Summary of Research Project:

Quality medical documentation of patient encounters is a professional responsibility for all healthcare professionals. Documentation of patient care serves as a record of care provided, aids in continuity of care between providers, and can minimize the risk of malpractice. Inadequate documentation of patient care, however, may lead to diminished patient outcomes and increase legal risk to the clinician and their employer. The purpose of the funded study is to assess the completeness of concussion documentation using a novel audit tool developed by the research team.

Background/Training:

I am a certified athletic trainer with over 12 years of clinical, research, and teaching experience. My overall research goal is to improve the prevention and management of sport-related injury using a collaborative, comprehensive and community-driven approach. Further, I aim to conduct research that can be readily translated into clinical practice. My doctoral training focused on biomechanics, neuromuscular control, and sport-related injury prevention, and I served as lead student investigator on three major studies, one of which was a four-year collaboration with a youth sports organization where we evaluated neuromuscular control and implemented injury prevention programs for 80-100 athletes annually. Prior to pursuing my doctorate degree, I practiced clinically at the high school and collegiate levels.

Student Involvement in Research:

I have mentored over 30 undergraduate, master’s- and doctoral-level students in conducting research over the past 8 years. Mentees can engage in research in multiple ways: by acting as a research assistant, by developing a research question for an ongoing study, or by conducting their own novel research study under my guidance. Through this mentorship, I strive to improve students’ understanding of and appreciation for the research process and cultivate their ability to translate research findings to real-world clinical application, aiding in their development as evidence-based health professionals. The current research study is a unique experience for undergraduate student researchers as student researchers will be able to interact with seasoned clinician-researchers and Athletic Training Residents from the New Hampshire Musculoskeletal Institute.

Current Collaborations:

This project is the third year of a collaboration with faculty and athletic training residents from the New Hampshire Musculoskeletal Institute (NHMI). NHMI’s mission is to advance knowledge in musculoskeletal care and sports medicine and promote and provide a safe sports environment for athletes.

Potential Impact of your Research on Human Health and Beyond:

Quality documentation is essential to providing appropriate medical care. Evidence suggests that athletic trainers are not documenting important components of the concussion assessment, findings which have also been identified for primary care providers. The use of audit tools has been shown to improve the quality of medical records. The current study will establish the completeness (i.e., quality) of initial concussion documentation and will provide evidence to develop targeted interventions to improve concussion documentation. Further, our audit tool can be used by any medical professional that evaluates concussive injuries (e.g., primary care providers, sports medicine physicians, emergency physicians, etc.) not just athletic trainers, and therefore, has the potential to broadly impact concussion management.

Summary of Research Project:

Mental and physical health of college students has evolved since the pandemic. Interestingly, eating and physical activity behaviors have been correlated with resilience, suggesting that resilience may be a pre-requisite to the development of healthy eating and physical activities in the support of physical and mental health. I am conducting an exploratory descriptive study (THRiVe: Tactical performance, Health and Resilience in Vermont study) to understand how resilience correlates with physical health behaviors and markers of physical and mental health status in college students.

Background/Training:

I have an MS in Kinesiology from the University of Michigan, where I studied the influence of exercise on acylated ghrelin levels. I have an MS in Nutritional Sciences from the University of New Hampshire where I studied the influence of environmental chemicals on liver metabolism. I have a PhD in Health Education and Promotion from Walden University, where I studied the influences of the social environment on the development of eating behaviors in college women. I also am a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES).

Student Involvement in Research:

Currently, 32 sophomore Health and Exercise science majors have been trained to collect salivary data from Norwich freshman to measure physiological stress. Additionally, three seniors have been trained to organize and implement data collection and are being advised through the process of answering their own research question for public dissemination.

Current Collaborations:

Dr. Rachele Pojednic

Potential Impact of your Research on Human Health and Beyond:

Maladpative health behaviors developed in college persist into adulthood, increasing the likelihood of chronic disease development over time. Current health promotion efforts aimed to improve health behaviors of college students, including eating and physical activity behaviors, have been consistently underwhelming. If improving resilience can improve health behaviors, this is a potential innovative approach for supporting healthy development, both physically and mentally, of college students.

Summary of Research Project:

Background/Training:

Student Involvement in Research:

Current Collaborations:

Potential Impact of your Research on Human Health and Beyond:

Summary of Research Project:

Neural proliferation refers to the speed of cell division during the in-utero formation of the nervous system. Properly regulating the rate of cell division provides the correct number of cells at the proper time to form the brain and spinal cord. This proposal investigates how one specific protein (GDE6) helps the nervous system regulate neural proliferation.

