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Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy Spinal Cord Research Meetings

Spinal cord research meetings take place on Fridays at noon. Please note: Some upcoming meetings will be held virtually over Zoom, while others will be in person. Contact the organizer for access to virtual meetings.

2022-2023 Academic Year Meetings

September

  • September 16: Adaptive and maladaptive plasticity of respiratory and pain circuitry after spinal cord injury: Angelo Lepore - Jefferson
  • September 23: Precision Biomarkers in Neurorehabilitation: Jay Nair - Jefferson
  • September 30: Chemogenetic afferent modulation to understand spinal cord circuit function and plasticity post injury: Andrew Spence - Temple

October

  • October 7: Moving beyond the bench; the use of advanced MRI techniques to develop biomarkers in people with neurologic impairments: Laura Krisa - Jefferson
  • October 14: Wearable and implantable device trials at the Center for Neurorestoration: Mijail Serruya - Jefferson
  • October 21: Large scale lumbar interneuron and motorneuron recordings: Michel Lemay - Temple
  • October 28: Biomaterial and tissue engineering strategies for spinal cord repair: Yinghui Zhong - Drexel

November

  • November 4: Current leaders in the field of SCI: John Houle - Drexel BME
  • November 11: No Lecture (Society for Neuroscience meeting)
  • November 18: Identify promising molecular targets for axon regeneration after SCI: Shuxin Li - Temple
  • November 25: No Lecture (Thanksgiving)

December

  • December 2: Computations and wiring of sensorimotor circuits in Drosophila melanogaster: Catherine Von Reyn - Drexel BME
  • December 9: Mechanisms and therapies for SCI induced secondary complications: John Bethea - Drexel Biology

February

  • February 3: Overview of career path, involvement with clinical trials and working in industry, and current work in the field of SCI: Linda Jones, Spinal Cord Injury Consultant
  • February 10: From a Scientist in the Field of SCI to Senior Science Officer at CIRM: Mitra Hooshmand, Senior Science Officer, CIRM
  • February 17: Overview of career path, involvement with clinical trials and working in industry, and current work in the field of SCI: Hans Kierstead, Founder & CEO, Aivita Biomedical
  • February 24: Perspectives: Living with spinal cord injury and an career in advocacy for others living with SCI: Barry Munro, NASCIC

March

  • March 3: Perspectives: Insights into the wide variety of opportunies that exist after a PhD, and the uniqe path that Susanna took to now connecting scientists with non-scientists to help develop treatments for disease: Susanna Harris, Consultant & Company Founder, Vibe Bio, PhD Balance
  • March 10: Perspectives: Living with spinal cord injury and a career path into the field of neurotechnology: Jennifer French, Founder & CEO, Neurotech
  • March 17: Career as a scientist and engineer in the field of clinical neuromodulation: Dennis Bourbeau, FES Center, MetroHealth Medical System
  • March 24: Overview of career path from academia to industry, and ongoing work in the field of renerative medicine: Sarah Busch, Vice-President, Regenerative Medicine, Head of Non-clinical Development, Athersys
  • March 31: Workshop on Quantitative Literacy, and Semainr at the Annual Retreat, Adam Fergsuon, Professor, UCSF & ODC-SCI

April

  • April 7: Overview of career path into clinical rehabilitation and involvement with clinical studies and trials: Randy Trumbower, Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School
  • April 14: Careers as a MSL: Perspectives from two scientists that transitioned to a career as a MSL in unique ways: Jonathan Verrier & Prithvi Shah, MSLs, EMD Serono Inc. & Novartis
  • April 21: Showing of "Move Me" and Q&A after the movie with Kelsey: Kelsey Peterson, Artist, Dancer and Filmaker, Director of "Move Me"

2021

February

  • February 5: Brief lab updates: Hou, Houle and Lane Labs

March

  • March 5: No seminar: Zusman Neural Regeneration Meeting
  • March 19: Lab updates: Houle, Qiang and Rybak Labs

