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10th Annual Retreat
August 17, 2011

The Vermont Genetics Network (VGN) hosted its 10^th Annual Retreat on Wednesday, August 17, 2011 at the DoubleTree Hotel in South Burlington.  The day began with a continental breakfast and a brief networking session.

At 9:00 a.m. Dr. Judith Van Houten, VGN Director, opened the program by welcoming all of the guests and invited speakers.  She also gave a special thanks to all VGN staff, faculty, researchers and representatives from the BPI Institutions for their hard work in the first year of our INBRE renewal.

 Next, two presentations by VGN funded faculty were given. The following faculty members from VGN’s partner colleges spoke about their VGN funded research:

Gina Mireault, PhD – Johnson State College “Infant Humor from Three-to-Six Months and Attachment at One Year”
Mark Stefani, PhD – Middlebury College “Inhibition and Cognitiion in a Rat Model of Schizophrenia”

Dr. Ying Wai Lam, Director, Proteomics Facility

Dr. Van Houten then introduced Ying Wai Lam, PhD, Director of VGN Proteomics Facility and Tiim Hunter, Manager of VGN Microarray Facility.  Dr. Lam spoke to everyone about the Proteomics Facility with a talk titled, “How Can Proteomics Help your Research? Interrogate the Proteome at Multiple Levels”.  Mr. Hunter then spoke to everyone about the Microarray Facility with a talk titled, “The Vermont Genetics Network Microarray Facility: Tools in our Toolbox.” Both talks were received very well and provided our researchers more information about the UVM core facilities and how they can utilize them in their research.

Mr. Tim Hunter, Manager, Microarray Facility

 

The final speaker for the day was the invited guest speaker, Mark Lively, PhD, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC Immediate Past President, FASEB Board of Directors.  His talk was titled, “Scientists are Essential Advocates for Federal Science Policy.”  It was an interesting and timely talk and very well received.   During the buffet lunch, The Baccalaureate Partner Institutions (BP) Coordinators met to discuss ideas and plans for the upcoming years along with expanding the VGN mentoring program.  After lunch, other attendees networked and visited the posters that were presented by the BPI faculty and UVM graduate students who received VGN funding last year.  There were 11 posters presented under many different disciplines.

Dr. Mark Lively, Guest Speaker

Faculty Poster Presentations

Dr. Mark Spritzer, Middlebury College

Deborah Alongi, PhD, Darren Colomb, Crystal Golding, Keith Lavoie / Castleton State College:  “Adaptive Evolution and Physiological Plasticity in Geographically Diverse Populations of Arabidopsis lyrata.”

Natalia Blank, PhD / Norwich University: “Synthesis and Identification of Novel 1,2-ethelynediimines ”

Elizabeth Dolci, PhD / Johnson State College: “Discovery of Extremophiles from Stressed Aquatic Communities Within the Vermont Asbestos Group Mine”

Kevin Fleming, PhD / Norwich University; Mitchell Stotland / Dartmouth Medical College; Erin Rokey / Middlebury: “Measuring Perceived Outcomes of Craniofacial Surgery for Children with Oral Clefts”

Hans Christian Haverkamp, PhD, Susan Nader, Dustin Berry, Francesca Orsini / Johnson State College:  “Acute, Inflammatory-based Airflow Limitation Does Not Affect Pulmonary Mechanical Responses to Exercise in Mild-to-Moderate Asthmatic Subjects”

Karen Hinkle, PhD / Norwich University: “Lampricide (TFM) Exposure Results in Upregulated Expression of the DNA Repair Enzymes Ogg1, Msh2, Apn1, and Ntg1 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.”

Dr. Mark Lively & Dr. Karen Hinkle, Norwich University

Ari Kirshenbaum, PhD / St. Michael’s College: “Nicotine, d-amphetamine and VI-DRL schedule performance”

Shane Lamos, PhD / Saint Michael’s College: “Relative Quantification of Metabolites Using Five Isotopic Variants of Cholamine”

Jennifer Guinn Sellers, PhD, Elizabeth Cerezo / Green Mountain College: “The Role of Testosterone and Estradiol on Dominant and Affiliative Behavior.”

Mark Spritzer, PhD / Middlebury College: “Effects of Interactions with Familiar vs. Unfamiliar Females on Adult Neurogenesis Among Male Rats.”

Elizabeth Wuorinen, PhD / Norwich University:  “The Effect of Exercise Intensity Over 20-weeks of Training in Middle-aged Women”

Dr. Van Houten closed the retreat by thanking all invited guests for attending. She also thanked the other faculty members and students who presented posters and gave presentations about their VGN research.

