Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science

NACS News

November 20, 2009 Kaiwen He has paper in Journal of Neurophysiology
A paper NACS alumni Kaiwen He co-authored is on-line in the Journal of Neurophysiology. Title: "Specific roles of AMPA receptor subunit GluR1 (GluA1) phosphorylation sites in regulating synaptic plasticity in the CA1 region of hippocampus." Authors: H. Lee, K. Takamiya, K. He, L. Song, & R. Huganir.

November 09, 2009 Congrats to Claudia Bonin for passing her dissertation defense!
Claudia Bonin has successfully defended her dissertation: "Spatial and temporal characteristics of electromagnetic activity in the brain prior to reaches to visual targets." Claudia is advised by Drs Mark Hallett and Jonathan Simon.

November 09, 2009 Kaiwen He has paper in the journal PNAS
NACS alumni Kaiwen He's paper just went on-line in the journal PNAS. The title of her paper is: "Stabilization of Ca2+-permeable AMPA receptors at perisynaptic sites by GluR1-S845 phosphorylation." The authors are K. He, L. Song, L. Cummings, J. Goldman, R. Huganir, and Hey-Kyoung Lee.

October 27, 2009 Congrats to Raymond for passing his dissertation defense!
Raymond Merritt has successfully defended his dissertation. The title of his dissertation is "Myosins IIIa and IIIb regulate stereocilia length by transporting espin 1 to the polymerizing end of actin filaments." Raymond is advised by Drs Bechara Kachar and Arthur Popper.

September 28, 2009 Raymond Merritt has paper in Nature Cell Biology
Raymond Merritt is co-first author on a paper that appeared in the March 2009 issue of Nature Cell Biology: "Myosin IIIa boosts elongation of stereocilia by transporting espin 1 to the plus ends of actin filaments." Raymond is co-advised by Drs Arthur Popper (UMCP) and Bechara Kachar (NIH). read more >

August 28, 2009 Dr. Jens Herberholz Awarded NSF Grant
Dr. Jens Herberholz was awarded $509,882 from the National Science Foundation for "Identification of Underlying Mechanisms for Decision-Making and Behavioral Choice in Crayfish." Project goal: gain a better understanding of the basic neural processes that control decision-making & behavioral choice. read more >

August 21, 2009 fMRI Proposal Funded by NSF
The National Science Foundation has awarded UM nearly $2 million to establish a brain imaging laboratory. The NACS Program led the initiative to create the new Brain Imaging Center, which will bring together researchers from across campus to study the neural basis of language, emotion and thought. read more >

June 17, 2009 Congrats to Philip Wang for passing his dissertation defense!
Philip Wang has successfully defended his dissertation. The title of his dissertation is "Molecular Mechanisms of Neuronal Development." Philip is advised by Dr. Elizabeth Quinlan and Dr. Robert Wenthold.

May 14, 2009 NACS Student Xiaohong Deng in the News
NACS student Xiaohong Deng was recently featured in National Geographic News and Science Daily for her research on the ears of deep sea fish. She will present her findings at the 157th Acoustical Society of America Meeting on in Portland Oregon taking place on May 18-22. read more >

May 14, 2009 Congrats to Xiaohong Deng for passing her dissertation defense!
Xiaohong Deng has successfully defended her dissertation. The title of her dissertation is "Comparative Studies on the Structure of the Ears of Deep-Sea Fishes." Xiaohong is advised by Dr. Arthur Popper.

April 13, 2009 Congrats to Kaiwen He for passing her dissertation defense!
Kaiwen He has successfully defended her dissertation. The title of her dissertation is "Ampa Receptor and Synaptic Plasticity." Kaiwen is advised by Dr. Hey-Kyoung Lee.

March 11, 2009 Amanda Woodward and Jose Contreras-Vidal awarded ONR grant
Professor Amanda Woodward, Psychology, and Associate Professor Jose (Pepe) L. Contreras-Vidal, Kinesiology, were awarded a $300,347 two-year grant from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to investigate the plasticity and development of the mirror neuron system in infants and adults.

December 24, 2008 NACS Faculty Named AAAS Fellows for 2009
NACS faculty Dr. Avis Cohen and Dr. Nathan Fox are among the 486 new fellows recently named by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). read more >

September 08, 2008 Hui Wang has paper in Journal of Neuroscience!
Hui Wang's paper just appeared in the new issue of the Journal of Neuroscience: Hui Wang, Lihua Song, Fiona Laird, Philip C. Wong, and Hey-Kyoung Lee, "BACE1 Knock-Outs Display Deficits in Activity-Dependent Potentiation of Synaptic Transmission at Mossy Fiber to CA3 Synapses in the Hippocampus."

August 05, 2008 Congrats to Chen Chiu for passing her dissertation defense!
Chen Chiu has successfully defended her dissertation. The title of her dissertation is "Adaptive echolocation and flight behaviors in free flying bats, Eptesicus fuscus." Chen is advised by Cindy Moss.

July 30, 2008 Congrats to Xing Tian for passing his dissertation defense!
Xing Tian has successfully defended his dissertation. The title of his dissertation is "Testing a dynamic account of neural processing: Behavioral and electrophysiological studies of semantic satiation." Xing is advised by Michael Dougherty and David Huber.