Background/Training:

Clinton Cave is an Assistant Professor of Neuroscience at Middlebury College. He arrived at Middlebury in 2018 after completing his Ph.D. in Neuroscience and post-doctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University. Clinton conducted post-baccalaureate research at the University of Colorado and holds a B.A. in Psychology from Yale University. As a graduate student in the laboratory of Shanthini Sockanathan, his research efforts expanded the known roles of GDE2, a cell-surface enzyme expressed in the nervous system. Using functional genetic approaches in mice, his work demonstrated that GDE2 also plays a crucial role for neuronal survival in the postnatal nervous system, heralding a new research direction for the lab. As an independent investigator, Clinton runs a laboratory at Middlebury College mentoring undergraduate researchers. His group examines the molecular mechanisms regulating embryonic progenitor patterning, neurogenesis, and cell fate decisions through the lens of GDE signaling.

Student Involvement in Research:

Since I opened my laboratory in 2018, I have provided research experiences for 17 Middlebury undergraduate students. Students frequently participate in my laboratory via research-for-credit semesters. I also typically work with two students (VBRN funded) over the summer. I have mentored 3 students who have successfully defended their undergraduate honors thesis in the neuroscience major. Undergraduate trainees are involved in all aspects of my research program, from experimental design to publication.

Current Collaborations:

I am continuing to collaborate with Dr. Sockanathan at Johns Hopkins. We routinely share research progress and recently published a collaborative paper that included Middlebury students as co-authors. I am also collaborating with Dr. Halpern at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth (my VBRN mentor). She has created several GDE6 knockout zebrafish lines using CRISPR-Cas9 mediated mutagenesis. I will be transferring these lines to Middlebury early next year after we complete our new aquatics facility.

Potential Impact of your Research on Human Health and Beyond:

This research will expand our understanding of GPI-anchored proteins as intercellular signaling molecules in the vertebrate nervous system. The regulated release of GPI-anchored proteins by GDE6 constitutes a unique and flexible pathway for intercellular communication. By studying model systems that lack GDE6 expression, we gain insight into the role of GDE6 during crucial checkpoints in embryonic neurodevelopment. GDE6 is expressed at the earliest stages of nervous system formation. During these crucial periods, imbalances in progenitor cell proliferation and/or neuronal differentiation can produce embryonal tumors or leave the adult nervous system with a dearth of neuronal cell types. We will be better positioned to detect and develop interventions against embryonic cancers and early neural tube defects by understanding how molecular regulators like GDE6 govern these processes.

Summary of Research Project:

The communication among brain cells underlies everything we see and do, but the particular network structures that process information are unknown. During development, through a process called synaptic plasticity, these complex network structures are formed in part through rules dependent on the activity of the cells. I aim to use a mathematical model to investigate different experimentally-measured descriptions of plasticity rules and their effect on the resulting network structure.

Background/Training:

I earned my PhD in mathematics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2017. My thesis project focused on detailed mathematical modeling of the activity of gap-junction coupled cortical neurons and the network-wide effect on synchrony. I spent three years as an NSF Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Research fellow at the Courant Institute, NYU working on modeling the interaction between gap-junction coupling and synaptic plasticity in the developing visual cortex.

Student Involvement in Research:

I employ and train mathematics students on reading neuroscience literature, constructing mathematical models of neuron activity, and computer coding skills to simulate the model and create figures displaying the results.

Current Collaborations:

I am not currently collaborating with other PIs on this particular project.

Potential Impact of your Research on Human Health and Beyond:

Identifying potential mechanisms underlying the formation of network structure of the visual cortex during development will aid in our understanding of potential diseases that disrupt this normal formation. One such disease is called Amblyopia, a neuro-developmental visual impairment that is caused by an imbalance of the visual input to the two eyes during development. Current strategies to treat Amblyopia include showing the affected eye an array of visual stimuli in an attempt to overwrite plasticity in development. A more detailed understanding of this plasticity from a mathematical model may lead to more targeted treatment plans.

Summary of Research Project:

Capsaicin, best known as the active and pungent ingredient in chili peppers and other spicy foods, has been found to help lower high blood sugar and reverse other aspects of type 2 diabetes in mouse and rat models. However, it is largely unknown how capsaicin and its related compounds – the capsaicinoinds and the capsinoids – accomplish this feat. The goals of Dr. Dieni’s research are to determine whether capsaicin has a direct or indirect effect on the insulin receptor signaling pathway in affected cells, and to identify which structural features in this broad family of pungent compounds are responsible for this crucial diabetes-reversing activity.

