DNRM News & Events

Upcoming Event:

Inaugural Augusta Brain Aging & Neurodegeneration Symposium

calendar-circle-user icon Friday March, 18, 2022, 8:45 am - 5:20pm

location-pin icon Georgia Cyber Center Plug-n-Play Auditorium, Hull McKnight Building 100 Grace Hopper Lane, Augusta, GA 30901.

Amber Durand

CONGRATULATIONS Amber Durand

Winner of the 2022 Mark Ritz Research Scholarship

selected by:

Pierre Fauchard Academy
an International Honor Dental Organization
Georgia Section

Qin Wang, MD, PhD

We are happy to announce that Dr. Qin Wang will be joining our department in January 2022 as Professor and a GRA Eminent Scholar. She will direct the Alzheimer’s Therapeutics Discovery Program. Dr. Wang is a highly accomplished neuroscientist, whose innovative research has the potential to slow down brain aging and Alzheimer’s disease. She received her medical degree from Beijing Medical University and her PhD from the University of Iowa, and then completed postdoctoral training at Vanderbilt University. She was recruited to the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2005, where she rose to the rank of Professor in 2016. She is a well-funded researcher with an excellent record in developing new collaborative projects with colleagues inside and outside the university. Currently she is the principal investigator on five NIH research grants.

Nagendran Muthusamy, PhD

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Nagendran Muthusamy joined the Department of Neuroscience & Regenerative Medicine as a Senior Research Scientist in Dr. Xin-Yun Lu’s lab in August, 2021.
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Muthusamy to the AU-MCG-DNRM Family! (Sept. 2021)

Alexis Stranahan, PhD

Stranahan Lab

Alexis Stranahan’s paper entitled "Beige adipocytes mediate the neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory effects of subcutaneous fat in obese mice” was featured in the Augusta Chronicle. https://www.augustachronicle.com/story/news/2021/08/05/augusta-university-study-some-fat-actually-beneficial-fighting-dementia/5474526001/ (Sept. 2021)

Lin Gan, PhD

Gan Lab

Lin Gan - WJBF’s The Means Report recently aired “Promising Research for Genetic Disorders”. https://www.wjbf.com/featured/the-means-report/promising-research-for-genetic-disorders-by-using-gene-editing/ (Sept. 2021)

Eric Vitriol, PhD

Vitriol Lab

Eric Vitriol and Tracy-Ann Read are highlighted in the MCG Medicine Magazine for their research in ALS - "Action of Actin"
https://magazines.augusta.edu/2021/08/09/action-of-actin/ (Sept. 2021)

Chung Sub Kim, PhD

Kim Lab

Chung Sub Kim is highlighted in the MCG Medicine Magazine for his research in PTSD - "Suppressed by Stress"
https://magazines.augusta.edu/2021/08/09/suppressed-by-stress/ (Sept. 2021)

Frank Deak, PhD

Deak Lab

Frank Deak is highlighted in the MCG Medicine Magazine for his research in Alzheimer’s - "A Critical Junction"
https://magazines.augusta.edu/2021/08/09/a-critical-junction/ (Sept. 2021)
Dr. Deak's recent paper entitled "W246G Mutant ELOVL4 Impairs Synaptic Plasticity in Parallel and Climbing Fibers and Causes motor Defects in a Rat Model of SCA34" was featured in JAGwire and multiple international research new web sites: (Sept. 2021)

https://jagwire.augusta.edu/mutated-enzyme-weakens-connection-between-brain-cells-that-help-control-movement/

https://todayuknews.com/health/

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210817084641.htm

Danielle Mor, PhD

Mor Lab

Danielle Mor is highlighted in the MCG Medicine Magazine for her research in Parkinson’s - "Improving a Sticky Situation"
https://magazines.augusta.edu/2021/08/09/improving-a-sticky-situation/ (Sept. 2021)

Hedong Li, PhD

Li Lab

Hedong Li is highlighted in the MCG Medicine Magazine for his research in Spinal Cord Injury - "Reconnecting the Brain and Body"
https://magazines.augusta.edu/2021/08/09/grey-matters/ (Sept. 2021)

Lynnette McCluskey, PhD

McCluskey Lab

Congratulations! The Office for Faculty Success has selected Dr. Lynnette McCluskey as an “MCG Woman Who Inspires" for their 2021 Women In Medicine Month Campaign. "We are grateful for your many, enthusiastic contributions to the research, service, and educational missions of MCG. You are an important role model and mentor to junior investigators and graduate students at our institution". (Sept. 2021)

We are delighted to announce that Dr. Eric Vitriol joined our department as an Associate Professor on February 1, 2021. He comes to us from the University of Florida and his research focuses on the regulation of actin during cell motility, neural development, and in neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Dr. Vitriol will bring his expertise in single-molecule super-resolution imaging to our department. He has received multiple awards, including an NINDS K99/R00 grant, an ALS Association grant and an NIGMS five-year renewable Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (R35). He will work together with the ALS Center to develop a translational research program. Dr. Vitriol completed his postdoctoral training at Emory University and his PhD in Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of North Carolina. (Feb. 2021)
Congratulations !! Dr. Stranahan is listed among 1,000 Inspiring Black Scientists in American by Cell Press, http://crosstalk.cell.com/blog/1000-inspiring-black-scientists-in-america . She has also been invited to join the editorial board of the Journal of Neuroscience, https://www.jneurosci.org (Dec. 2020)
We are delighted to announce that Dr. Danielle Mor joined our department as an Assistant Professor on October 1, 2020. Her research as a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University investigated the mechanisms of neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease. Her work aims to identify the causes and modifiers of prion-like α-synuclein transmission in animal models of Parkinson's disease. Dr. Danielle Mor received her PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania and her BA in Neuroscience from Wesleyan University.
We are please to announce that Dr. Hedong Li has joined our department as an Associate Professor on October 1, 2020. Dr. Li comes to us from Penn State University. He received his PhD in Molecular Neuroscience from Wayne State University and completed postdoctoral training at Rutgers University. Dr. Li studies the neuronal reprogramming process and neurodevelopment. He combines the in vivo reprogramming technology with microRNA biology to reprogram glial cells into functional neurons for brain repair.
Please join us in welcoming Dr. Chung Sub Kim and Dr. Ferenc (Frank) Deak to DNRM. Dr. Kim joined our faculty as an Assistant Professor in May 2020, and Dr. Deak joined as an Associate Professor on June 1, 2020.

Dr. Kim received his PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Texas at Austin and continued his postdoctoral studies in Dr. Daniel Johnston’s group. His research is focused on understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying psychiatric disorders. He investigates the regulation and function of HCN channels in the hippocampus and their roles in depression and the mechanism of action of antidepressants. He brings technically advanced skills including direct recordings of ion channels with cell-attached patches from soma and dendrites.

Dr. Deak received his MD and PhD from Semmelweis University of Medicine, Budapest, Hungary. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Tom Südhof at UT Southwestern and received his training in neurodegenerative disorders at the Mayo Clinic before joining the Reynolds Aging Research Center of the University of Oklahoma as an assistant professor. Dr. Deak has focused his research on synaptic neurotransmitter release and plasticity in the aging brain. More specifically, he investigates molecular regulation of neurotransmission and it's defects in dementia. Dr. Deak is the recipient of a recent 5-year NIH R01 grant investigating the role of VAMP1 in synaptic transmission and Alzheimer's dementia.

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