April

  • April 2: Tatiana Bezdudnaya and Jessica Ausborn
  • April 9: Jaclyn Eisdorfer: "Using chemogenetics and novel tools to uncover neural circuit and behavioral changes after spinal cord injury”
  • April 16: Topic and presenter TBA

May

  • May 7: No meeting
  • May 14: Lab presentations, Cote and Danner Labs
  • May 21: PA SCI proposals 1 (first three of six research grant proposals submitted by the center)
  • May 28: PA SCI proposals 2 (final three of six research grant proposals submitted by the center)

June

  • June 18: Leonardo Garcia, PhD

August

  • August 13: No T32 meeting (look for emails)
  • August 20: No MMSCRC meeting
  • Aug 27: T32 meeting, topic TBA

September

  • September 3: Dr. Michael Lane – Awarded PA SCI grant proposal overview
    In-person talk, room 276
  • September 10: T32 meeting:, topic TBA
  • September 17: Dr. Lucia Dominguez (from Prof. Jorge Quevedo’s lab in Mexico) – "Interneurons involved in the resetting to extension during fictive locomotion in the cat"
    Zoom presentation using standard link, but can also be attended by group Zoom in room 276

October

  • October 1: First Friday presentations, Ausborn, Cote and Detloff Labs
  • October 8: Topic TBA
  • October 15: Topic TBA

November

  • November 5: First Friday presentations, Dougherty, Fischer and Giszter Labs
  • November 19: Intellectual Property: Translation From Basic to Application: PIs, Postdocs and Student Experiences and Points of View

December

  • December 3: Seminar presented by Mark Tuszynski
  • December 10: Seminar presented by Soo Sun PT, PhD, discussing her work with colleagues on human SCI, physical therapy intervention approaches, and modularity
  • December 17: Topic TBA

2020

January

  • January 3: First Friday presentations from the Houle, Lane and Rybak Labs
  • January 10: Ms. Victoria Jensen, postdoctoral candidate, University of Cincinnati
  • January 17: Open
  • January 24: Poster blitz for International Symposium on Neural Regeneration presenters
  • January 31: No meeting – International Symposium on Neural Regeneration

February

  • February 7: First Friday presentations from the Tom, Cote and Detloff Labs
  • February 14: Discussion of the January meeting of the PA Spinal Cord Research Advisory Committee and the process for proposing funding priorities
  • February 21: Jessica Newton, PhD student, University of Kentucky: "The Impact of Gut Dysbiosis on Recovery of Breathing After Cervical SCI and Respiratory Motor Plasticity"
  • February 28: Open

March

  • March 6: First Friday presentations from the Dougherty, Fischer and Giszter Labs
  • March 13: Open
  • March 20: Dr. Eileen Collyer, postdoctoral fellow
  • March 27: Open

April

  • April 3:
    Part 1 – Dr. Megan Detloff will present the talk that she was invited to give next week at the Gulf Coast Pain Consortium Meeting in Texas
    Part 2 – Dr. Itzhak Fischer will update attendees on the second meeting of the PA Spinal Cord Commission and any news relevant to Drexel
  • April 17: Simon Giszter, PhD: "Epidural Stimulation Effects and Stimulation Strategies for Recovery of Function: Motor Specificity Versus Global Effects"

May

  • May 1, 3 p.m.: First Friday social hour
    Gather around the laptop with your favorite libation in hand and share some good news, fun facts, pictures of pets – or even better, live pets on screen – or anything else you want to see or say, as we end another week separated from some of our closest friends and colleagues. Time to do some reconnecting!
  • May 8: Scientific presentations from the Houle and Lane Labs
  • May 22: Research presentation by Dr. Eileen Collyer: "Renal Dysfunction After High Thoracic Spinal Cord Injury"

June

  • June 12: Second Friday presentations from members of the Rybak and Tom Labs
  • June 26: Dr. Jessica Ausborn will discuss the background and research aims of her new NIH RO1 grant

