News and Notes from Around the Lab

2023

2022

• September 2023- Edith Hernandez is awarded an NIH/NIDA F30 for her project “Repurposing Metformin as a Treatment for Cocaine Use Disorder.”

• August 2023- Anna Sternitzky, Ayden Reed, and Peter Hunsader are awarded Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) awards for their independent research proposals!

• August 2023- Dr. Spencer is awarded an NIH/NIDA R01 for the project “Glutamatergic plasticity that drives cannabinoid withdrawal and craving.”

• June 2023- Edith Hernandez is awarded a Center for Neural Circuits in Addiction Pilot Grant to support her project “Assessing the impact of oral metformin on glutamatergic activity driving cocaine relapse behavior in the nucleus accumbens core.”

• June 2023- Anoo Maskeri officially joins the Spencer lab as a graduate student in the Graduate Program in Neuroscience.

• May 2023- The Spencer Lab welcomes Ilham Yasin as a new undergraduate in the lab.

• May 2023- Edith Hernandez passes her oral preliminary exam and advances to candidacy in the Pharmacology Graduate Program!

• May 2023- Mark Schonfeld presents his 4th year seminar to the Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics community.

• May 2023- Rachel and Claire graduate from the University of Minnesota! Luckily they are not going far as both will remain as Research Assistants in the Spencer lab.

• May 2023- Claire, Emmanuel, and Rachel present posters at the UMN Undergraduate Research Symposium. Claire’s poster is selected for year-long display in the University Libraries!

• April 2023- Rachel Aruldas and Claire Felter attend the National Conference on Undergraduate Research and present research posters

• March 2023- The Spencer Lab welcomes Aditi Alshi as a new undergraduate in the lab.

• December 2022 - Emmanuel Ikebude receives an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) award for his proposal “Examining the effects of cocaine on Neurexin and Neuroligin levels in the brain”.

• December 2022 - Claire receives an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) award for her proposal “Characterization of Spontaneous Cannabinoid Withdrawal Using a Behavioral Battery of Depression Paradigms in Long Evans Rats”.

• December 2022- Edith presents a poster at the annual American College of Neuropsychopharmacology meeting

• November 2022 - Rachel presents her poster at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Students (ABRCMS) and receives an ABRCMS 2022 presentation award.

• November 2022 - Dr. Abigail Brewer and Claire present their posters at Society for Neuroscience (SfN) in San Diego, California.

• October 2022- Mark Schonfeld presents a poster at the Department of Pharmacology Retreat.

• September 2022- Abbey, Edith, and Rachel present posters at the second Minnesota Symposium on Addiction Neuroscience.

• August 2022- The Spencer Lab welcomes Ayden Reed as a new undergraduate in the lab.

• August 2022 - Peja presents her poster “Cannabinoid withdrawal Induced c-Fos expression across the rat brain” at the summer LSSURP symposium.

• August 2022 - Dr. Abigail Brewer receives the Ben Zimmerman travel award from the University of Minnesota.

• August 2022 - Claire receives an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) award for her proposal “Characterization of Spontaneous Cannabinoid Withdrawal Using a Behavioral Assay of Anxiety Paradigms in Long Evans Rats”.

• August 2022 - Dr. Spencer wins the Center for Neural Circuits in Addiction’s Pilot Program Award for her proposal “Neuronal activity dynamics produced by cannabinoid withdrawal and relapse-like behavior”.

• July 2022 - Emmanuel presents his poster at the LS-NSSA MnDRIVE Internship 2022 Research Symposium.

• July 2022 - Edith presented her first graduate year chalk talk at the yearly MSTP retreat.

• July 2022 - Edith presented her poster at the National MD/Ph.D. student conference in Copper Mountain, Colorado.

• June 2022- Dr. Spencer is spotlighted in the University of Texas Southwestern alumni newsletter.

• June 2022 - Edith presented her yearly scholarly project at the Recognizing and Eliminating disparities in Addiction through Culturally informed Healthcare (REACH) Annual Conference in Washington D.C..

