Mike Chicka and
Xiaobing Li both
win the 2008 Jerzy Rose Neuroscience Award given for
'original and significant research in neuroscience during graduate
training at the University of Wisconsin - Madison'.
Mike Chicka did his graduate work in the laboratory of
Ed Chapman
(Professor of Physiology and Howard Hughes Investigator) and the title of his
thesis was "Molecular mechanisms by which synaptotagmin regulates calcium triggered membrane fusion".
Xiaobing Li did his graduate work in the laboratory of
Michele A. Basso
(Asst. Professor of Physiology) and the title of his thesis
was "Saccade target selection and spatial attention in the superior colliculus".
Congratulations, Mike and Xiaobing!
Faculty News - October 2007
Two faculty members named permanent members of NIH study sections!
Lea Ziskind-Conhaim has been named a permanent member of the Sensorimotor Integration (SMI) study section.
Gerard Marriott is a standing member of the Microscope Imaging study section.
Congratulations!
New Graduate Students for Fall 2007
The Department of Physiology is pleased to welcome the following new students who have joined the department.
Serife Ayaz Guner - B.S., Biology, M.S., Biotechnology, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey.
Hua Bai - B.S., Biological Science, Peking University.
Randall Loaiza - Licentiate in Pharmacy; Graduate studies in Cell Physiology, Universidad de Costa Rica.
Research News - August 2007
The little blue pill may do more than get the blood pumping. Sildenafil — the generic name for Viagra —
also increases release of a reproductive hormone in rats, according to a new study
by Meyer Jackson
and his lab...
The 1st Annual Physiology Retreat was held on May 21-22, 2007,
at Heidel House in beautiful Green Lake, Wisconsin.
Over 50 faculty, post-docs and graduate students spent a busy two days
filled with research presentations, discussion and a poster session.
This included presentations by 28 speakers from 14 labs about current ongoing work, plus invited
lectures by two featured speakers (Don Bers from Loyola University and Zhe Lu from Univ. of Pennsylvania).
Click here [pdf] for the full program.
It was a great way to interact with colleagues and learn about their work.
The Wisconsin Association for Biomedical Research and Education presented Joe Kemnitz, Director of the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, and Professor of Physiology, with the Knox Courage Award for demonstrated courage while providing public education on the need for humane biomedical research and discovery.
Dr. Cynthia Czajkowski has been invited to join the editorial board of the Journal of Neuroscience as an Associate Editor in the Cellular Molecular section.
Seeing a Neurotoxin's Deadly Grip
Min Dong (Ed Chapman Lab) has emerged as the leader in the study of the entry of clostridial neurotoxins into neurons, and this year his work has resulted in first author papers in Science and Nature on this topic - a rare achievement; kudos to Min!
The 2006 Holiday and Employee Recognition Party was held at the University Club on Friday, Dec. 8.
It was a fun and happy event as always. Do plan to be there next year.
Tom Yin has been named Director of the Neuroscience Training Program. The program currently has more than 50 student trainees and faculty members from over 20 departments serve as trainers.
New Graduate Students for Fall 2006
The Department of Physiology is pleased to welcome the following new students who have joined the department.
Sandy Dunning - B.A., Religious Studies/Anthropology, UW-Madison, WI.
Sung Eun (Sam) Kwon - B.S., Biomedical Science, The University of Auckland,
New Zealand; B.S., Neuroscience, Australian National
University, Canberra.
Margertha McLean - B.S., Biology/Chemistry, Tennessee State University
Dongsheng Wang - B.S., Biological Sciences, Peking University
Madison's newest Ironman is none other than Physiology's Emily Farrell,
who completed the grueling Wisconsin Ironman triathlon last Sunday (Sep. 10, 2006) in a very impressive
11 hours and 26 minutes. The event involves a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and a 26.2 mile run,
all without a break. Competing against an international field of over 2000, Emily finished first among
Madison area women, and 21st among all women, and qualified for the prestigious Ironman
World Championships to be held in Hawaii in October 2007.
Well done!
Chapman Lab in the news
Recent work from the Chapman laboratory is in the news!
Research identifying the receptor for botulinum neurotoxin A was featured in Science Perspectives
(Link), Nature Reviews Neuroscience, (Link), and ACS Chemical Biology (Link).
The lab was also featured in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology
(Link) and Nature Chemical Biology (Link) for its work showing that the Ca2+ -sensing protein synaptotagmin I interacts specifically with neuronal t-SNARE heterodimers in response to Ca2+.
New Graduates
A party on May 10, 2006 celebrated the successful completion of Ph.D's by Payne Chang and Yukiko Muroi, both graduate students in the lab of
Meyer Jackson.