July

  • July 14, 2 p.m.: Dr. Megan Detloff presents "Misunderstood Macrophages: Examining DRG Macrophages in SCI-induced Pain"
  • July 17: Dr. Ilya Rybak presents "On the Organization of the Locomotor CPG: Insights From Split-Belt Locomotion and Mathematical Modeling"
  • July 31: Dr. Jessica Ausborn, topic TBA

October

  • October 9: Megan Detloff presents a chalk talk R21 summary
  • October 23: Brief lab updates and literature discussions: Danner, Detloff and Dougherty Labs

November

  • November 6: Victor Rovira: Nociceptor Excitability After SCI and Strength Training
  • November 20: Brief lab updates and literature discussions: Fischer, Giszter and Hou Labs

December

  • December 4: Graduate student research updates from the Bhandawat Lab
  • December 18: Brief lab updates and literature discussions: Houle, Lane and Qiang Labs

2019

January

  • January 4: First Friday presentations from Cote, Detloff and Dougherty Labs
  • January 18: Giszter Lab overview

February

  • February 1: First Friday for presentations by Fischer, Giszter and Houle Labs
  • February 15: Lane Lab overview

March

  • March 1: First Friday for presentations by Hou, Lane and Tom Labs
  • March 15: Dougherty Lab overview

April

  • April 5: First Friday for presentations by Rybak, Cote and Detloff Labs
  • April 19: Detloff Lab overview

May

  • May 3: First Friday for presentations by Dougherty, Fischer and Giszter Labs
  • May 10: Research seminar by Nesta Ngoc Ha, Neuroscience PhD student, Dougherty Lab
  • May 31: Cote Lab overview

June

  • June 7: First Friday for presentations by Hou, Houle and Lane Labs
  • June 14: Hou Lab research overview

July

  • July 19: Tom Lab overview

September

  • September 6: Open
  • September 13: Open
  • September 20: Eric Li – MD/PhD graduate student, update of research
  • September 27: Dr. Vikas Bhandawat, associate professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Drexel University

October

  • October 4: First Friday presentations from the Cote, Detloff and Dougherty Labs
  • October 11: Dr. Corrine Lee-Kubli, research associate, Salk Institute
  • October 18: No meeting, SFN starts
  • October 25: Dr. Tatiana Bezdudnaya, instructor, update of research

November

  • November 1: First Friday presentations from the Fischer, Giszter and Hou Labs
  • November 8: Open
  • November 15: Dillon Malloy – PhD graduate student, update of research
  • November 22: Marisa Jeffries – PhD candidate, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, presents "mTOR Signaling in Oligodendrocytes Supports Myelin Integrity and Remyelination Efficiency in the Brain”
  • November 29: No meeting – Thanksgiving

December

  • December 6: First Friday presentations from the Houle, Lane, Rybak and Tom Labs
  • December 13: Margo Randelman – PhD graduate student, update of research
  • December 20: No meeting – holiday break
  • December 27: No meeting – holiday break

