Randolph-Macon College was well represented at the 2018 annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, the premiere event in the neuroscience scientific community that attracts more than 30,000 scientists from all over the world. The meeting was held November 3-7, 2018 in San Diego, California.

Presentations
Emily Ploppert ’19, who worked with Professors Chas. Gowan (biology and environmental studies) and Massimo Bardi (behavioral neuroscience), presented her latest results on aggressive behavior in brook trout (“Effects of Testosterone Manipulation and Personality Traits on Arginine Vasopressin Immunoreactivity in Brook Trout”).

Emily Fitzwater ’19 presented her work in collaboration with Biology Professor David Coppola (“The Chromatographic Theory of Olfaction a Half-Century on: Comparisons of Simulated Odorant Sorption Patterns with Regional Electro-olfactogram Responses in the Mouse Olfactory Epithelium”).

Sammi Scarola ’18 (now at Liberty University Medical School), Jose Perdomo Trejo ’18, and Megan Granger ’18, who worked with Professors Bardi and Kimberly Gerecke (psychology), presented their work on neurodegenerative diseases in a symposium dedicated to animal models of Alzheimer’s disease (“Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias: Therapeutic Strategies: Preclinical Animal Models”).

Collaboration + Contributions
Scarola also contributed to a work in collaboration with the University of Richmond that started at RMC (“Long-term Neurobiological Effects of Early-life Challenges on Cognition and Stress Responsivity in Adult Female Rats”).

Several alumni of RMC’s Behavioral Neuroscience program were also at the conference presenting their contributions to the field, including the very first graduate in Behavioral Neuroscience, Samantha Scott ’15, now a Ph.D. student in neuroscience at Arizona State, who presented her latest results on drug addiction.

Career Preparation
“Seeing so many of our students presenting alongside the best professionals and graduate students in the country makes me very proud,” says Bardi, director of RMC’s Behavioral Neuroscience program. “Emily Ploppert, for example, was so engaging during her presentation that one of the most renown experts of the field offered to collaborate with her to try to answer some of the compelling questions she raised about aggressive behavior.”

Bardi continues, “It’s difficult to argue against the fact that the best lessons we can give to our students are related to real-life problems. I strongly believe the experience of working on challenging scientific issues and presenting results to some of the most prominent professionals in the field can prepare students for any challenges they will face in their future careers.”