The Department of Genetics, Development and Cell Biology was well represented at the Ninth Annual Neuroscience Research Day, which was held on Sept. 23 in the Molecular Biology Building. The event had 120 registrants from 12 colleges/universities and one company participating. 

GDCB graduate students, Lauren Laboissonniere and Bhavika Patel, served on the Neuroscience Research Day Planning Committee. Elizabeth Sandquist, a GDCB postdoctoral fellow, and Courtney Smith, an undergraduate genetics major in GDCB Assistant Professor Jeff Trimarchi's lab, were among those who presented at the event. 

Laboissonniere got involved in the event four years ago as a first-year graduate student because she wanted to see it grow. At this year's event, she presented a poster on "research attempting to identify early molecular markers of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in rodent models." Neuroscience Research Day was the first conference Patel presented at, and she said the experience helped her develop better presentation skills for future conferences.

Smith, who won the event's oral competition, gave a talk on "research using embryonic zebrafish to identify where (ALS)-linked genes are expressed in the fish." This year's event was the second time Sandquist served as a presenter at the conference. 

Read the LAS News article, "LAS students plan for and present at Neuroscience Research Day."