Fifteen students majoring in Neuroscience recently had the opportunity to attend the Northeast Under/graduate Research Organization for Neuroscience (NEURON) conference at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT. NEURON provides an open forum for young scientists to present and discuss their work in a comfortable yet engaging setting. Faculty attendees can attend workshops to enhance pedagogical issues or research education. Importantly, attendees can network with like-minded researchers and educators, encouraging future collaborations.
NEURON conference presenters (L to R): Jaquan Williams, Laura Verdi, Alyssa Hurley, Dylan Carman, and Nicole Lessard.
This year five WNE students presented posters at the conference along with over 100 other presenters from various universities. Seniors, Nicole Lessard, and Jaquan Williams along with junior, Dylan Carman presented their research on rat behavior and juniors, Alyssa Hurley, and Laura Verdi, presented their research investigating olfactory neuron regeneration. All five presenters are taking the Research Track for Neuroscience.
“Presenting my research at NEURON also gave me new ideas about what to focus on in the future, and other aspects I should take into consideration that I hadn’t previously thought about," explained junior Dylan Carman.
This year’s NEURON keynote speaker was Dr. Nii Addy Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and of Cellular and Molecular Physiology who gave an engaging lecture on underlying mechanisms of opiate addiction.
“Going to the NEURON conference allowed me to learn about many new topics in neuroscience, especially about addiction, which is one of my interests,” said Carman.
