Dr. Oksana Polesskaya was nominated as a 2016-17 STAR Award Recipient in recognition of and appreciation for outstanding service and enduring contribution to the advancement of UCSD Psychiatry’s teaching, research, clinical and public service missions. Congratulations and well deserved, Oksana!
Hannah Wladecki has joined the Palmer Lab. She will be the new lab manager. Hannah was recently working in the Institute for Genomic Medicine Sequencing Core for the past 2.5 years where she prepared sequencing libraries and operated the Illumina sequencers. She has an M.S. in Animal & Poultry Science from Virginia Tech and completed her undergrad at Purdue University. Welcome Hannah!
Members of the Palmer Lab and UCSD Psychiatry Department were among the 15,000+ scientists and supporters that joined the March for Science in downtown San Diego on Saturday April 22nd. The rally was part of an international effort to champion and protect science in government decision making. Read more about the San Diego event here! Read more about science advocacy and other ways to get involved here!
Drs. Abraham Palmer and Sandra Sanchez-Roige presented their research on psychiatric genetics to approximately 40 high school students on Friday April 21st. Many of the students are taking AP Psychology or AP Economics courses. They were visiting the UCSD campus from Sweetwater High School in National City, CA.
Dr. Abraham Palmer presented at the Hillcrest Biomedical and Clinical Research Seminar Series at the University of California San Diego on Wednesday April 5th, 2017. His talk was titled “Using GWAS studies in rodents for deciphering human disease”.
Celine St. Pierre will start her PhD in Human & Statistical Genetics at Washington University in St. Louis this fall. Congratulations, Celine!
The article, “Cdh13 and AdipoQ gene knockout alters instrumental and Pavlovian drug conditioning”, was accepted for publication in Genes, Brain and Behavior. Authors include current and former Palmer Lab members (Amy Hart, Celine St. Pierre, Emily Leung, Abraham Palmer) as well as collaborators Christopher King, Leah Militello, Cassandra Versaggi, Nathaniel Roberson, James Catlin, Jerry Richards, and Paul Meyer.
Dr. Abraham Palmer presented at the Institute for Genetics Seminar series at the University of California San Francisco on March 24th. His talk was titled “A Toolbox and Rationale for Performing GWAS for Behavioral Traits in Outbred Mice and Rats”.
Their grant, “Identification of Genetic Variants that Contribute to Compulsive Cocaine Intake in Rats” was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). This project seeks to elucidate the genetic basis of cocaine intake and other drug abuse-related behaviors in rats. Dr. Abraham Palmer will be the PI for the UCSD subcontract portion of the project.
Liz Joyce, our former undergraduate, has received a Fulbright Open Study/Research Award as part of the 2017-2018 Fulbright U.S. Student Program. She will use this opportunity to continue studying genetics in Germany next year. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is the largest U.S. exchange program offering opportunities for students and young professionals to undertake international graduate study, advanced research, university teaching, and primary and secondary school teaching worldwide. The program currently awards approximately 1,900 grants annually in all fields of study, and operates in more than 140 countries worldwide. Congratulations,
