim Hagler, coordinator 
in the Comprehensive Neuroscience Center, was selected as the new secretary/treasurer of the local chapter.

Christopher N. Wyatt, Ph.D., and the members of the Wyatt lab, will be attending the conference Hypoxia and Consequences at the New York Academy of Sciences, New York, N.Y., March 12-14. Dr Wyatt, Heidi Jordan and Barbara Barr are authors on posters entitled: 1. "Regulation of oxygen-sensitive channels by AMP-activated protein kinase" and 2. "AMP-activated protein kinase and hypoxia-response coupling in the carotid body and pulmonary artery".

2008 Faculty News

The WSU Office of Research and Sponsored Programs announced the following department faculty were awarded external grants and contracts between May and December 2008.

Timothy C. Cope, Ph.D., was an invited speaker to a Neuroscience Graduate Program Seminar Series in Providence, R.I., on February 5, 2008. He presented "Injury Signals Inducing Spinal Synaptic Plasticity".

Timothy C. Cope, Ph.D., attended the Society for Neuroscience 38th Annual Meeting in Washington D.C., on November 15, 2008, and presented an abstract, "Synaptic Responses to High Frequency Activation of Regenerated Ia Afferents." While there, he also attended the 2008 Fall Meeting of the Association of Neuroscience Departments and Programs.

John C. Pearson, Ph.D., made a poster presentation at the Society for Neuroscience 38th Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., on November 15, 2008. His title was "Implementation of a team-based module that effectively teaches neurologic localization skills."

Xueyong Wang, M.D., Ph.D., made a poster presentation at the Society for Neuroscience 38th Annual Meeting in Washington D.C. November 15, 2008. His title was "Presynaptic and postsynaptic sensors for synaptic activity trigger homeostatic regulation of vesicle release by distinct mechanisms at the mouse neuromuscular junction in vivo."

Mark Rich, M.D., presented a seminar at the Stark Neuroscience Research Institute on "Dysregulation of sodium channel gating during critical illness," at the University of Indiana October 23, 2008

Robert Putnam, Ph.D., and Francisco J. Alvarez, Ph.D., were guest speakers in the Physiology Seminar Series at Emory University, in Atlanta, on October 16, 2008. Dr. Putnam’s title was "C02/H+ responsiveness of chemosensitive neurons involves multiple factors." Dr. Alvarez’s title was "Making local connections: Differentiation of spinal premotor inhibitory interneurons from the embryonic V1 canonical group."

Dawn Wooley, Ph.D., attended the 51st Annual Biological Safety Conference in Reno, Nevada, on October 20. The title of her presentation was "Viral Vectors in the Laboratory: Just How Safe Are They?"

Dan R. Halm, Ph.D., attended the annual meeting of the Society of General Physiologists in Wood Hole, Mass., on September 3. The title of his poster presentation was "Neuroendocrine peptides neuropeptide-Y and peptide-YY suppress Cl^– secretion and K⁺ secretion in guinea pig distal colon through action at Y2-receptors."

Robert Putnam, Ph.D., was an invited seminar speaker at the Second Annual Physiology Society Meeting at the University of Cambridge, England, July 14-16. He spoke at The Symposium: pH dynamics in the Central Nervous System - a matter of life or death? His title was: The Role of Changes of pH in Central Chemosensitive Neurons."

Francisco J. Alvarez, Ph.D., has been promoted to full professor in the Department of Neuroscience, Cell Biology and Physiology effective July 1. We would like to congratulate Dr. Alvarez for his continued excellence in science and his other contributions to our department and the Wright State community.

Chris Wyatt, Ph.D., has been awarded a beginning grant in aid for $130,000 over two years from the American Heart Association. The title of the grant is "The role of AMP-activated protein kinase in oxygen-sensing by the carotid body."

Robert E.W. Fyffe, Ph.D., associate dean for research affairs and professor of neuroscience, cell biology and physiology, has been awarded the title of University Professor. A special rank awarded by the Board of Trustees, the University Professor award is reserved for full professors who have made outstanding contributions beyond the confines of their own discipline. WSU President David R. Hopkins presented the award at the university Convocation to open the 2008-2009 academic year.

Student News

Congratulations to Heidi Jordan (Wyatt Lab). Heidi has been awarded a $1,000 American Physiological Society travel grant to attend the 36th International Congress of Physiological Sciences in Kyoto, Japan, in July 2009. Heidi will present a poster entitled "Histamine is not an excitatory presynaptic neurotransmitter in neonatal rat carotid body type I cells."

Katie Bullinger, an M.D./Ph.D. BMS student in Dr. Tim Cope’s laboratory, attended the Society for Neuroscience 38th Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., November 15, 2008, and presented an abstract titled: "Oxaliplatin Chemotherapy Alters Encoding Behavior of Proprioceptive Afferents." Ms. Bullinger was the recipient of the OMV-SfN Chapter’s Gradate Student Travel Award in the amount of $750, plus a complimentary registration, which was presented to her at a special reception at the Annual Meeting.

Anita Benito Gonzalez and Valerie Siembab Neff, Ph.D. students of Francisco Alvarez, Ph.D., made poster presentations at the Society for Neuroscience 38th Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., November 15, 2008. Ms. Gonzalez’s title was "Renshaw cells are V1-derived neurons with a very early birth date." Ms. Neff’s title was "Distinct synaptic development in la inhibitory interneurons compared to Renshaw cells."

John Treyfry and Robert McRae, Ph.D. students of Dawn Wooley, Ph.D., presented their research at the 2008 Physiological Sensing Symposium, "Multiscale Integration of Nanotechnology, BioMEMS and Biology," at Purdue University in Indiana, November 20, 2008.