Background/Training:

Dr. Dieni earned his Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry at Concordia University (Montreal, QC, Canada) and his Doctorate in Chemistry at Carleton University (Ottawa, ON, Canada). He has received academic postdoctoral training at The Pennsylvania State University (University Park, PA, USA) and Mount Allison University (Sackville, NB, Canada) and spent two years in a biotechnology startup at Micropharma Ltd. (Montreal, QC, Canada). He has held non-tenure-track positions at Carleton University, Algonquin College of Applied Arts & Technology (Ottawa, ON, Canada), Ursinus College (Collegeville, PA, USA), and the University of Windsor (Windsor, ON, Canada). Prior to arriving at Saint Michael’s College, he held tenure-track positions at Colorado Mesa University (Grand Junction, CO, USA) and Spring Hill College (Mobile, AL, USA).

Student Involvement in Research:

None yet – my position at SMC began only a few months ago in August and I am currently recruiting students.

Current Collaborations:

Dr. Lyndsay Avery, Department of Biology, Saint Michael’s College (for cell culture aspects).

Potential Impact of your Research on Human Health and Beyond:

As prospective insulin signaling sensitizers, capsaicin and its related compounds have the potential to mitigate one of the most prevalent global human diseases: type 2 diabetes. While type 2 diabetes is currently being treated by a “gold standard” drug, metformin, that drug is quite imperfect, and the capsaicin compounds present numerous advantages if their efficacy and mechanism of action can be determined. In addition to diabetes, insulin resistance is one of several molecular etiologies that can lead to Alzheimer’s disease. Moreover, insulin resistance is linked to several cancers, including leukemia and pancreatic cancer. Thus, the possibility of harnessing the capsaicin compounds as pharmaceutical insulin sensitizers could positively impact numerous human pathologies.

Summary of Research Project:

This project aims to design a method for the detection of very low levels of uranium in drinking water, that can be completed by someone with little to no lab training. Short-term exposure to uranium in drinking water can result in weight loss or hemorrhages, while long-term exposure can result in kidney disease or cancer. A low cost, simple to perform method would increase access to and frequency of testing for potentially contaminated water.

Background/Training:

I completed my B.S. in Biochemistry at the University of Maryland, College Park, where I performed research in Iron Gall Ink in collaboration with the Library of Congress. Then I pursued my Ph.D. at Dartmouth College, where I investigated catalytic systems to generate new phosphine ligands using earth-abundant metal catalysts. I also generated a novel class of emissive materials from copper-phosphine complexes. This work in emissive materials gave me extensive experience in UV-Vis spectrophotometry, ligand synthesis, and metal complex synthesis and characterization.

Student Involvement in Research:

Currently, I have one senior working on this project who began research over the summer and will continue throughout the school year. Two sophomore researchers will be joining her in the spring semester, to learn necessary techniques and carry on her work after graduation.

Current Collaborations:

I am collaborating with Dr. Seth Frisbie, Dr. Michael Prairie, and Dr. Emma Ste Marie to finish troubleshooting work on affordable UV-Vis spectrophotometers designed and built at Norwich University.

Potential Impact of your Research on Human Health and Beyond:

A recent Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer featured data indicating a 50% increased likelihood of kidney cancer for Native Americans due to uranium exposure. In addition, a recent study by researchers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, two aquifers in the United States that serve nearly 6 million people contained groundwater uranium exceeding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency maximum contaminant level. The objective of this research is to prevent uranium exposure through low levels in drinking water through the development of a facile testing method that does not require expert knowledge or expensive equipment. Future directions for this research may include developing a test for uranium excretion in urine, to screen populations or individuals for potential exposures (either acute or long-term) to uranium in their water or through their food.

Summary of Research Project:

This study uses quantitative and qualitative methods to gather data to better understand the impact of COVID-19 social distancing requirements on substance abuse recovery. Through a series of interviews with recovering individuals throughout Vermont, we will examine the effects of remote attendance at recovery meetings, and how perceptions of the pandemic, mask wearing, and vaccination requirements have impacted recovery, as measured by self-reported changes in substance use and 12-step meeting attendance.

Background/Training:

Dr. Hassett-Walker holds a PhD in Criminal Justice from Rutgers University. Before coming to Norwich University in July 2020, Dr. Hassett-Walker taught at Kean University in New Jersey and worked as a research associate at the Violence Institute of New Jersey. In 2012 she received a R15 AREA grant from the National Institutes of Health to examine racial, ethnic and gender disparities in substance use trajectories based on justice-system involvement (arrest, conviction) in early adulthood. In 2021, she received a VBRN Pilot Award for her study, “The Impact of Criminal Conviction and Incarceration on Long-Term Health & Substance Use.” Her work has been published in a variety of scholarly journals including the Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Tobacco Use Insights, and the Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice.