Payne will be leaving soon for a post-doc at the University of Texas, Austin, while Yukiko will be working for a few more months in Meyer's lab. A total of 14 students have now completed their Ph.D in Meyer's lab.
Congratulations - Payne, Yukiko, and Meyer!
New Book
Meyer Jackson
is the author of a new book, "Molecular and Cellular Biophysics", published by Cambridge University Press. The book provides advanced undergraduate and graduate students with a foundation in the basic concepts of biophysics. It provides a treatment of the fundamental theories in biophysics and illustrates their application with examples.
Read more...
Honors and Awards
Dr. Richard L. Moss has been selected by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and its National Advisory Council to receive the prestigious Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Award.
The MERIT award is designed to provide long-term, stable support to investigators whose research competence and productivity are distinctly superior, and who are likely to continue in an outstanding
manner. The MERIT Award will extend and support Dr. Moss' research
to a total of ten years.
Holiday Party - 2005
The 2005 Holiday and Employee Recognition Party was held at the University Club on Friday, Dec. 9..
Thanks to all those who attended and helped make it a great success.
Robert Fettiplace will receive the Award of Merit at the midwinter meeting of the Association of Research in Otolaryngology (ARO) in February 2006. The Award of Merit is given each year to a scientist who has made exceptionally significant contributions to understanding hearing and balance. Dr. Fettiplace graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1974. After postdoctoral training at Stanford he returned to Cambridge and began his studies of mechanoelectrical transduction in the cochlea. His work has made fundamental contributions to understanding how hair cells in the cochlea supply the brain with sharply tuned acoustic information over a wide range of amplitudes. He has been a faculty member in the Department of Physiology since 1990. A playful summary of his achievements given by one of his colleagues is reproduced below:
"The Award of Merit goes to our Robert this year
For work on transduction by cells of the ear.
In and out, calcium and potassium dance around
To make turtle cells tuned exquisitely to sound.
Stereocilia don’t just yield to a push and lean
But generate forces ever so quick and clean.
Single transducer channels Robert studied next.
They’re tricky because they need cells’ context.
Robert made hair cells with just one that works
And studied their opening, closing and other quirks.
That calcium’s important has long been clear
It’s buffered in hairs in the front and also in rear.
Remove it and gone are the tip links that tug
Let it in and, by golly, it acts like a plug.
Cheers for Robert and well-earned recognition
And for the beautiful work he did bring to fruition."
Meyer Jackson received the WARF named professorship appointment as Kenneth S. Cole Professor of Physiology on July 1, 2005. The WARF Professorship provides recognition and honor to faculty who have made major contributions to the advancement of knowledge, primarily through their research endeavors, but also as a result of their teaching and service activities. He has established himself as an exceptional theoretician and experimentalist who is highly respected nationally and internationally for his work in the areas of ion channel biophysics and synaptic physiology. Dr. Jackson graduated from Yale University in 1977 and studies the biophysics of neuronal signaling. He has been a faculty member of the Department of Physiology since 1981.
The Master of Science in Biotechnology is an affliated program intended for practicing scientists, technical professionals, attorneys and business strategists seeking a cross-functional understanding of biotechnology without having to interrupt their careers to pursue studies full time.
Read more...
Peter Chen - B.S., Biochemistry, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM.
Jason Foell - B.S., Microbiology; Genetics/Cell Biology, University of Minnesota
Molly Johannessen - B.S., Chemistry-Biology, Lawrence University
Byounghoon Kim - B.S., Psychology, Korea University, Seoul, Korea; M.S., Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ.
Erica Lenhart - B.A., Biological Anthropology, Northwestern University
Eric Schmuck - B.S., Biology/Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, WI
Linying Wu - B.S., Clinical Medicine, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Physiology in Med School Quarterly
Physiology was featured in the Autumn 2004 issue of Quarterly, a publication produced by the UW Medical School. Read about the history and exciting future directions of the department.
Physiology Quarterly Article (pdf)
Department of Physiology
University of Wisconsin
1300 University Avenue, Room 125 SMI
Madison, Wisconsin 53706-1510
Phone: (608) 262-2938
Fax: (608) 265-5512
The 1st Annual Physiology Retreat was held on May 21-22, 2007,
at Heidel House in beautiful Green Lake, Wisconsin.
Over 50 faculty, post-docs and graduate students spent a busy two days
filled with research presentations, discussion and a poster session.
This included presentations by 28 speakers from 14 labs about current ongoing work, plus invited
lectures by two featured speakers (Don Bers from Loyola University and Zhe Lu from Univ. of Pennsylvania).
Min Dong (
