Program News Congratulations to Dr. Jeremy Flint, who successfully defended his doctoral research titled "Examination of Tissue Microstructure, Contrast Enhancement and Neural Activity in the Brain Slice Model Using Magnetic Resonance Microscopy" on June 26th. Jeremy entered the Neuroscience IDP program in 2004 and has one first author published paper (Neuroimage) and four additional published manuscripts. Jeremy is mentored by Dr. Stephen Blackband. Congratulations to Dr. Kelly Miller, who successfully defended her doctoral research titled "Microglial Function in the Aged and Injured Rodent Brain" on May 19th. Kelly entered the Neuroscience IDP program in 2004 and has one first author paper in press (Neuron Glia Biology) and four additional published manuscripts. Kelly is mentored by Dr. Wolfgang Streit. We wish Kelly continued success in her postdoctoral studies. She will be moving to Charite University Berlin, Germany, to work with Dr. Frank Heppner, Director of the Institute of Neuropathology. Congratulations to Emalick Njie who was recently awarded a research grant from the B.W. Robinson Memorial Endowment for the Neurosicences, Tallahassee Memorial Hospital Foundation, Inc. for his research titled " Neuronal stem cells as a therapeutic delivery vehicle for the Abeta degrading protease MMP9". Emalick is mentored by Dr. David Borchelt and Dr. Wolfgang Streit. Congratulations to Mercedes Prudencio who recently published her second first author paper this year titled "Variation in aggregation propensities among ALS-associated variants of SOD1: Correlation to human disease" in Hum Mol Genet. The paper appeared online May 30, 2009 and is the 100th peer-reviewed, published work for her mentor, Dr. David Borchelt. Congratulations to Dr. Ben Nahir, who successfully defended his doctoral research titled "Endocannabinoids: Linking GABA and Glutamate in the Hilus" on May 19th. Ben entered the Neuroscience IDP program in 2004 and has one first author published paper (J. Neurophysiol) and three additional published manuscripts. Ben is mentored by Dr. C. Jason Frazier. We wish Ben continued success in his postdoctoral studies. He will be moving to the Orgeon Health and Science University in Portland, OR to work with Dr. Craig Jahr. Congratulations to Rabia Zafar, whose recent presentation on the effects of somatostatin gene therapy on seizure severity at the Annual American Epilepsy Society Meeting was highlighted in their news letter. Rabia is mentored by Dr. Paul Carney. Congratulations to Daniel Silver who has recently published his first, first author manuscript in Trends in Neuroscience. The paper titled "Common astrocytic programs during brain development, injury and cancer " appeared online April 25th, 2009. PMID:19398132. Daniel is mentored by Dr. Dennis Steindler. Congratulations to Sunitha Rangaraju who was awarded the first place Gold Medal for her research presentation titled "Modulation of heat shock and autophagy pathways improves myelination in a hereditary neuropathy model" at the 34th Annual Medical Guild-sponsored Graduate Student Research Competition. The competition was held April 29th, 2009 as part of the annual College of Medicine Research Day. Sunitha is the first Neuroscience graduate student to win the gold medal in this event - a notable achievement indeed! Sunitha is mentored by Dr. Lucia Notterpek. Congratulations to Dr. Celeste Karch who successfully defended her doctoral research March 20th titled, "Mechanisms of SOD1 Aggregation in Familial ALS". Celeste entered the Neuroscience IDP program in 2005 and has two first author published papers (J. Biol Chem and PNAS) and two more in preparation. Celeste is mentored by Dr. David Borchelt. We wish Celeste continued success in her postdoctoral studies. Congratulations to Jeremy Flint who has recently published his first, first author manuscript in Neuroimage. The paper titled "Diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging of neuronal activity in the hippocampal slice model " appeared online February 19th, 2009. PMID: 19233299. Jeremy is mentored by Dr. Stephen Blackband. Congratulations to Sunitha Rangaraju who has was recently awarded a Young Investigator Educational Enhancement Award to attend the 40th Annual American Society for Neurochemistry meeting in Charleston, South Carolina from March 7-11, 2009. Sunitha is mentored by Dr. Lucia Notterpek. Congratulations to Jonathan Verrier who has recently published his first, first author manuscript in Glia. The paper titled "Peripheral myelin protein 22 is regulated post-transcriptionally by miRNA-29a. " appeared online January 23rd, 2009. PMID: 19170179. Jonathan is mentored by Dr. Lucia Notterpek. Congratulations to Mercedes Prudencio who was recently named a recipient of one of the Outstanding International Student Awards by the College of Medicine. Mercedes will accept her award at the 14th Annual Interntional Student Awards Ceremony on November 18th at 5:30 in the Rion Ball Room, Reitz Union. Mercedes is mentord by Dr. David Borchelt. Congratulations to Sunitha Rangaraju who has recently published her first, first author manuscript in Neurobiology of Disease. The paper is titled "Pharmacological induction of the heat shock response improves myelination in a neuropathic model" and appeared online July 8th, 2008. PMID: 18655835. Sunitha is mentored by Dr. Lucia Notterpek. Congratulations to Ignacio Sarria who, along with his mentor, Dr. Jianguo Gu, successfully applied for and were awarded a minority supplement training grant from NIH/NIDCR to support Ignacio's research efforts. His research will focus on mechanisms of nociception induced by innocuous cold in the trigeminal system. Congratulations to Wilda Orisme who successfully defended her doctoral thesis work titled "Arrestin Translocation in Rod Photoreceptors: The Signaling Cascade and the Mechanisms" on August 7th. Wilda was mentored by Dr. W. Clay Smith.