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ScIUConversations in Science at Indiana University

Rachel Skipper I am a graduate student in IU’s Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences and the Program in Neuroscience. I have always been interested in how experiences can affect the brain and how that, in turn, affects behavior. My current research focuses on the effects of stress; specifically, I am interested in how stress shapes learning and memory. This is probably something that all scientists and students are familiar with! I look forward to talking with ScIU readers about this and other neuroscience research at IU.

Entries by Rachel Skipper

Inching toward a cure for PTSD

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A black and white photo of a woman covering her face with her hands

Dr. Yvonne Lai is well known for her work at IU’s Gill Center for Biomolecular Science. However, she and her collaborators are also making waves in the business world with the growth of their startup company Anagin Inc., a promising pharmaceutical venture located in Indianapolis. Dr. Lai’s research focuses on novel drug therapies for post-traumatic stress… Read more »

ScIU’s Top Hits of 2017

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a desk with a laptop, showing a person's hand scrolling through a web page and holding a pencil

2017 was a good year for ScIU. We exceeded our goal of publishing one post per week, and published a total of 56 blog posts! Traffic to our website has increased by 53% per post since fall of 2016, and our list of subscribers continues to grow! A few posts in particular received a lot… Read more »

Seeking canine companions: A study on human decision making

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A small white and black dog stands behind a fence, looking at the camera. Sam is shown, out of focus, in the background.

On most weekends, you can find Indiana University graduate student Sam Cohen at Bloomington Animal Care and Control, a local animal shelter where she has volunteered for two years as a pet adoption counselor. She gets to know the dogs, talks with visitors, and helps them identify which dogs they might want to adopt. But,… Read more »

Teaching an old dog new tricks: Neuroscience research at IU combines centuries-old methods with modern technology

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A photograph of a neuron (left panel) is shown next to an illustration of the same neuron (right panel). Left panel: The image background is brown. A single neuron is shown. The cell body is black and ovular, and dendritic branches look like sinuous lines extending from the cell body. A single dendrite extends from the top of the cell body, and multiple dendrites extend from the base. Right panel: A multicolor illustration of the neuron pictured in the left panel. The image background is black. The cell body and each dendritic tree is shown in a different color (dark blue, light blue, pink, green, and yellow). Parts of the dendritic tree that were out of focus in the left panel are clearly reconstructed in the right panel; the size and shape of each dendrite is otherwise identical between the two panels.

This post is the second installment in a two part series. Check out last week’s post here. Thanks to modern technology, the field of cellular neuroscience has become illuminated with brightly colored images – tissue samples, cells, and individual molecules have been stained, photographed, colorized, and even reconstructed in three dimensions. A Google Image search… Read more »

Harnessing the therapeutic benefits of marijuana: Research findings from Dr. Andrea Hohmann’s laboratory at Indiana University presented at international neuroscience conference

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Image of the brain surrounded by marijuana leaves

Last week, over 32,000 neuroscientists met in San Diego for the annual Society for Neuroscience (SfN) conference. Joining them were members of IU’s Program in Neuroscience, including Dr. Andrea Hohmann, who is also a professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences in the College of Arts in Sciences and a Linda and Jack Gill Chair of Neuroscience… Read more »

New research at IU explores links between gut microbiota and the brain

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You might be surprised to learn that your body is home to tens of trillions of microorganisms. In fact, your body contains more microbes than it does human cells. While that might sound a bit worrisome, these tiny, single-celled organisms are extremely important for human health. For example, the microbes that live in the gut… Read more »

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