UMMC Graduate Program in Neuroscience

🚨 New Publication Alert! 📝

Check out the new publication from PIN alumnus, Dr. Jaren Reeves-Darby, his mentoring team, PIN faculty Drs. Lais Berro, James Rowlett and Donna Platt, and their research group!

Sleep disturbances are a major challenge for people with alcohol use disorder (AUD), especially during recovery. In this new study, they found that alcohol use disrupts normal activity and sleep-related patterns, and these disruptions become even more pronounced during abstinence. Importantly, greater sleep-wake disturbances during abstinence predicted higher levels of relapse-like alcohol seeking. These findings highlight sleep as a potential therapeutic target for reducing relapse risk in AUD. 🍷😴

🔬 Read the full article here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091305726000699

🎓 PIN Student Highlight ✨

Meet Maddie, an MD/PhD student in our Program in Neuroscience!

🚨 New Publication Alert! 📝

Check out the new publication from PIN faculty Drs. Barbara Gisabella, Harry Pantazopoulos, and Alberto Del Arco!

In this new study published in the European Journal of Neuroscience, our faculty and their collaborators found that psilocybin altered reward-related decision-making in rats and increased activity in specific brain cells within the prefrontal cortex, a region critical for decision-making and self-control. These findings provide new insight into how psilocybin may affect brain circuits involved in motivation and could help inform future treatments for substance use disorders. 🍄

🧠 Read the full article here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ejn.70574

🎓🔬 Inside the research portion of the Neuroscience PhD Journey!
Students in the Program in Neuroscience gain hands-on research experience through two key lab rotation courses:

🧪 Year 1: NSCI 790 – Neuroscience Laboratory Survey introduces students to multiple labs to explore diverse research and mentorship styles.
🔍 Year 2: NSCI 791 – Senior Laboratory Rotations deepen research skills, often within the student’s future dissertation area and/or lab.

💡 After passing the qualifying exam, students dive into NSCI 798 – Dissertation Research, presenting their work annually in seminars that grow in depth and length through the years.

UMMC PIN: Training tomorrow’s neuroscience leaders—one experiment at a time! 🧠💼

🎉 Student Kudos Alert! 🎉

Huge congratulations to our student Savanna Julian on being selected as an Associate in the Society for Neuroscience (SfN)'s Neuroscience Scholars Program! 🎉🧠

This highly competitive program recognizes outstanding trainees and supports their professional development through mentoring, networking, and leadership opportunities within the neuroscience community. We’re incredibly proud of this well-deserved achievement! 👏

🎓✨ A moment years in the making!

Friday, May 22, was UMMC Commencement, and we proudly celebrated the brilliant minds graduating with their PhDs in Neuroscience. From lab work to groundbreaking discoveries, they have pushed the boundaries of what we know about the brain and nervous system. 🧠🔬

As they crossed the stage, we honored not just their academic achievements, but their resilience, curiosity, and dedication to science.

Here's to the new Doctors who will shape the next era of Neuroscience! 🥂💫

🎉 We are excited to share that Dr. Amy Kohtz and Dr. Sally Huskinson have received a new NIH/NIDA MPI R01 grant to advance research on women’s health and addiction! 🧠🔬

Their project will investigate how oxytocin may help restore reproductive hormone function and reduce co***ne demand in female rats and rhesus monkeys. 🐀🐒 By examining the neural and endocrine mechanisms underlying addiction, this work aims to address critical gaps in our understanding of substance use disorders in women — an area that has historically been understudied. ♀️💡

This highly translational research has the potential to inform new therapeutic strategies for co***ne addiction and endocrine dysfunction, advancing both women’s health and addiction science. 💊✨ Congratulations to Drs. Kohtz and Huskinson on this important achievement! 👏🎊

New preprint alert! 📢

Check out the new preprint publication from PIN student, Jobin Babu, his mentor, Dr. Harry Pantazopoulos, and their research group!

This study explores gene expression patterns in the amygdala to better understand the neurobiological mechanisms underlying autism spectrum disorder and neurodevelopment. By examining transcriptomic changes in postmortem pediatric brain tissue, this work provides new insight into molecular pathways that may contribute to social, emotional, and behavioral differences associated with ASD. 🧠

🔬 Read the full article here: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.04.26347554v1

🚨 New Publication Alert! 📝

Check out the new publication from PIN alumna, Dr. Tanya Pareek, her mentors, Drs. Barbara Gisabella and Harry Pantazopoulos, and their research group, including collaborators from University of Limerick and University of Toledo!

Their new study examined how chronic alcohol use alters molecular signaling pathways in the hippocampus – a brain region critical for learning, memory, and context-driven behavior. Using a rhesus monkey model, researchers identified widespread changes in genes involved in synaptic signaling, neuronal development, and mitochondrial function, shedding light on potential mechanisms underlying alcohol use disorder and relapse vulnerability.

The study also highlights several promising therapeutic targets that could inform future treatments for alcohol-related brain changes. 🧠🍷

🔬 Read the full article here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-51816-0

🚨 New Publication Alert! 📝

Check out the new publication from PIN faculty, Dr. Javier Miguel-Hidalgo!

This review highlights how glutamate signaling and transport are organized around nodes of Ranvier and along myelinated axons, involving astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and their precursor cells. The paper shows how precise control of extracellular glutamate supports myelin development, maintenance, and axonal function—while dysregulation may contribute to demyelination and white matter pathology. By mapping these microdomain-specific mechanisms, this work points to new therapeutic targets for disorders affecting white matter. 🧠

To read the manuscript in full:https://www.hh.um.es/Articles-Proofs/25-077-manuscript.pdf