Many thanks to all who participated in this year’s Neuroscience Retreat. Graduate student and post doc presenters at the Retreat were eligible for the Thach Award competition.
Congratulations to the 2019 Thach Award winners:
- Short Talks: Yang Shi, PhD (Holtzman lab, WashU Neurology)
“Microglia drive neurodegeneration and mediate APOE’s effect on neurodegeneration in a tauopathy mouse model” - Posters: Tamara Markovic (Neuroscience Program; Moron-Concepcion lab, WashU Anesthesiology)
“Dissecting the role of dorsal hippocampus in reinstatement of drug seeking behavior”
The Tom Thach Award was established to honor Tom Thach, professor emeritus of neurobiology and an active participant in the Annual Neuroscience Retreat who passed away in 2014. (For more about Tom, click here.) The Thach Award recognizes outstanding presentations by grad students and post docs at the Annual Neuroscience Retreat. There was one winner from the talks and one winner from the posters, identified by two separate panels of faculty members who served as judges. Winners were selected based on scientific merit, presentation, and knowledge of the subject matter.
The Thach Award, $500 to each winner, is made possible by support from the McDonnell Center for Systems Neuroscience and the McDonnell Center for Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology. Thanks to our faculty judges, to Saul Bello-Rojas (Neuro student; Retreat Committee member) for coordinating, and to the McDonnell Centers for making the awards possible.
Note also the finalists for the poster session, selected by faculty judges based on abstract review in advance of the Retreat:
Poster Finalists, 2019 Tom Thach Awards
- Loc Thang, MD, PhD (McCall lab, St Louis College of Pharmacy/WashU Anesthesiology)
“Norepinephrine inhibits sensory neuron TRPV1 signaling in a sex-and stress-dependent manner” - Sineadh Conway, PhD (Al-Hasani/McCall labs, St Louis College of Pharmacy/WashU Anesthesiology)
“A novel approach for electrochemical detection of opioid peptides” - Peppar Cyr (Neuroscience Program; Smyser/Rogers labs, WashU Neurology/WashU Psychiatry)
“Neonatal default mode network connectivity relates to autism symptoms at ages 2 and 5 years” - Alexander Cammack (Neuroscience Program; Miller lab, WashU Neurology)
“Transposon-mediated, cell type-specific transcription factor and enhancer recording in the mouse brain” - Rishabh Chandak (Biomedical Engineering Program; Raman lab, WashU Biomedical Engineering)
“Odor valence encoding in the antennal lobe and its behavioral correlates”
Thanks to our judges who had a difficult task, and congratulations to this year’s finalists and winners, selected from a pool of highly competitive presentations!