2002 — 2005 |
Siviy, Stephen |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Integration of Research Into Behavioral Neuroscience Instruction
Psychology - Biological (71) This project is enhancing learning experiences in behavioral neuroscience at the undergraduate level by providing opportunities for students to conduct sophisticated empirical research projects from the introductory level through senior-level independent research. This project is adapting an approach successfully developed in an NSF-funded project and used by Dr. Michael Kerchner of Washington College. Dr. Kerchner teaches students how to use an acoustic startle system in their projects, and makes research experiences more accessible at several levels of instruction. The goal of the current project is to provide the means by which students collect behavioral data efficiently and objectively. Students are able to collect more data in less time and focus more on the process of doing hypothesis-driven systematic research. By actively engaging in the scientific enterprise, students better understand concepts being covered in class and are better prepared for conducting advanced research in behavioral neuroscience. Two behavioral assays that are more commonly used in dedicated research environments are being adapted for use in several undergraduate courses in behavioral neuroscience. One of these systems allows for the video-tracking of individual animal movements as well as social interactions among pairs of rats (BM Spruijt, T Hol, & J Rousseau, "Approach, avoidance, and contact behavior of individually recognized animals automatically quantified with an imaging technique," Physiology and Behavior, Vol. 51: 747-752, 1992). The other assay assesses pre-pulse inhibition of the acoustic startle response. These systems allow students in courses with and without a dedicated laboratory component to actively engage in the research process, working in small groups. Examples of research topics are age-related differences in social interactions and responsiveness to novelty (see LP Spear, "The adolescent brain and age-related behavioral manifestations," Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, Vol. 24: 417-463, 2000); the role of brain monoamine systems in sensorimotor gating (see C Johansson, DM Jackson, J Zhang, & L Svensson, "Prepulse inhibition of acoustic startle, a measure of sensorimotor gating: Effects of antipsychotics and other agents in rats," Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, Vol. 52: 649-654, 1995); and assessing animal models of schizophrenia (MA Geyer, K Krebs-Thomson, DL Braff, & NR Swerdlow, "Pharmacological studies of prepulse inhibition models of sensorimotor gating deficits in schizophrenia: a decade in review," Psychopharmacology, Vol. 156: 117-154, 2001). Each of the pieces of equipment used to support this project are linked to the campus network and students take advantage of a web-based classroom support environment to load their data directly into a course web-site, where it is shared by the entire class. Creation of individual web-sites and on-line discussion about the data also occurs in this support environment. As students progress through the curriculum, they become increasingly familiar with the behavioral assays supported by this grant and the experiments that they work on become more open-ended and are more likely to yield novel findings. Consequently, students are more likely to experience the excitement associated with scientific discovery. The project is leading to changes in other courses in the curriculum and provides a model for other institutions that plan to integrate research experiences into undergraduate training in behavioral neuroscience.
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0.915 |
2009 — 2012 |
Frey, Shelli James, Steven Kittelberger, J. Matthew [⬀] Siviy, Stephen |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Mri-R2: Acquisition of An Epifluorescence Microscope For Research and Training At Gettysburg College
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
Gettysburg College has received support from the NSF MRI-R2 program to support the acquisition of a Nikon Eclipse 90i microscope plus digital imaging and software technology. This microscope will enable new research initiatives for six faculty, and broaden and enhance the undergraduate training environment at Gettysburg College. The Eclipse 90i microscope will allow our faculty and their undergraduate collaborators to immediately pursue a variety of new research initiatives that are currently not possible. Dr. Kittelberger and his students study the structure and function of neural circuits involved in vocal communication in teleost fish, focusing on neurophysiological mechanisms by which neuromodulators shape vocal behavior. Dr. Frey and her students currently use lipid monolayers to study the physical and chemical interactions between molecules that lead to the formation of cell membrane lipid rafts, ordered microdomains thought to play a role in membrane transport and signal transduction. Dr. James and his students will pursue recent insights into cell cycle control, DNA damage responses, and meiotic recombination, using the model eukaryotic fungus Aspergillus nidulans, as follows: (1) a novel fungal DNA ligase that plays an essential role in meiosis; (2) novel regulatory mechanisms by which Rif1, a component of an S-phase DNA damage response, appears to inhibit the activity of Dbf4-dependent kinase (DDK) to trigger DNA synthesis and meiotic recombination; and (3) in collaboration with Dr. SL McGuire (Millsaps College), an unsuspected interaction between the canonical cell cycle regulator, cdc2-cyclinB kinase, and a component of the mRNA export machinery, Hrb1. Dr. Siviy and his students study how social variables modulate fear and anxiety in young rats. In conjunction with studies on behavioral indices of fear and anxiety, acquisition of this microscope will allow them to quantify changes in neural activation following exposure to an innate fear stimulus in the brain of young rats and to determine how early social experiences can modulate this activation. Dr. Brandauer studies the potential of skeletal muscle to release signaling proteins called myokines and Dr. Powell studies signaling pathways of the innate immune response in C. elegans. Gettysburg College is liberal arts institution offering 4-year bachelor degree programs, with a total enrollment of ~2500 undergraduates. Through coursework and independent research, the biology, chemistry, biochemistry and molecular biology (BMB), and neuroscience curricula prepare students for continued work in these disciplines. Through close faculty-student collaboration and by offering outstanding research opportunities, Gettysburg College effectively prepares our science students to become leaders among the next generation of scientists; and (2) attracts greater numbers of undergraduates, including women and underrepresented minorities, to the sciences. Acquisition of the Eclipse 90i microscope contributes vitally to these objectives by exposing students to new areas of scientific inquiry and by providing sophisticated, discovery-based training with the latest technology and instrumentation. Results from the studies enabled by the new microscope will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented by students and faculty at regional and national meetings.
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0.915 |
2013 |
Siviy, Stephen M |
R15Activity Code Description: Supports small-scale research projects at educational institutions that provide baccalaureate or advanced degrees for a significant number of the Nation’s research scientists but that have not been major recipients of NIH support. The goals of the program are to (1) support meritorious research, (2) expose students to research, and (3) strengthen the research environment of the institution. Awards provide limited Direct Costs, plus applicable F&A costs, for periods not to exceed 36 months. This activity code uses multi-year funding authority; however, OER approval is NOT needed prior to an IC using this activity code. |
Early Experiences, Oxytocin, and Dysfunctional Play of the Fischer 344 Rat
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Play behavior is important for normal social and emotional development, and the lack of play can be symptomatic in many childhood psychiatric disorders. Rats of the inbred Fischer 344 (F344) strain are consistently less playful and more anxious than the Lewis (LEW) and other strains, providing a unique opportunity to gain significant insight into the neurobehavioral control of play. This project will take advantage of te relative lack of play in F344 rats and superimpose these robust genotypic differences onto a developmental framework that allows us to manipulate early rearing experiences prior to weaning and social experiences after weaning, and assessing playfulness and anxiety during the juvenile period. Since the neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) is involved in a wide range of social behaviors, shows heritable differences in expression, and is sensitive to early experiences, this project will also begin to assess the extent to which the dysfunctional play of F344 rats is due to strain-dependent variations in OT functioning. Outcomes from this project will provide significant insights into the complex interactions between genotype and early social experiences, and how these ultimately affect behavior. As an R15 application, this project will also provide rich opportunities for undergraduates at many levels of instruction to become involved in a vibrant research program.
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