Dr. Elizabeth Wuorinen, Norwich University

 

 

 

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10th Annual Career Day
April 13, 2011

Vermont Genetics Network hosted its 10th Annual Career Day on April 13th at the Doubletree Hotel in South Burlington, Vermont. Undergraduate students from UVM, CCV, and our 7 Baccalaureate Partner Institutions (BPIs); Castleton State College, Green Mountain College, Johnson State College, Lyndon State College, Middlebury College, Norwich University and Saint Michaels College attended along with their faculty advisors. Other faculty and staff attended from these schools as well.

The evening began with student poster presentations. Undergraduate students that received funding by VGN for INBRE Project Year 6 presented posters describing their research projects. Students who worked directly for VGN funded faculty researchers were also invited to share the work they had done.

A panel of judges chose 2 winning posters from the students who received VGN funding and an 8GB flash drive was awarded to each winner.

The winners were Marie Agan, Saint Michael’s College and W. Tyler Prince, Middlebury College.

A buffet dinner followed the poster presentations. After dinner, Janet Murray, Director of Outreach for VGN, officially welcomed the guests and introduced the panel of speakers. The presentations focused on the individual career paths that each panelist took to arrive at their current careers.

The panelists:

	Bryan Ballif, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Biology University of Vermont
	Mary Cushman, M.D., M.Sc. Professor of Medicine and Pathology Thrombosis and Hemostasis Program Fletcher Allen Health Care
	Christopher Herrick, B.A., M.Ed. Chief Vermont Hazmat Response Team State of Vermont
	Terri Messier, B.S. Research/Analyst, Dept. of Pediatrics University of Vermont

VGN Funded Undergraduate Students presented the following posters:

Marie Agan & Alayne Schroll, Ph.D. (St. Michael’s College)
“Characterization of N,N'-bis[(9H-fluoren-9-ylmethoxy)carbonyl]-L-selenocystine”
 
Benjamin Chaucer, Danielle Gregoire & Autumn Santor (Johnson State College)
“Discovery of Extremophiles from Stressed Aquatic Communities Within the Vermont Asbestos Group Mine”
 
Olesea Cohojari & Brenda Nsambu (Green Mountain College)
“GIS meets Genetics: Spacial and Molecular Analysis of Beech Trees Resistant to Beech Bark Disease”
 
C.M. Curtin, R.S. Ward, E.J. Robson & M.R. Stefani, Ph.D. (Middlebury College)
“Cannabinoid Modulation of Cognition in a Rat Model of Schizophrenia”
 
Laura Macke & Brittany Perdue (Johnson State College)
"Infant Clowns: Humor Perception and Creation from 3 to 6 Months in the Social Context with Parents"
 
Evan Masseau (Middlebury College)
“Neurosteroid Attenuation of the Cognitive Deficits Associated with a Rat Model of Schizophrenia”
 
W. Tyler Prince (Middlebury College)
“The Effects of Prolactin on Neurogenesis in the Dentate Gyrus of the Adult Male Rat”
 
Anthony Sassi (Norwich University)
"Synthesis of Chiral 1,2-diamines via Asymmetric Addition of Organolithium to 1,2-diimine. A Mechanistic Study”
 
Leanne Shulman (Middlebury College)
“The Effects of Sexual Experience on Spatial Memory and Behavioral Flexibility in Male Rats”
 
Richard Torde (St. Michael’s College)
"Relative Quantification of Metabolites Using Five Isotopic Variants of Cholamine"

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5th Annual VGN Faculty Professional Development Seminar
January 22, 2011

The Baccalaureate Partner Institution (BPI) Coordinators planned and hosted their 5th Professional Development Seminar on Saturday, January 22, 2011 at Middlebury College. The topic for the seminar was “Taking an Institutional Perspective” and the day was spent with an invited panel of four guests as well as workshops designed to give BPI faculty and staff the opportunity to discuss developments, challenges they face and goals at each institution and as a whole. Faculty and staff members from all of our BPIs attended.

4 Panelists

Dr. Robert Cluss welcomed all of the attendees to the seminar and outlined the goals for the day. The seminar began with 4 panelists: Mike Schoenfeld, Vice President for College Advancement, Middlebury College, Franci Farnsworth, Coordinator of Sponsored Research, Middlebury College, Tim Etchells, Director of Communication, Middlebury College, and Ruth Farrell, Associate Vice President for Research Administration, University of Vermont. Each of the panelists discussed their roles and how they support science research at their institution. They covered many topics and offered many ideas to faculty and staff in attendance. Their talks were interactive and met with many insights and questions from the faculty and staff members in attendance.

The attendees then split up into different groups to further discuss developments, challenges and goals that they face. Key staff was also in attendance from fund-raising, sponsored research and communications. Action plans and agendas were developed from these workshops to help everyone achieve their individual and institutional goals of developing science research and undergraduate research at each of their institutions.

Networking

A lunch and networking session followed the panelists where the lively talk continued. This concluded the formal part of the program. All participants enjoyed the seminar and VGN would like to thank Dr. Robert Cluss, BPI Coordinator, Middlebury College for his efforts in hosting the event.

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