Department hosts two neuroscience symposia
by University Communications and Biological Sciences
New Orleans site of first event
Hosted by Professor Jill Schneider, the department of biological sciences sponsored a neuroscience symposium at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative & Comparative Biology in New Orleans. The symposium’s focus was “molecular and neuroendocrine approaches to understanding tradeoffs: food, sex, aggression, stress and longevity.
Schneider gathered neuroscience leaders from around the country and Canada to present their research. Talks included:
Professor Schneider also presented her research, “The role of GnlH in the tradeoff between reproductive and ingestive behavior.” Also representing Lehigh was Ph.D. Candidate and student in the Schneider Lab, Jeremy Brozek, who spoke on “How do maternal programming strategies differ in the Syrian hamster, a seasonal breeder?”
“We are so grateful to the department and Provost Farrell for funding this symposium on trade-offs,” Schneider notes. “We learned that trade-offs (giving up one behavior to engage in another) are key to understanding 1) side effects of medical treatments and therapeutic drugs, 2) how animals are responding to environmental changes (like climate change), and 3) how evolution happens. We got to compare and contrast the neuroendocrine mechanisms that operate in a wide array of different species (hamster, mice, bats, birds, snakes, and worms). We even learned how trade-offs are involved in white nose disease, the infection that is killing off bats in record numbers. After the full day of talks, a great time was had by all in New Orleans.”
Iacocca Hall welcomes neuroscientists in April
Asst. Professor Julie Miwa presents her research at the Iacocca symposium |
Lehigh’s first interdisciplinary neuroscience symposium was held in April, 2017. Hosted by Assoc. Prof. R. Michael Burger, the event drew more than 80 attendees from Lehigh and from several states around the region, including Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey. The symposium included one-hour presentations from four distinguished extramural guests:
Graduate student Lashaka Jones was awarded first place for her research poster |
Four Lehigh faculty members gave 30-minute presentations on their work:
The event also featured a mid-day poster presentation showcasing the work of graduate and undergraduate students.
“The neuroscience symposium was a great venue to show Lehigh’s expanding strengths in interdisciplinary neuroscience with speakers from several Lehigh faculty representing bioengineering, biological sciences, and the department of psychology, along with our prestigious invited speakers,” said Burger. “Many of our behavioral neurosciences undergraduates attended the symposium, and I think this helped broaden their views as to the vast diversity of research approaches that are being applied to understanding the brain and neural function.”
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