2018

  • December 7: First Friday presentations from the Lane, Rybak and Tom Labs
  • December 14: Open
  • December 28: No Center meeting
  • November 2: SFN 2018, no meeting
  • November 9: Open mic sharing of SFN highlights
  • November 16: No meeting scheduled
  • November 23: Thanksgiving, no meeting
  • November 30: Dr. Catherine von Reyn
  • October 5: First Friday presentations from the Giszter, Hou and Houle Labs
  • October 12: Dr. Jessica Ausborn
  • October 19: Student practice for Discovery Day poster presentations, send Dr. Houle your name to be included in the presentation list
  • October 26: Dr. Itzhak Fischer, "Cell Transplantation in SCI: Past, Present and Future"
  • September 7: First Friday presentations from the Detloff, Dougherty and Fischer Labs
  • September 14: Mark Urban, PhD candidate, Jefferson University, Angelo Lepore’s lab, "Targeted Restoration of Respiratory Neural Circuitry Following Cervical Spinal Cord Injury"
  • September 21: No meeting
  • September 28: Dr. Eileen Collyer
  • August 17: Research update, Dr. Marie-Pascale Cote and Dillon Malloy
  • August 24: Research update, Jani Bilchak and Guillaume Caron
  • August 31: Dr. Taka Mitsui, University of Yamanashi, Japan – “Function of Clock Genes in the Bladder”
  • June 1: First Friday for presentations by Dougherty, Houle, Lane, Rybak and Tom Labs
  • June 8: Shriners-Temple Symposium on Neural Repair, No PPG
  • June 15: Lab research overview, Dr. Veronica Tom
  • June 22: Research update, member of Tom Lab
  • May 4: First Friday for presentations by Cote, Detloff, Giszter, Hou Labs
  • May 11: Dr. Angelo Lepore, Jefferson University
  • May 16: Neuroscience Retreat and Research Day. 8:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. Queen Lane, SAC Room A and B
  • May 18: No PPG
  • May 25: Presentation of lab overview, Dr. Marie-Pascale Cote
  • April 6: Brittany Charsar, MD/PhD student, Jefferson University – "Strategies to Restore the Respiratory Neural Circuit after Cervical Spinal Cord Injury" (Room 276)
  • Canceled April 13: Lab research overview, Dr. Megan Detloff (Room G23)
  • April 20: Research update, Soha Chhaya (Room G23)
  • April 27: Presentation from Dr. Hou's lab (Room G23)
  • March 2: (Will meet in G23G) First Friday for presentations by Dougherty, Lane, Rybak and Tom Labs
  • March 9: (Will meet in G23) Nancy Manik from Scientifica Co. – Product Development "Built with Neuroscience in Mind"
  • March 16: Dr. Vittorio Caggiano, research staff member, Computational Biology Center, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center:
    Should I Stay or Should I Go: Midbrain Circuits for Initiating, Controlling and Halting Locomotion
  • March 23: Lab research overview, Dr. Kim Dougherty
  • March 30: Research update, members of Dougherty Lab
  • February 2: First Friday for presentations by Cote, Detloff, Fischer, Hou Labs
  • February 16: Lab research overview, Dr. Simon Giszter
  • February 23: Research update, member of Giszter Lab
  • January 12: First Friday presentations from Dougherty, Houle, Lane, Rybak and Tom Labs

