Department of Neuroscience

Matt Schaff Receives Goldwater Scholarship!

As reported in the Pitt Chronicle, April 2, 2012, Matthew A. B. Schaff, a junior majoring in neuroscience and economics, is one of three University of Pittsburgh Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences' students to be named a 2012 Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship winner for his exceptional independent research in the natural sciences. The students were nominated for the scholarships through the auspices of Pitt’s University Honors College.

Patricia White writes, "Schaff, a Pitt Honors Scholar from Strafford, Pa., is an undergraduate researcher in Pitt’s Neuropsychopharmacology of Nicotine Addiction Laboratory. He studies the reinforcement-enhancing effects of nicotine on rats through operant conditioning techniques under the direction of Alan Sved, a professor and chair in Pitt’s Department of Neuroscience, and Eric Donny, a professor in Pitt’s Department of Psychology.

Schaff also spent two summers conducting research at the University of Pennsylvania’s Neuropsychiatry Laboratory.

An intern/contractor at The Foundation for Biomedical Research in Washington, D.C., Schaff inaugurated the “Research Outreach Initiative,” which encourages scientists to perform K-12 outreach. He is a service volunteer in the Pitt Department of Biological Sciences and Clinical and Translational Science Institute’s Mobile Science Lab Program. Schaff’s honors include the Center for Neuroscience Summer Undergraduate Fellowship and the University Honors College Fall Research Fellowship. He serves as president of the Pitt Neuroscience Club.

Schaff plans to earn a PhD in neuroscience and to conduct research on the causes of drug abuse, directing the focus of his future research toward understanding the way the brain processes and responds to rewarding stimuli, particularly commonly abused stimulants such as nicotine and cocaine. He hopes to teach at the university level".

Pittsburgh Regional Science and Engineering Fair, March 30-31, 2012

Department of Neuroscience sponsored awardees for the 73rd Pittsburgh Regional Science and Engineering Fair which took place at Heinz Field, Pittsburgh, PA are David Shipe and Julia Reese.

Julia Reese, a junior from Freeport Senior High School in Freeport, PA, presented a project entitled, "Zebrafish Embryo Use to Test Rx Drugs" in which she conducted experiments to determine if zebrafish embryos can successfully identify drugs with potential human cardiotoxicity. The results indicated that zebrafish embryos were able to identify the human cardiovascular effects of the majority of the drugs, showing that they can possibly be used tas models for human drug research.

David Shipe, a sophomore from Freeport Senior High School, presented a project entitled "Excessive Breeding Affect Cognitive Ability of Mice?" in which he conducted experiments to determine and compare the cognitive ability of inbred, outbred and pet store mice.

Pitt News Release: January 18, 2012

Teenagers' Brains Make Them More Susceptible to Addiction, Depression Than Adults

As published by Drs. Bita Moghaddam and David Sturman in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science research "compared the brain activity of adolescents and adults in rats involved in a task in which they anticipated a reward". The study found "that not only is reward expectancy processed differently in an adolescent brain, but also it can affect brain regions directly responsible for decision-making and action selection". 

Dr. Edward Stricker, Dean of the University Honors College and Professor of Neuroscience, to deliver Honors College address - January 11, 2012

As reported in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette today Dr. Edward Stricker describes family influences on his life, his passion for education, his academic and research years and his plans to address the University community of the state of the Honors College.

Neuroscience in the News

Why Obama's Brain Mapping Project Matters

MIT Technology Review - April 8

Obama calls for $100 million to develop new technologies to understand the brain.

Do Brain Games Work?

Popular Science - April 8
A few new studies, including one meta-analysis, suggest brain games don't make you any better at anything but playing brain games.

Exercising body and brain boosts memory and thinking in older people, study shows

The Washington Post - April 8

Exercising body and brain may improve memory and thinking in older people.

Brain Scans May Reveal Early Signs of Schizophrenia

Psych Central - April 6

As much as a decade before most schizophrenia patients begin showing symptoms, brain scans may be able to detect signs of the disease.

Brain Shape Confirms Controversial Fossil as Oldest Human Ancestor

Scientific American - April 4

A seven-million-year-old skull found in the Djurab Desert in Chad may indeed represent the earliest known member of the human family.

Recent Faculty Publications

Leathers, M. L. and C. R. Olson. Response to comment on “In monkeys making value-based decisions, LIP neurons encode cue salience and not action value”.

