This month’s featured researcher is Dr. Elena Vazey. Elena is an associate professor in the Department of Biology. Her lab studies the role of the locus coeruleus and norephinephrine on targets in the cerebral cortex. They are specifically interested in how changes in firing patterns of locus coeruleus neurons alter function of different cortical regions, and how this may impact cortical processing of incoming sensory information and responses to sensory cues. A recent paper from her lab, published in eLife. found sex differences in the modulation of premotor cortex to noradrenergic inputs that plays a role in decision-making by suppressing irrelevant information to enable efficient action planning and decision-making.
Here’s what else is new for ‘ ”University of Massachusetts” AND Amherst AND neuroscience’ in PubMed. These publications appeared online in December 2023 and January 2024. They are just a fraction of the neuroscience research that occurs on campus. You can click on the PubMed ID to find the publication.
1: Kalelkar A, Sipe G, Castro E Costa AR, Lorenzo IM, Nguyen M, Linares-Garcia I, Vazey E, Huda R. A paradigm for ethanol consumption in head-fixed mice during prefrontal cortical two-photon calcium imaging. Neuropharmacology. 2023 Dec 4:109800. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2023.109800. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38056524.
2: Nikiforova MS, Cowell RA, Huber DE. Gestalt formation promotes awareness of suppressed visual stimuli during binocular rivalry. Vis cogn. 2023;31(1):18-42. doi: 10.1080/13506285.2023.2192991. Epub 2023 Apr 4. PMID: 38108038; PMCID: PMC10721231.
3: Sato SD, Choi JT. Reduced corticospinal drive and inflexible temporal adaptation during visually guided walking in older adults. J Neurophysiol. 2023 Dec 1;130(6):1508-1520. doi: 10.1152/jn.00078.2023. Epub 2023 Nov 8. PMID: 37937342.
4: Quinlan PD, Katz PS. State-dependent, visually guided behaviors in the nudibranch Berghia stephanieae. J Exp Biol. 2023 Sep 15;226(18):jeb245213. doi: 10.1242/jeb.245213. Epub 2023 Sep 29. PMID: 37661725; PMCID: PMC10560555.
5: Goodheart JA, Rio RA, Taraporevala NF, Fiorenza RA, Barnes SR, Morrill K, Jacob MAC, Whitesel C, Masterson P, Batzel GO, Johnston HT, Ramirez MD, Katz PS, Lyons DC. A chromosome-level genome for the nudibranch gastropod Berghia stephanieae helps parse clade-specific gene expression in novel and conserved phenotypes. BMC Biol. 2024 Jan 17;22(1):9. doi: 10.1186/s12915-024-01814-3. PMID: 38233809; PMCID: PMC10795318.
6: Kainec KA, Caccavaro J, Barnes M, Hoff C, Berlin A, Spencer RMC. Evaluating Accuracy in Five Commercial Sleep-Tracking Devices Compared to Research-Grade Actigraphy and Polysomnography. Sensors (Basel). 2024 Jan 19;24(2):635. doi: 10.3390/s24020635. PMID: 38276327; PMCID: PMC10820351.
7: Rickelton K, Zintel TM, Pizzollo J, Miller E, Ely JJ, Raghanti MA, Hopkins WD, Hof PR, Sherwood CC, Bauernfeind AL, Babbitt CC. Tempo and mode of gene expression evolution in the brain across primates. Elife. 2024 Jan 26;13:e70276. doi: 10.7554/eLife.70276. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38275218.
8: Rigter PMF, de Konink C, Dunn MJ, Proietti Onori M, Humberson JB, Thomas M, Barnes C, Prada CE, Weaver KN, Ryan TD, Caluseriu O, Conway J, Calamaro E, Fong CT, Wuyts W, Meuwissen M, Hordijk E, Jonkers CN, Anderson L, Yuseinova B, Polonia S, Beysen D, Stark Z, Savva E, Poulton C, McKenzie F, Bhoj E, Bupp CP, Bézieau S, Mercier S, Blevins A, Wentzensen IM, Xia F, Rosenfeld JA, Hsieh TC, Krawitz PM, Elbracht M, Veenma DCM, Schulman H, Stratton MM, Küry S, van Woerden GM. Role of CAMK2D in neurodevelopment and associated conditions. Am J Hum Genet. 2024 Jan 18:S0002-9297(23)00448-2. doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2023.12.016. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38272033.
9: Smiley KO, Munley KM, Aghi K, Lipshutz SE, Patton TM, Pradhan DS, Solomon-Lane TK, Sun SED. Sex diversity in the 21st century: Concepts, frameworks, and approaches for the future of neuroendocrinology. Horm Behav. 2024 Jan;157:105445. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2023.105445. Epub 2023 Nov 17. PMID: 37979209.