The Department of Biology is excited to announce the three recipients of this year’s Dr. Marion R. Kramer Scholarships: Hannah Axten of the Ho Lab, Alanna Carey of the Chen Lab, and Yuan Tian of the Man Lab.

Hannah studies a member of the forkhead box (FOX) family of transcription factors, FOXR1, and its role in neurodevelopment. A human patient identified by the NIH Undiagnosed Disease Network with a heterozygous mutation in FOXR1 displays developmental delay, progressive brain atrophy, and microcephaly. Mice null for foxr1 phenocopy aspects of the patient phenotype. She is currently investigating how loss of foxr1 leads to abnormal brain development in transgenic mice.
Alanna’s research project aims to gain an understanding of the neurobiology of individual differences and examine genetic contributions to behavior in a controlled environment. The overarching hypothesis for this project is that individual differences in goal-directed learning arise through genetic variation at the gene expression, neural circuit, and behavioral levels. The recently developed, genetically heterogeneous mouse strain Diversity Outbred (DO) mimics the human population’s genetic variation while allowing for investigations of complex phenotypic traits in a controlled environment. Mice are subjected to an automated, cognitively demanding spatial learning paradigm to determine the genetic contributions driving the rate of learning performance through Quantitative Trait Loci analysis (QTL) while tracking their task-related and offline behaviors. By comparing DO mice to the 8 inbred founder mouse lines, learning performance was highly variable for DO mice and group differences were observed between inbred lines that spanned the variation observed in DO mice. Behavioral analysis from lick sensors and videography suggest that individuals employ a range of motor strategies to perform the task. This work will provide evidence for intrinsic factors that govern aspects of learning that can be further investigated using genetic strategies.
Yuan’s research focuses on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) associated with the overexpression of Ube3A, one of the most common genetic factors in ASD etiology. She studies the molecular mechanisms underlying defective excitatory synaptic activity, as well as the presence of, and mechanisms behind, sexually dimorphic changes in cellular features, gene expression, neuronal activity, and autistic behaviors in Ube3A-dependent ASD.

This award provides support for high-achieving female students majoring in Biology. The award was established in 2001 in honor of Dr. Marion Kramer who earned her Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Boston University in 1963 and went on to a long and satisfying career in biology and medicine.

Congratulations, Hannah, Alanna, and Yuan!

Posted 2 years ago on in Grad Student News