The Pilot and Feasibility award is titled “Mapping epistatic modifiers of diabetes using the Akita mouse model of pancreatic beta cell stress” and provides $35,000 to study epistatic interactions between the Akita mutation in the insulin protein and genetic modifiers. The award can be renewed for a second and final year.

More information about the DRTC can be found here: http://drtc.bsd.uchicago.edu/

Dr. Palmer’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) grant titled “Efficient discovery of epistatic modifiers of Cacna1c in mice: extending on GWAS”was funded today!

Alex Gileta, a second year human genetics graduate student, has decided to join the lab. His initial project will focus on a GWAS study of almost 3000 genetically heterogeneous rats, phenotyped for incentive salience at the University of Michigan by Shelly Flagel and Terry Robinson, and genotyped by reduced representation sequencing.

The article, Practical considerations regarding the use of genotype and pedigree data to model relatedness in the context of genome-wide association studies, has been accepted for publication in G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics.

The article, Variation in the Form of Pavlovian Conditioned Approach Behavior among Outbred Male Sprague-Dawley Rats from Different Vendors and Colonies: Sign-Tracking vs. Goal-Tracking has been accepted for publication in PLoSONE.  Other co-authors include Fitzpatrick CJ, Cogan ES, Yager LM, Meyer PJ, Lovic V, Saunders BT, Flagel SB and Robinson TE.

Clarissa submitted her application for the Brain and Behavior NARSAD Young Investigator Grant while she was still at Palmer Lab and will be using it to further her research at Middlebury College.  Congratulations, Clarissa!

The NARSAD Young Investigator Grant provides support for the most promising young scientists conducting neurobiological research. Two year awards up to $60,000, or $30,000 per year are provided to enable promising investigators to either extend research fellowship training or begin careers as independent research faculty.  For more information, here is the website.

Amy Hart defended her thesis, “Investigating genetic influences on drug response and psychiatric phenotypes” this morning and it was approved by her committee.  Congratulations, Amy!

The article: “A large QTL for fear and anxiety mapped using an F2 cross can be dissected into multiple smaller QTLs” has been accepted for publication in Genes, Brain and Behavior.  You can read the article here.

The article: “Traits of Fear Resistance and Susceptibility in an Advanced Intercross Line” has been accepted for publication in European Journal of Neuroscience. Dr. Abraham Palmer and Clarissa Parker are among the co-authors of the article.

Dr. Abraham Palmer visited collaborators at Medical College of Milwaukee (Leah Solberg) and University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee (Alexander Arnold). He gave a talk called “There and back again: integrated use of forward and reverse genetics to study behavioral and physiological traits in mice (and soon rats!)”

He also dropped his 1977 VW Bus off with trusted VW mechanic Jake Henes of Riverwest Auto.