• June 2022 - Dr. Abigail Brewer presents her abstract “Triumphs and Tribulations of Characterizing Sex Differences in Cannabinoid Withdrawal in Rats” at the CPDD conference in MInneapolis, MN.

• June 2022 - The Spencer Lab welcomes Peter Hunsader, Sarah Ufearo (Columbia University), Emmanuel Ikebude (Louis Stokes Scholar Summer Program), and Peja James (Howard University; LSSURP Summer Program) as new undergraduates to the lab.

• May 2022 - The Spencer Lab welcomes Anna Sternitzky as a new undergraduate student in the lab.

• April 2022 - Dr. Spencer receives Notice of Award from NIDA for her R21 proposal “Targeting adenosine monophosphate activated protein kinase (AMPK) to reduce cocaine relapse”.

• March 16, 2022 - New article “Metformin in nucleus accumbens core reduces cue-induced cocaine seeking in male and female rats” accepted in Addiction Biology.

• February 2022 - The Spencer Lab welcomes Gillian Brown as a new undergraduate student in our lab.

• January 2022- Rachel Aruldas receives a second UROP award for her proposal “Determining the effects of cocaine sensitization on GLT1 in the dorsal and ventral striatum”

2021

• December 2021 - Edith receives the Hispanic Health Professional Student Scholarship from the National Hispanic Health Foundation! Congratulations, Edith!

• December 2021 - Laura graduates from the University of Minnesota with a Masters in Neuroscience! Congratulations, Laura!

• November 2021- The American College of Neuropsychopharmacology interviews Dr. Spencer for their bulletin.

• September 2021 - The Spencer Lab welcomes Claire Felter as a new undergraduate student in our lab.

• September 2021 - The Spencer Lab welcomes Mahamed Abduhali as a new undergraduate student in our lab

• August 2021- Mark Schonfeld passes his oral preliminary exam and advances to candidacy in the Pharmacology Graduate Program!

• August 2021- Rachel Aruldas receives Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) award for her proposal “Assessing the impact of cocaine sensitization on AMPK expression in the dorsal and ventral striatum”

• June 2021 - We welcome Qetsia Etienne to the Spencer Lab for her LSSURP undergraduate summer research.

• May 2021 - Christian Haas graduates from the University of Minnesota with a Masters in Pharmacology! Congratulations, Christian!

• April 2021 - Watch Abbey Brewer’s Support a Scientist video produced in collaboration with ACNP and BRAD (Biomedical Research Awareness Day)

• April 2021 - Edith receives the President’s Student Leadership and Service Award from the University of Minnesota! Congratulations, Edith!

• April 15th, 2021 - The Spencer Lab welcomes Rachel Aruldas as a new undergraduate student in our lab.

• January 30, 2021 - Laura presents at the annual GPN weekend retreat nano Symposium.

• January 12, 2021 - Lexi presents a poster at the SfN Virtual Connectome.

2020

• December 2020 - Emma Wille graduates from the University of Minnesota with a Masters in Pharmacology! Congratulations, Emma!

• December 2020 - Noor Ibrahim graduates from the University of Minnesota with a major in Neuroscience and minor in Spanish! Congrats!

• November 24, 2020 - Mark presents his 2nd year pharmacology talk titled “Transient Synaptic Potentiation in Brain Cortical Subregions During Cue-Induced Cocaine Seeking.”

• November 9, 2020 - Margaret Stelzner joins the lab as a rotating graduate student in the GPN.

• September 12, 2020 Abbey presents at the 2020 UMN Pain Summit.

• August 21, 2020 - Amy Chan leaves the lab to start graduate school at OHSU. We’ll miss you!

• August 7, 2020 - New article “Which came first: cannabis use or deficits in impulse control?” accepted in Progress in Neuropsychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry.

• August 6, 2020 - Laura Buczek joins the lab as a Ph.D graduate student in the Graduate Program in Neuroscience!

• July 13, 2020 - Edith Hernandez joins the lab as a rotating graduate student in the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP).

