Christina Nemeth '06 (Evans Mills, N.Y.) and Erica Colligan '06
(Buffalo, N.Y.) are working together on two projects this summer as
summer neuroscience researchers under the advisement of Stone Professor
of Psychology Douglas Weldon. The two neuroscience majors will be
working on research projects titled "Calcium binding proteins and their
expression after tactile deprivation in the superior colliculus" and
"Differential firing patterns in collicular neurons with assymetrical
rewards." The students have been working in the lab with rats for both
projects.
For the first project, they are studying how sensory change can affect neural change in the brain. To discover the exact neurochemical changes take place in rats, Colligan and Nemeth removed the vibrissae (whiskers) of the right side of eight rats' faces. Four of the rats were sacrificed after three days, and another four were sacrificed after 10 days. The students then compared the brains of the rats "We looked for the presence of two calcium binding proteins, calbindin and calretinin, and one neurotransmitter, nitric oxide," Colligan explains.
They expect to find differences in the expression of the proteins/neurotransmitter on the side of the brain deprived of the tactile input from the vibrissae. Their research will focus specifically on the superior colliculus, a part that deals with sensory information including visual, tactile and auditory information, according to Colligan.
For the second project, Colligan and Nemeth will examine motor responses and sensory information processed by the superior colliculus, a part of the brain. "Since the colliculus is inextricably tied to movement, we would like to determine if reward retrieval can be independent of movement," Colligan explains.
They trained seven rats on a T-maze, ending with the retrieval of two different concentrations of sugar-water rewards. After the rats were trained, they implanted a recording electrode in the rats' superior colliculus. They were able to record the activity individual neurons within the rats' brains as they fired in response to an anticipated reward. "We hope to see a firing pattern that will correspond to each reward. The superior colliculus is involved in attention based movements as well as reward. A different firing pattern for each reward could indicate that the superior colliculus links attention to reward," they hypothesize.
Both Colligan and Nemeth took Brain and Behavior with Professor Weldon during their sophomore year and realized that neuroscience was what interested them the most. "We wanted to continue in neuroscience research to prepare ourselves for graduate school programs," they explain. Both girls are planning a future in neuroscience; Nemeth hopes to attend graduate school for neuroscience and may become a researcher, and Colligan plans on going to medical school to become a neurologist.
This is the first time both Nemeth and Colligan have conducted summer science research at Hamilton, and they have had both thoroughly enjoyed conducting hands-on research by working with the lab rats; "We have really learned a lot about neuroscience that you cannot find in a textbook," they say.
Although they have learned a lot, the girls admit that their work can be frustrating. "Making microelectrodes is not an easy task and it can be difficult to train rats to do what you want them to do," they explain. Despite any current difficulty, Nemeth hopes to continue the research, possibility building off of this project for her senior thesis.
Their research is funded by Hansmann grants. The Ralph E. Hansmann Science Student Support Fund supports nine to 11 students in science and math research.
-- by Emily Lemanczyk '05
For the first project, they are studying how sensory change can affect neural change in the brain. To discover the exact neurochemical changes take place in rats, Colligan and Nemeth removed the vibrissae (whiskers) of the right side of eight rats' faces. Four of the rats were sacrificed after three days, and another four were sacrificed after 10 days. The students then compared the brains of the rats "We looked for the presence of two calcium binding proteins, calbindin and calretinin, and one neurotransmitter, nitric oxide," Colligan explains.
They expect to find differences in the expression of the proteins/neurotransmitter on the side of the brain deprived of the tactile input from the vibrissae. Their research will focus specifically on the superior colliculus, a part that deals with sensory information including visual, tactile and auditory information, according to Colligan.
For the second project, Colligan and Nemeth will examine motor responses and sensory information processed by the superior colliculus, a part of the brain. "Since the colliculus is inextricably tied to movement, we would like to determine if reward retrieval can be independent of movement," Colligan explains.
They trained seven rats on a T-maze, ending with the retrieval of two different concentrations of sugar-water rewards. After the rats were trained, they implanted a recording electrode in the rats' superior colliculus. They were able to record the activity individual neurons within the rats' brains as they fired in response to an anticipated reward. "We hope to see a firing pattern that will correspond to each reward. The superior colliculus is involved in attention based movements as well as reward. A different firing pattern for each reward could indicate that the superior colliculus links attention to reward," they hypothesize.
Both Colligan and Nemeth took Brain and Behavior with Professor Weldon during their sophomore year and realized that neuroscience was what interested them the most. "We wanted to continue in neuroscience research to prepare ourselves for graduate school programs," they explain. Both girls are planning a future in neuroscience; Nemeth hopes to attend graduate school for neuroscience and may become a researcher, and Colligan plans on going to medical school to become a neurologist.
This is the first time both Nemeth and Colligan have conducted summer science research at Hamilton, and they have had both thoroughly enjoyed conducting hands-on research by working with the lab rats; "We have really learned a lot about neuroscience that you cannot find in a textbook," they say.
Although they have learned a lot, the girls admit that their work can be frustrating. "Making microelectrodes is not an easy task and it can be difficult to train rats to do what you want them to do," they explain. Despite any current difficulty, Nemeth hopes to continue the research, possibility building off of this project for her senior thesis.
Their research is funded by Hansmann grants. The Ralph E. Hansmann Science Student Support Fund supports nine to 11 students in science and math research.
-- by Emily Lemanczyk '05
