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If you will need disability-related accommodations in order to participate, please email the contact person for the event. Early requests are strongly encouraged to allow sufficient time to meet your access needs.

Announcements for the week of Feb. 1, 2026

Neuroscience Program Events

First Year Project Presentations - Group 2

Lara Mattana Ferst, Maren Lab, "Astrocytic Ca²⁺ Dynamics in Stress-Induced Extinction Deficits"

Alex Abramenko, Maren Lab, "Preliminary Evidence that Propranolol Selectively Blocks Fear Renewal in Male but not Female Rats"

Kennedi Crayton, Maren Lab, "Stress differently engages parvalbumin and somatostatin interneurons in rat medial prefrontal cortex"

Feb. 3, 2026 4 p.m. • Beckman Institute 1005

First Year Project Presentations - Group 3

Arnav Kaushik, Antonson Lab, "Gestational Influenza A Infection Alters Offspring Behavior in a Mouse Model of Maternal Immune Activation"

Michelle Chang, Hernandez Lab, "Age-related cortical theta synchronization and postural instability during balance control"

Jiaqi Liu, Han Lab, "Developing processes transcriptome in the brain"

Feb. 10, 2026 4 p.m. • Beckman Institute 1005

Seminars of Interest

Cortical oscillations and neural timing: how attention enhances hearing in complex environments

Howard Gritton, PhD
Department of Comparative Biosciences; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

“Cortical oscillations and neural timing: how attention enhances hearing in complex environments”

           

Speaker

  • Howard Gritton, PhD, Department of Comparative Biosciences; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Feb. 3, 2026 12 p.m. • 612 Conference Center Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology

Cortical oscillations and neural timing: how attention enhances hearing in complex environments

Howard Gritton, PhD
Department of Comparative Biosciences; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

“Cortical oscillations and neural timing: how attention enhances hearing in complex environments”

           

Speaker

  • Howard Gritton, PhD, Department of Comparative Biosciences; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Feb. 3, 2026 12 p.m. • 612 Conference Center Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology

MIP Seminar: Dr. Patrick Sweeney, UIUC, "Neural mechanisms mediating altered feeding during lactation"

Research Topics
Drug Discovery, Endocrinology, Metabolic Regulation, Neurobiology, Optogenetics, Reproductive Biology
Research Description
Neural circuitry regulating feeding and emotion
Feeding behavior is largely controlled by conserved neural circuitry located in the hypothalamus. These neural circuits are interconnected with brain circuits that regulate diverse physiological and emotional processes, and dysfunction in this circuitry is likely at the core of many metabolic and psychiatric disorders, such as anorexia nervosa and obesity.
To better understand the neural circuitry controlling feeding, and how this circuitry is altered in pathological conditions, we focus our studies on the central melanocortin system. 


Speaker

  • Patrick Sweeney, Ph.D.

Feb. 5, 2026 11 a.m. • Charles Miller Auditorium, B102, CLSL

Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology

405 N. Mathews Ave. M/C 251

Urbana, IL 61801

217-244-1176

communications@beckman.illinois.edu

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