• June 15, 2020 - Abigail Brewer joins the lab as a post-doctoral researcher. Congratulations to Abbey on her NIDA T32 Training Grant award!

• June 9, 2020 - Vishal Chandra joins the lab as an undergraduate volunteer.

• May 16, 2020 - Allegra graduates from the University of Minnesota with a Bachelors of Science. Congratulations!

• March 16, 2020 - Mark Schonfeld joins the lab as a Ph.D graduate student in the Department of Pharmacology!

• March 4, 2020 - Dr. Spencer is a panelist for a Petri Dish conversation about Clearing the Air around Cannabis.

• March 2 - May 1, 2020 - Laura Buczek joins the lab as a rotating graduate student in the Department of Neuroscience.

• March 2, 2020 - Christian Haas joins the lab as a masters graduate student in the Department of Pharmacology.

• February 14, 2020 - Emma presents a poster at the Pharmacology PhD Recruitment Poster Session.

• January 27, 2020 - Daniel Grinberg joins the lab as an undergraduate volunteer.

• January 23, 2020 - Noor Ibrahim travels to Madrid, Spain for a semester studying abroad!

2019

• December 16, 2019 - Allegra presents her UROP on the Impact of Estrus Cycle on MMP Activity in Female Rats at the MDTA Works in Progress meeting .

• December 8-12, 2019 - Dr. Spencer travels to Hollywood, Florida for the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) Annual Meeting.

• November 6, 2019 - Dr. Spencer gave a colloquium presentation to the Graduate Program in Neuroscience (GPN).

• November 5, 2019 - Emma Wille joins the lab as a masters graduate student in the Department of Pharmacology.

• November 4, 2019 - January 10, 2020 - Sasha Pilski joins the lab as a rotating graduate student in the Department of Pharmacology.

• October 19-23, 2019 - Dr. Spencer travels to Chicago to attend the annual Society for Neuroscience (SfN) conference and present in a mini-symposium on Sex Differences in Drug Craving and Addiction-Like Behaviors in Rodent Models.

• September 24, 2019 - Noor Ibrahim joins the lab as an undergraduate volunteer.

• September 21, 2019 - Dr. Spencer travels with a contingent from the University (Dr. Linda Mcloon, Dr. Rocio Gomez-Pastor, and Dr. Gordon Smith) to present her work and promote the Graduate Program in Neuroscience at the 2019 MidBrains Conference at Augustana College, in Rock Island, Illinois.

• September 12, 2019 - Amy and Lexi present posters at the inaugural Minnesota Symposium on Addiction Neuroscience (MnSAN).

• September 9-November 1, 2019 - Mark Schonfeld joins the lab as rotating graduate student in the Department of Pharmacology.

• September 6, 2019 - Amy presented a poster at the 2019 Department of Pharmacology annual retreat.

• August 25-September 4, 2019 - Dr. Spencer travels to Braga, Portugal to attend the European Behavioral Pharmacology Society (EBPS) meeting.

• August 16, 2019 - Zia officially completes her Master’s Degree in Pharmacology. Congratulations and good luck on your future endeavors!

• August 1, 2019 - Zia successfully presented and passed her Master’s Final Exam. Congratulations Zia!

• July 30, 2019 - Allegra is awarded the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) scholarship for a project she will begin this fall.

• July 16-18, 2019 - Dr. Spencer treks to Bloomington, Indiana to attend the Rising Stars Symposium in Health Sciences at Indiana University.

• June 23-29, 2019 - Dr. Spencer crosses the Pacific to Cairns, Australia to attend the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society (IBNS) conference.

• May 27-August 16, 2019 - Claire Pince joins the lab as a summer undergraduate researcher through the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

• March 27, 2019 - Allegra Sciaccotta joins the lab as an undergraduate volunteer.

• March 14, 2019 - Happy Pi (or PI) day from the Spencer Lab!

• January 30-February 4, 2019 - Dr. Spencer avoids the polar vortex to travel to Colorado for the Winter Conference on Brain Research.