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Lambert: "These studies will allow our students to add a more precise assessment of genetic contributions to the behaviors
we're observing in the laboratory with our rodent models." |
Randolph-Macon College neuroscience students and faculty will soon have access to new high-tech equipment.
The University of Richmond has been awarded a grant of $646,168 under the National Science Foundation’s Major Research Instrumentation program. The grant was awarded in response to an application submitted by Craig Kinsley, MacEldin-Trawick Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Richmond (principal investigator), and Kelly Lambert, the Macon and Joan Brock Professor in Psychology at Randolph-Macon College (co-principal investigator).
“The NSF-MRI program is designed to increase access to shared scientific and engineering instruments for research and research training in institutions of higher education and other science facilities,” explains Lambert.
“This is an excellent opportunity for neuroscience faculty and students to have access to state-of-the-art equipment,” says Lambert, who serves as the chair of R-MC’s
psychology department. “The equipment will be used to improve the quality and expand the scope of scientific research and research training.” The equipment will be housed at the University of Richmond.
Kinsley and Lambert’s proposal, “Acquisition of Apparatus to Study the ‘Expression’ of the Parental Brain,” reflects several collaborations involving faculty and students at Randolph-Macon College, the University of Richmond, Longwood University, Marshall University, Rhodes College, Virginia Union University, and the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The collaborators are involved in studying changes in the neural structures of lower mammals. According to the proposal, “The requested inverted microscope and related neuroscience instruments will help faculty and students focus on detailed genetic expression questions using precise neuronal protein and histological techniques.”
“These studies will allow our students to add a more precise assessment of genetic contributions to the behaviors we’re observing in the laboratory with our rodent models. Currently, we are determining the connections among the brain, environment and behavior—and with this new sophisticated equipment we will be able to investigate the role of genetic expression in behaviors such as the onset of parental behavior or chronic stress, ” says Lambert.
Lambert is the author of
The Lab Rat Chronicles: A Neuroscientist Reveals Life Lessons from the Planet’s Most Successful Mammals (Perigee Penguin, 2011). In the book, Lambert delves into the lives of rats and emerges with clues to model human behavior. A substantial part of the book is about the research that Lambert’s students have conducted at R-MC. The book has received national media coverage, including the
Washington Post, Ladies’ Home Journal,
Scientific American Mind and National Geographic Radio.
Lambert earned her bachelor’s degree from Samford University and her master’s and Ph.D. from the University of Georgia. She joined the faculty at R-MC 1989 and is co-director of the
Schapiro Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program. In 2007, she was awarded the Samuel Nelson Gray Distinguished Professor Award and in 2008 she was named
Virginia Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). She is the past-president of the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society (2009-2011) and is the author of
Lifting Depression: A Neuroscientist’s Hands-On Approach to Activating Your Brain’s Healing Power (Basic Books, 2008). In addition, the second edition of
Clinical Neuroscience: Psychopathology and the Brain (Oxford University Press, 2010), which Lambert co-wrote with Craig Kinsley, was recently released.