2017

  • December 15 - research presentation Cameron and Jacki from Dr. Hou lab
  • December 8 - First Friday presentations from these labs - Drs. Cote, Detloff, Fischer, Giszter, Hou
  • December 1 - International Symposium on Neural Regeneration - No PPG
  • November 17 - Dr. Megan Detloff lab overview and practice for International Symposium presentation
  • November 10 - SFN starts - No PPG
  • November 3 - First Friday presentations from these labs - Drs. Dougherty, Houle, Lane, Rybak and Tom
  • November 1 - The following labs will have 10 minutes each to discuss/present something of interest from their own research, from a lab meeting, from a conference attended or from a recent journal article/review: Dougherty, Houle, Lane, Rybak, Tom
  • October 27 - Poster presentation/discussion by postdoctoral fellows - Drs. Di Wu, Guillaume Caron and Leonardo Garcia
  • October 20 - Overview of lab research by Dr. Shaoping Hou
  • October 6 - The following labs will have 10 minutes each to discuss/present something of interest from their own research, from a lab meeting, from a conference attended or from a recent journal article/review: Cote, Detloff, Fischer, Giszter, Hou
  • September 29 - Overview of Houle lab research
  • September 22 - Lab introductions, discussion of new presentation ideas, discussion of core facilities
  • September 8 - Dr. Sarah Johnson, Drexel Applied Innovation, and Dr. Katherine Jordan, Drexel Coulter Program Director. Both are experts in the area of technology transfer and potential clinical translation of basic research
  • June 23 - Dr. Guillaume Caron - Exercise modulates pre-synaptic inhibition after SCI
  • June 16 - Temple-Shriner’s Symposium - no PPG
  • June 9 - Vitaliy Marchenko - "Epidural stimulation for maintaining fictive breathing following high cervical complete spinal cord injury - focus on phrenic nucleus"
  • June 2 - Bharadwaj Nandakumar - "Examining sensorimotor integration in the trunk motor cortex in naive adult rats"
  • May 26 - Dr. Tanya Bezdudnaya - "Muscle stimulation to promote respiratory plasticity following high cervical spinal cord injury"
  • May 5 - Dr. Shaoping Hou - Supraspinal dopaminergic regulation of micturition: implications for urinary improvement following spinal cord injury
  • April 28 - Eugene Mironets - Effects of below-injury sTNFa/TNFR1 signaling in the development of autonomic dysreflexia and ensuing cardiovascular and peripheral immune dysfunction
  • April 21 - Nesta Ha - Mechanisms contributing to the rhythmogenicity of Shox2 interneurons
  • April 14 - Lana Zholudeva - Neural Cell Transplantation to Promote Phrenic Repair After Cervical Spinal Cord Injury
  • April 7 - Gary Blumenthal - Role of Cortical Reorganization in At-Level Central Neuropathic Pain
  • March 31 - Kendall Schmidt - Optogenetically mediated neuromodulation of motor cortex enhances voluntary control of trunk in adult T9/T10 complete transected rats
  • March 24 - Dr. Jessica Ausborn - Neural interactions within and between the pre-Bötzinger and Bötzinger complexes: Insights from site-and phase-specific optogenetic activation of inhibitory neurons
  • March 17 - Soha Chhaya
  • March 10 - Dr. Simon Danner - Central control of interlimb coordination and speed-dependent gait expression
  • March 3 - Renaud Jeffrey-Gauthier - visiting student in Cote lab
  • February 24 - Dr. Di Wu - Combining caRheb expression and ChABC treatment promotes functional axonal regeneration following C2HX
  • February 17 - Dr. Tatiana Bezdudnaya - Chronic neural stimulation to enhance respiratory plasticity following high cervical SCI
  • February 10 - Dr. Sara Jane Ward, Temple University - Cannabinoids for Treatment of Spinal Cord Injury and Associated Neuropathic Pain
  • February 3 - Kaitlin Farrell - Chronic inflammation and depression after SCI
  • January 27 - Dr. Jeffrey Twiss, University of South Carolina
  • January 20 - Dr. Eileen Collyer, UCSD, Postdoctoral Candidate "Combination of Rehabilitative Training with Neural Stem Cell Transplantation for Improvement of Functional Recovery after Spinal Cord Injury"
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2016