Science, 340(6131): 430, 2013

Winters, D.B., Kruger, J.M., Huang, X., Gallaher, Z.R., Ishikawa, M., Czaja, K., Krueger, J.M., Huang, Y.H., Schluter, O.M., Dong, Y. CB1-expressing neurons in the nucleus accumbens

PNAS USA 109(40): E2717-2725 (2012)

Suska, A., Lee, B.R., Huang, Y.H., Dong, Y., Schluter, O.M. Presynaptic enhancement of glutamatergic transmission within the nucleus accumbens following cocaine exposure

PNAS USA 110(2):713-718 (2013)

Otaka, M., Ishikawa, M., Lee, B.R., Liu, L., Neumann, P.A., Cui, R., Huang, Y.H., Schluter, O.M., Dong, Y. Exposure to cocaine regulates inhibitory synaptic transmission in the nucleus accumbens

Journal of Neuroscience. Featured Article. 33(16): 6753-6758

Ishikawa, M., Otaka, M., Huang, Y.H., Neumann, P.A., Winters, B.D., Grace, A.A., Schluter, O.M., Dong, Y. Dopamine triggers heterosynaptic plasticity

Journal of Neuroscience. 33(16): 6759-6765

Card, J.P., Kobiler, O., McCambridge, J., Ebdlahad, S., Raizada, M.K., Sved, A.F., Enquist, L.W. Microdissection of neural networks by conditional reporter expression from a Brainbow Herpesvirus

PNAS USA 108: 3377-3382, (2011)

This manuscript reports upon the development of novel technology for defining neural circuits linked to neurochemically defined populations of neurons.

Card, J.P., Kobiler, O., Ludmir, E.B., Desai, V., Sved, A.F., Enquist, L.W. A dual infection pseudorabies virus conditional reporter approach to identify projections to collateralized neurons in complex neural circuits

PLOS One 6:1-12,2011.

This manuscript reports the development of novel technology to define populations of neurons that are synaptically linked to circuits linked to separate targets

Agassandia, K., Shan, Z., Raizada, M., Sved, A.F., Card, J.P. C1 Catecholamine neurons form local circuit connections within the rostroventrolateral medulla of rat

Neuroscience 227:247-259, 2012

This paper provides support for the hypothesis that local circuit connections among projection specific populations of neurons in the rat brainstem coordinate activity within a distributed neural network that controls cardiovascular function.

Tarr, T.B., Dittrich, M., Meriney, S.D. Are unreliable release mechanisms conserved from NMJ to CNS?

Trends in Neuroscience 36 14-22

Tarr, T.B., Valdomir, G., Liang, M., Wipf, P., Meriney, S.D. New calcium channel agonists as potential therapeutics in LEMS and other neuromuscular diseases.

Annals New York Academy of Sciences, (2012) 1275: 85-91

Cai, L., Bakalli, H., and Rinaman, L. Yohimbine anxiogenesis in the elevated plus maze is disrupted by bilaterally disconnecting the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis from the central nucleus of the amygdala.

Neuroscience, 223 (2012) 200-208.

The anxiogeneic effects of increased noradrenergic signaling in rats require direct CEA-algBST interactions that do not alter anxiety-like behavior under baseline conditions

Bienkowski, M. and Rinaman, L. Common and distinct neural inputs to the medial central nucleus of the amygdala and the anterior ventrolateral bed nucleus of stria terminalis in rats.

Brain Structure and Function 218 (2013) 187-208.

Neural tract tracing demonstrates similarities and differences in inputs to CEAm and BSTvl that provide new anatomical insights into the functional organization of these limbic forebrain regions

Zheng H. and Rinaman, L. Yohimbine anxiogenesis in the elevated plus maze requires hindbrain noradrenergic neurons that target the anterior ventrolateral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis.

European Journal of Neuroscience (2013) In press. doi: 10.1111/ejn.12123 [Epub ahead of print]

The anxiogenic effects of increased neurodrenergic signaling in rats are mediated by inputs from hindbrain noradrenergic neurons, and not by inputs from the pntine locus coeruleus.

Maniscalco, J.W. and Rinaman, L. Overnight food deprivation markedly attenuates hindbrain noradrenergic, glucagon-like peptide-1, and hypothalamic neural responses to exogenous cholecystokinin in rats.

Physiology & Behavior (2013) In press.

Activation of neurodrenergic A2, GLP-1, and medial parvocellular PVN neurons is significantly modulated by feeding status in rats, suggesting a mechanism through which food intake and metabolic state might impact hypothalamic neuroendocrine responses to homeostatic challenge.

Maniscalco, J.W., Kreisler, A.D., and Rinaman, L. Satiation and stress-induced hypophagia: examining the role of hindbrain neurons expressing prolactin-releasing peptide (PrRP) or glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1).

Frontiers in Neuroscience 6 (2013) 199. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2012.00199

Hindbrain PrRP and GLP-1 neurons engage hypothalamic and limbic forebrain networks that drive parallel behavioral and endocrine functions related to food intake and homeostatic challenge, and modulate conditioned and motivational aspects of food intake.

Leathers, ML and Olson CR. In monkeys making value-based decisions, LIP neurons encode cue salience and not action value.

Science, 338(6103): 132-35, 2012.

Card, JP, Kobiler O, Ludmir, EB, Desai, V, Sved AF, Enquist, LW., A Dual Infection Pseudorabies Virus Conditional Reporter Approach to Identify Projections to Collateralized Neurons in Complex Neural Circuits., PLoS One. 2011;6(6):e21141. Epub 2011 Jun 16.