Aleigha Gugel, graduate student in Dr. Stephanie Gantz's lab, Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics

Prior to starting graduate school I worked as a post-baccalaureate research intern in Dr. Gantz’s lab. These two years of training allowed me to learn brain slice electrophysiology, immunohistochemistry, and behavioral techniques with mice. I learned how to analyze the data, including the proper statistical analyses to use. My research during this time focused on inhibition of noradrenaline transmission in the dorsal raphe by the 2-adrenergic receptor. This project also demonstrated that the locus coeruleus projects to the dorsal raphe. My work resulted in a 2024 first author publication in Neuropsychopharmacology. During this time I was also able to help with another project in the lab demonstrating the reduction of delta glutamate 1 receptor current by increasing extracellular calcium. This work resulted in a second author publication in 2023 in EMBO Reports. A collaboration outside of the lab with Drs. Serena B. Gumusoglu and Mark K. Santillan resulted in a middle author 2024 publication in Neuropsychopharmacology. For this collaboration I recorded the effect of a selective serotonin receptor inhibitor on an inhibitory serotonin current in the dorsal raphe in animals with a genetic 
deletion for Regulator of G protein signaling 2. I had the chance to present my research at a small local conference, the Iowa Neuroscience Institute Synapse meeting in 2022. I presented my work on regulation of noradrenaline transmission in the dorsal raphe (Gugel et al., 2024) at the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and the Society for Neuroscience 2023 annual meetings. I presented my work for the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics during departmental poster sessions.

In August 2023, I started graduate school; I entered as a direct admit into Dr. Stephanie Gantz’s lab through the Biomedical Sciences Program. After the first year I matriculated into the Molecular Physiology and Biophysics program. After starting graduate school I have had the chance to collect pilot data for multiple studies. These included determining the effects of social isolation on the 1-adrenergic receptor-excitatory postsynaptic current in the dorsal raphe, deoxycorticosterone on intrinsic properties of locus coeruleus noradrenergic neurons, and psychostimulants on the activity of locus coeruleus noradrenergic neurons. While doing these pilot studies, I increased my technical expertise by learning how to perform basic surgeries on mice and fluorescent in situ hybridization. I also expanded my knowledge of behavioral techniques by learning to run new assays, such as the elevated zero maze and light/dark preference. These pilot projects also gave me the opportunity to learn how to do fluorescent-guided patch-clamp and how to record in a brain region other than the dorsal raphe; both techniques I will use to complete aim 2 of my proposed project. I have passed my 
comprehensive exam, meeting the requirements set by the Molecular Physiology and Biophysics 
program. Since passing my comprehensive exam, I meet with my thesis committee once every year to 
discuss the background of my project, update them on the progress I have made, and set goals for the next year and my career. Every year for the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics I present a workshop on my research project. I have participated in other presentation forms for the department as a graduate student, including poster presentations and a data blitz.
 

Alex Keyes, postdoc fellow in Dr. Yuriy Usachev's lab, Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology

My academic training and research experience at Linfield University and University of Iowa has given me an excellent background in pharmacology and neuroscience. As an undergraduate at Linfield University, I conducted basic genetic and biochemistry research with Dr. Megan Bestwick on the role of TOR1 signaling on tolerance to environmental stress in S. cerevisiae.

I transitioned to the fields of pharmacology and neuroscience for my graduate training, focusing on neuro-immune interactions in chronic pain under Dr. Yuriy Usachev. My project focused on the role of complement component C5a signaling in sensitization spinal dorsal horn neurons. Through this project, I learned how to perform behavioral studies, to do survival surgeries such as spared nerve injury and plantar incision, and to carry out two-photon calcium imaging and patch-clamp electrophysiological recordings in an intact ex vivo spinal cord (Andrianov, Keyes, et al., JPhysiol, 2025). I found that C5a/C5aR1 signaling in the spinal cord, but not in the periphery, is primarily responsible for neuropathic pain in the spared nerve injury (SNI) model in mice. Furthermore, using a conditional KO model of C5aR1, I demonstrated that C5a/C5aR1 signaling specifically in microglia is required for the initiation of neuropathic pain. I also developed a novel pain-related behavioral task used during in vivo multiphoton imaging of the brain (Keyes et al., Cell Calcium 2021). I attended a prestigious workshop course, with a fellowship, at the Flatiron Institute's Center for Computational Neuroscience to improve my skills for analysis of multiphoton calcium imaging.

My postdoctoral work started with a project that focused on TRP signaling in primary afferents. This project helped me to deepen my ability to perform and analyze multiphoton imaging with multiple, color-distinct indicators simultaneously. Additionally, I learned how to manage a project and supervise a trainee to complete a project and paper on a strict timeline. My primary postdoctoral research in the role of LJA5 neurons in pain has allowed me to further develop my skills in pain research while also allowing me to learn new techniques. As this new project focuses on descending pain circuits, it broadens my expertise both conceptually and methodologically. Conceptually, in that my doctoral work focused on neuro-immune interactions and this work focuses on the study of neural circuitry and methodologically, in that I will develop new research skills in stereotaxic injection, neuroanatomy, and in chemogenetic approaches. I have published three papers, including two first/co-first author papers, and have additional two in preparation.