  • December 9 - Dr. David Logan (Giszter Lab), Drexel University, talk entitled "Towards a novel approach to locomotion rehabilitation after SCI leveraging cycle phase and CNS stimulation"
  • December 2 - Dr. Christopher Thompson, Temple University, talk entitled "Measurements of synaptic drive and intrinsic excitability through the discharge of motoneurons"
  • November 18 - Dr. Frederic Bretzner, University Laval, Quebec - Shedding light on the brainstem and midbrain control of locomotion
  • October 28 - Dr. Megan Detloff and Soha Chhaya will present information from a symposium on "Pain and Itch"
  • October 14 - Seminar presented by Dr. Sarah Mondello (Univ. Washington) entitled "Building bridges with enzymatic and optical interventions". Lunch for graduate students and postdocs afterward
  • October 7 - Dr. Veronica Tom will present information discussed at a recent NIH workshop that was entitled "Spinal Cord Injury Preclinical Data Workshop: Developing a FAIR Share Community"
  • September 23 - Discussion about 2 proposals that will be submitted: one for a regular session on primary afferent plasticity from Megan Detloff and the second for a panel discussion on "Exercise as a therapy for neurological dysfunction secondary to spinal cord injury: How to better move physical rehabilitation from animal models of SCI to clinical implementation"
  • September 16 - Research Update by Dr. Veronica Tom
  • June 17 - Research update presented by Veronica Tom
  • May 27 - Research Overview presented by Dr. Shaoping Hou
  • May 13 - Research update by Dr. Veronica Tom
  • May 6 - Basic principle of patch clamp recording - discussion led by Drs. Kim Dougherty and Wen Jun Gao
  • April 29 - Review of a recent paper from the Tuszynski lab, led by Dr. Ying Jin
  • April 22 - Dr. Michael Lane will be presenting a research update
  • April 1 - Dr. Mei Xu, Assistant Professor of Anatomy, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
  • March 25 - Microglial reactivity in a neonatal rat model of traumatic brain injury. Presentation by Lauren Hanlon, Drexel University, Neurobiology and Anatomy, Philadelphia, PA
  • March 18 - Research Update. Presentation by Kimberly Dougherty, PhD. Assistant Professor, Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
  • March 11 - Microglial reactivity in a neonatal rat model of traumatic brain injury. Presentation by Lauren Hanlon, Drexel University, Neurobiology and Anatomy, Philadelphia, PA
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2015

  • September 29 - 11:30am: Gregoire Courtine, PhD will be giving a seminar.
  • September 14 - 12pm: Antigona Ulndreaj will be giving a seminar.
  • May 29 - 3:30pm: Kiki Yang, Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA. Modularity in full transection spinal cord injury models in rodents- new fundamental insights into spinal plasticity.
  • May 27 - 12pm: Seminar by Murray Blackmore, PhD, Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI. Transcriptional Control of Axon Growth in the Central Nervous System.
  • May 20 - 12pm: Seminar by Alon Friedman, PhD, Depts of Med Neuroscience and Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS.
  • May 18 - 6-8pm: Join WHYY and Pint of Science as we celebrate groundbreaking scientific research in our backyard. Dr. Michael Lane, an innovator in the field of spinal cord injury from Drexel University College of Medicine. Where: WHYY, 150 N. 6th St, Philadelphia PA 19106.
  • May 6 - 12pm: Seminar by Ming-Hu Han, PhD, Dept of Pharmacology & Systems Therapeutics, Friedman Brain Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY.
  • April 29 - 12pm: Seminar by Ronald Harris-Warrick, PhD, Dept of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. Role of identified spinal interneurons in health and after spinal cord injury.
  • April 22 - 12pm: Seminar by Andrew Cohen, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA.
  • April 17 - 12pm: Seminar by Andrew Spence, Department of Bioengineering, College of Engineering, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA. Gait, posture, pogo-sticks and newfangled neurogenetics: How do many-legged animals control their locomotion?
  • April 10 - 3:30pm: Seminar by David S. K. Magnuson, Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center, Louisville, KY. Conditional Silencing of Spinal Cord Interneurons: Hopping to a new tune.
  • April 8 - 12pm: Seminar by Catherine Von Reyn, PhD, Janella Research Campus, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. Using Neuroengineering to Investigate Sensorimotor Transformations.
  • April 3 - 3:30pm: PPG Meeting: Muscle spindles feedback directs locomotor recovery and circuit reorganization after spinal cord injury.
  • March 25 - 12pm: Seminar by Stephane Vinit, UFR des Sciences de la Sante, Universite de Versailles St Quentin en Yvelines, Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France.
  • February 25 - 12pm: Seminar by Jeffrey C. Smith, Senior Investigator and Chief Cellular and Systems Neurobiology Section, NINDS, NIH, Bethesda, MD.
  • February 20 - 12pm: PPG Meeting: Discussion about using d-mannose as a prophylactic measure to prevent UTIs in transected rats.
  • February 13 - 12pm: PPG Meeting: Eugene Mironets will lead a discussion of the recent Nature paper from the Jerry Silver lab.

 
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Enlarged neuronet, glassy texture.