Dr. Frick’s NIH-funded grant to study cell-signaling and growth factor mechanisms underlying estradiol’s beneficial effects on memory formation was recently profiled as one of the top 6 NIH-funded research projects at UWM.
See the article at: http://uwm.edu/news/top-6-nih-funded-research-projects-uwm/.
Second year graduate student Lisa Taxier authored a new paper based on her undergraduate senior thesis research at Carleton College. The paper, published in Physiology and Behavior, studied the effects pubertal ovarian hormones on paced mating and conditioned place preference in female rats. The work showed that female rats lacking exposure to pubertal ovarian hormones show altered activity and withdrawal behavior during paced mating, but retain the ability to show a preference for a sexual partner and to acquire a conditioned place preference for paced mating. Congratulations Lisa!
Milwaukee Public Television will be screening the new Alzheimer’s documentary, “Alzheimer’s: Every Minute Counts” on Jan. 4, 2017 at Discovery World. The screening will begin at 7 pm, followed by a panel discussion with numerous community members including Dr. Frick. See MPTV’s press release for more information on the event: http://www.mptv.org/news/press/release/?n_id=1127
Postdoc Wendy Koss was awarded a Taconic Biosciences Travel Award for her poster presentation entitled, “Memory-enhancing effects of 17β-estradiol in male and female mice”, at the 2016 Society for Neuroscience meeting in November. Congratulations Wendy!
Jen Tuscher has been awarded the 2016-2017 Ruth G. and Joseph D. Matarazzo Scholarship from the American Psychological Foundation (APF) and Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology (COGDOP). This highly competitive scholarship provides Jen research funds to conduct her dissertation. Congratulations Jen!
Dr. Frick has been awarded a 5-year R01 grant by the National Institute of Mental Health. The grant is entitled, Mechanisms underlying memory regulation of 17beta-estradiol, canonical Wnt signaling, and BDNF in male and female mice. The goal of this project is to determine the extent to which canonical Wnt signaling and BDNF contribute to the memory enhancing effects of estradiol in female and male mice.
Dr. Frick has been awarded one of nine inaugural Sex and Gender in Alzheimer’s (SAGA) research grants from the Alzheimer’s Association. The 3-year project entitled, Estradiol-APOE interactions in a mouse model of AD, will study how genetic risk factors interact with sex and estrogen treatment to regulate memory and brain function in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease.
Second-year graduate student Lisa Taxier is the second author on a paper accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences! The research was conducted as part of her IRTA fellowship in Dr. Peter Rapp’s lab at the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore, MD. The paper is entitled, “Functional connectivity with the retrosplenial cortex predicts cognitive aging in rats”, and features the following authors: Ash JA*, Lu H*, Taxier L, Long JM, Yang Y, Stein EA, and Rapp PR (*co-first authors). Congratulations Lisa and colleagues!
Rachel Gremminger, Molly Keifer, and Sarah Philippi were recently awarded SURF fellowships from the Office of Undergraduate Research to conduct research in the Frick lab during the 2016-2017 academic year! These students join fellow undergraduates Jayson Schalk and Jacquie Haertel in the lab this year. Jacquie will be supported by an ongoing SURF fellowship. Congratulations to all!
Dr. Frick recently discussed the effects of anti-estrogen treatments on memory in a symposium entitled, “What Should Behavioral Neuroendocrinologists Be Telling Breast Oncologists About Estrogens and the Brain?”. As part of her talk, Dr. Frick presented the lab’s work on how estradiol regulates memory formation and how inhibition of estradiol synthesis affects memory. The symposium was held on August 8, 2016 as part of the Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology meeting in Montreal, Canada.