D-Lab: News & Stories
Research News
In 2011, our lab completed one of our most productive years. We achieved all our research aims of the current NIH R15 AREA grant that we received for 2007-2011, which resulted in three manuscripts featuring the work of thirteen undergraduates: Two manuscripts are in press and one is being prepared for review (undergraduate authors asterisked).
2011 Fiske, M*#, Valtierra, S*,# Solvang, K*, Zorniak, M*, White, M.*, Herrera, S*, Brezinsky, R*, Konnikova, A* and DebBurman, SK. Contribution of serine phosphorylation and alanine-76 to alpha-synuclein membrane association and aggregation in yeast models. Parkinson’s Disease Volume 2011, 12 pages, Article ID 392180; doi:10.4061/2011/392180
#: co-first authors.
2011 Fiske, M*#, White M*#, Valtierra, S*, Herrera, S*, Solvang, K*, Konnikova, A* and DebBurman, SK. E46K Alpha-Synuclein Familial Mutant Binds Membranes, Aggregates, and Induces Strain-Selective Toxicity in Yeast Models. ISRN Neurology, vol. 2011, Article ID 521847, 14 pages, 2011. doi:10.5402/2011/521847
#: co-first authors.
2012 Perez, J*#, Senagolage, M*#, Ayala, A*, Vahedi, M*, Price, J*, Fiske, M*, and DebBurman, SK. Complex regulation of alpha-synuclein pathotoxic properties in yeasts by endocytosis genes. #: co-first authors, in prep.
Trainee News
Madhavi Senagolage ‘12, a biology senior with minors in neuroscience and chemistry from Colombo Sri Lanka, has received a competitive 2011 FUN (Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience) Undergraduate Travel Award to present her senior thesis research at the annual Society for Neuroscience Meeting to be held in Washington (DC) from November 11-16. At this meeting, she will also present a science education poster on Eukaryon as its Publication Board Chair. She will also co-present with Daniella Brutman ‘12 another science education poster on the 2010 Brain Awareness Week at Lake Forest College. Previously, she received the 2nd Prize at the 2011 Chicago Society for Neuroscience meeting. She was also awarded a undergraduate research travel award from the American Society of Cell Biology (ASCB) to present her Parkinson’s disease project on endocytosis at the 2010 ASCB meeting in Philadelphia (Dec 11-14). Madhavi plans to pursue a PhD in biology after graduation.
Keith Solvang ‘11, a biology 2011 graduate, won the First Prize won the First Prize in the undergraduate research competition for presenting his Parkinson’s disease research at the 2011 Great Lakes Chapter American Society of Pharmaceutical and Experimental Therapeutics meeting (June 10, 2011). He was supported by an summer fellowship from the 2009-10 NIH American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to conduct his Parkinson’s Disease research project. Keith is planning for a career in medicine.
Alina Konnikova ‘11, a biology 2010 graduate from Vernon Hills Illinois, won the First Prize in the undergraduate research competition for presenting her Parkinson’s disease research on autophagy at the 2010 Great Lakes Chapter American Society of Pharmaceutical and Experimental Therapeutics meeting (June 19, 2010). Alina has begun her MD studies at the UIC College of Medicine.
Jaime Perez ‘10 graduated with a biology and art double major and was the 2009-10 Foster G McGaw Scholar at the college and received the 2009 Lincoln Laureate Award. He is pursuing graduate studies in Prosthetics and Orthotics at University of Texas- Southwestern Medical Center.
Michael Fiske ‘10, a biology 2010 graduate and a 2009 Barry Goldwater Scholarship Honorable Mention, won the First Prize for his Parkinson’s research senior thesis project at the national undergraduate poster competition of the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) held in Anaheim California (April 24-28, 2010). He was also a UAN-ASBMB undergraduate travel award recipient from ASBMB. He conducted his senior thesis with a research grant he received from the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation. Michael is currently pursuing a PhD in biology at the University of Washington.
Alum News & Campus Returns
Michael Fiske ‘10 was awarded Honorable Mention on the 2011 NSF predoctoral grant application as a University of Washington first-year PhD student. We wish him the best as he tries again for it this year— we know how competitive it is to get one of them!
Alexandra Ayala ‘09 is thoroughly enjoying teaching math and science to middle school aged students in Houston as a Teach for America teacher. Read more here on her daily challenges and joys.
Stephanie Valtierra ‘08 (Northwestern University) returned to LFC participate in the biology department and neuroscience program career panels in 2010 and 2011 respectively.
Michael Zorniak ‘07 and Jessica Price ‘06 hosted over 35 Lake Forest College students when we visited University of Wisconsin Madison on May 19 for the 2011 Oliver Smithies Symposium and met and heard Nobel Prize winners Stanley Prusiner and Eric Kandel and National Medal of Science winner Susan Lindquist discuss their groundbreaking research. Thanks Jessica and Mike for being such terrific alums! More here.
Katrina Brandis ‘06 visited Lake Forest College as the 2011 Eukaryon Inauguration speaker and gave a seminar on her PhD work at Washington University on how cholesterol is metabolized. More here.
Lokesh Kukreja ‘08 (Northwestern University), Michael Zorniak ‘07 (University of Wisconsin), and Nijee Sharma ‘04 (Loyola) visited the college on March 25 (2010) to lead a roundtable discussion on their PhD neuroscience research projects as part of the 2010 NeuroFrontiers Workshop.
Jessica Price ‘06 returned to campus in Fall 2010 to present a biology department seminar on her PhD work on modeling land conservation at the University of Wisconsin Madison.
Sara Herrera ‘05 has completed her MD in 2011 from Medical College of Wisconsin and will begin her surgery residency in Detroit.
Arun Paul ‘05 received his PhD in 2010 from Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science and is now completing his MD. His graduate work was published in Journal of Virology, PLOS Pathology, Virology, and Cancer Research. Arun returned to campus to give a biology department seminar and career panel on 2010 and 2009, respectively.
Isaac Holmes ‘05 has completed his MD from Rush Medical College in 2009 and is pursuing his Residency in cardiology at Rush University Medical Center. Isaac returned to campus to give a biology department career panel on 2010.
Nijee Sharma ‘04 received her MD in 2011 and PhD in 2009 from Loyola Stritch School of Medicine. She will continue her MD residency in Neurology at University of California Davis. She published several papers, including in Experimental Neurology, Laryngoscope, and Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience. Nijee returned to campus to give a Biology Department seminar on 2008 and participated in career panels in 2009 and 2008.
Samantha England ‘04 received her PhD in biology from University of Rochester. Her graduate work was published in the journals Blood and Heredity. Samantha returned to campus to give a biology department seminar on 2009.
Brandon Johnson ‘03 received his PhD in 2010 from Stanford University. His work has been published in PLOS Genetics, PLOS One, and Journal of Experimentation. Brandon returned to campus to give a biology department seminar on 2005.