June 13, 2008 Congrats to Chris Glaze for passing his dissertation defense!
Chris Glaze has successfully defended his dissertation and will receive his Ph.D. in August, 2008. The title of his dissertation is "Temporal Structure in Zebra Finch Song: Implications for the Motor Code and Learning Process." Chris is advised by Drs. Catherine Carr and Todd Troyer.

May 28, 2008 Serin Atiani awarded a William Hodos Dissertation Research Assistantship
Serin Atiani is the recipient of a Hodos Dissertation Assistantship for 2008-2009. This award is given to recognize and support the achievements of our most talented students. The award will provide one semester of support and includes a stipend of $10,000.

May 28, 2008 Melissa Pangelinan and Yuanfen Zhang Awarded Summer Research Fellowships
Melissa Pangelinan and Yuanfen Zhang are the recipients of Summer Research Fellowships from the Graduate School. The summer fellowships will help Melissa and Yuanfen prepare for a benchmark in the NACS program requirements.

May 16, 2008 Michaela Meyer - First NACS Certificate Recipient
Michaela Meyer, a graduate student in the Biology Department, is the first recipient of the NACS Certificate. Michaela, who will receive her Ph.D. this May, is advised by Dr. Arthur Popper. For more information on the NACS Certificate Program, visit http://www.nacs.umd.edu/program/certificate.html

May 15, 2008 NACS Alumni Virginie van Wassenhove to Give Talk
Virginie van Wassenhove (NACS Ph.D. 2004) will give a talk about her recent work from UCSF and Caltech at 3:00pm in the CNL in Marie Mount Hall on Tuesday, May 20. The title of her talk is "The missing gestalts in multisensory perception: one look at time." Contact dpoeppel@umd.edu for more info.

May 09, 2008 Kaiwen He Awarded Wylie Fellowship
The Fellowship includes a $10,000 stipend, $800 towards the cost of health insurance, and tuition remission for one semester to allow recipients to devote their full attention to their dissertation. Congratulations Kaiwen!

April 21, 2008 NACS Faculty Featured in University's Research Publication
The Division of Research at the University of Maryland is featuring several NACS faculty members in this month's issue of its IMPACT research publication. read more >

April 14, 2008 NACS Computational Neuroscience Search Candidate Talks
The NACS Program is conducting a search to hire a new faculty member in computational neuroscience. The fourth of the five candidates--Jonathan Pillow from the Royal Society and Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit--will give a talk on Thursday, April 17, at noon in Room 2460 in the A. V. Williams Building. read more >

April 11, 2008 Congrats to Anu Goel for passing her dissertation defense!
Anubhuthi Goel has successfully defended her dissertation and will receive her Ph.D. in May, 2008. The title of her dissertation is "Cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying homeostatic synaptic plasticity." Anu is advised by Dr. Hey-Kyoung Lee.

April 10, 2008 Congrats to Ron Goodman for passing his dissertation defense!
Ron Goodman has successfully defended his dissertation and will receive his Ph.D. in May, 2008. The title of his dissertation is "Performance Under Pressure: Examination of Relevant Neurobiological and Genetic Influence." Ron is advised by Dr. Brad Hatfield.

April 10, 2008 NACS Computational Neuroscience Search Candidate Talks
The NACS Program is conducting a search to hire a new faculty member in computational neuroscience. The third of the five candidates--Daniel Butts from Cornell University--will give a talk on Thursday, April 10, at noon in Room 1208 in the Biology-Psychology Building. read more >

March 28, 2008 NACS Computational Neuroscience Search Candidate Talks
The NACS Program is conducting a search to hire a new faculty member in computational neuroscience. The second of the five candidates--Wilson Truccolo from Brown University--will give a talk on Wednesday, April 2, at noon in Room 3302 in the School of Public Health. read more >

March 26, 2008 Congrats to Feng Rong for passing his dissertation defense!
Feng Rong has successfully defended his dissertation and will receive his Ph.D. in May, 2008. The title of his dissertation is "Memory-related cognitive modulation of human auditory cortex: Magnetoencephalography-based validation of a computational model." Feng is advised by Dr. Jose Contreras-Vidal.

March 25, 2008 NACS Computational Neuroscience Search Candidate Talks
The NACS Program is conducting a search to hire a new faculty member in computational neuroscience. The first of the five candidates--Angela Yu from Princeton University--will give a talk on Wednesday, March 26, at noon in room 1142 Biology-Psychology Building. read more >

March 18, 2008 Mardi Byerly, NACS Ph.D. 2008, Awarded Minority Supplement
Mardi Byerly, a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University, was awarded a minority supplement for 3 years from the National Eye Institute. Congratulations, Mardi!

January 04, 2008 Beth Stevens, NACS Ph.D. 2003, makes significant discovery!
Beth Stevens--NACS alumni and a postdoctoral scholar in the laboratory of Dr. Ben Barres at Stanford University--and team have discovered that the immune system may target some brain synapses. The paper announcing this finding appeared in the December 14 issue of the journal Cell. read more >