Student Involvement in Research:

In keeping with the interdisciplinary nature of my present grant, I currently have two student undergraduate research assistants, one a criminal justice major (Kaleb Hogan) and the other a nursing major (Jordan Brimblecombe). With last year’s VBRN pilot grant, I also worked with a nursing major at Norwich (Matt Haggerty). Students are involved in all aspects of a study, which gives them the opportunity to experience the different facets of real-world research outside the standard classroom experience. I have also participated in Norwich’s research apprentice grant program, which allows me to mentor students in research on questions of interest to them.

Current Collaborations:

None presently. I have collaborated with public health researchers in the past (i.e., on the NIH R15 award), as well as criminal justice colleagues.

Potential Impact of your Research on Human Health and Beyond:

My current study addresses National Institutes of Health goals of advancing science on the causes of substance abuse, and investigating the impact of COVID-19 on vulnerable populations (i.e., individuals recovering from a substance abuse disorder, and people residing in rural areas). The study will advance scientific knowledge about the effectiveness of virtual peer support (in lieu of in-person support) in recovery and health, including telehealth. The study will also examine the impact of trauma (i.e., the COVID-19 pandemic) on recovery, health and healing.

Summary of Research Project:

I plan to explore the chemical makeup of airborne particles to better inform our understanding of how particles influence our health when they travel deep into our lungs. Particles are known to impact cardiovascular and respiratory health, but the chemical makeup remains largely unknown. I will use a specialized ‘air sampling’ instrument which collects the smallest size-fraction of ambient particles on filters and then evaluate the chemical makeup using the analytical tools available in our Chemistry Department at Norwich University.

Background/Training:

I’ve worked on analytical chemistry projects in industry and academic, in labs and in the field. Most of my research focuses on chemistry in relation to air quality and health. However, I’ve worked in the biofuel and petroleum industries, but also in agricultural settings and ecological research. I’m excited to stitch my research and other experience together and teach students how to collect and evaluate natural environmental samples. I hope they find the analytical skills they develop are highly transferrable to any industry.

Student Involvement in Research:

I feel strongly that introducing students to the process of ‘field sampling’ in any discipline gives them insight into how to properly handle samples (in the field or in lab) to ensure quality results. Additionally, the methods of documenting sample collection through analysis and reporting results are critical to producing quality scientists! I plan to perform the initial set-up, sampling, and troubleshooting of my project – but I expect to involve students in the ongoing execution of sample collection, manipulation, and analysis.

Current Collaborations:

I’m a new faculty member at Norwich University, so my ‘active’ collaborations are still seeds of plans and projects. However, I hope to collaborate with other faculty involved in environmental projects to discern impacts on human health. Additionally, I look forward to exploring the impact of field-sampling experiments on student-perspectives and learning.

Potential Impact of your Research on Human Health and Beyond:

The chemical makeup of particles which travel deep into our lungs may be an important metric to gauge impacts of particle pollution on cardiovascular and respiratory health. I hope to gain insight into the chemical composition of particles and explore related literature on particle exposure and toxicological properties of the chemicals we uncover. Through completion of this project, I will also establish a useful experiential learning tool to support students’ understanding of research, formulating research questions, sample handling, and the importance of chemistry in everyday life!

Summary of Research Project:

This project aims to couple two fundamental concepts: develop new organic reactions while producing interesting pharmaceutical and therapeutic compounds. To that end, we are investigating a specific class of boron-based reagents that not only induce a very specific organic reaction, but also introduces boron into the final structure. Therefore, this project is aims to expand the scope of boron-based reagents while providing a new pathway for synthesizing biologically important compounds for drug development.

Background/Training:

Prof. Korich received a PhD from the University of Vermont in 2008 before perusing a post-doc at the University of San Diego. In 2011, he joined the faculty at Grand Valley State University where he rose the rank of Associate Professor in 2017. In 2019 he returned to his alma mater of Saint Michael’s college where he continues his work in the area of boron chemistry.

Student Involvement in Research:

Since joining SMC in 2019: Cassandra Tofteroo (Biology, Class of 2025), Petra Bajuk (Biology Major, Chemistry minor, Class of 2024), Madison Terteault (Biology Major, Chemistry minor, Class of 2023), Richard Siracusa (Biochemistry Major, Class of 2022), Alexia Amaio (Biochemistry Major, Class of 2022)

Current Collaborations:

None

Potential Impact of your Research on Human Health and Beyond:

This project is geared towards developing new methods for preparing pharmaceutical and therapeutic compounds. Therefore, we are interested in both the organic chemistry, which will give chemists new tools to build molecules, as well as the products of our reactions, which in themselves show biological activity.

Summary of Research Project:

Larger structural variants (SVs) underlie a variety of genetic diseases, however accurately detecting SVs with widely used short read sequencing technologies remains challenging. As a result, there is a substantial gap between our understanding of the role of single-nucleotide DNA changes and SVs. This project will develop more accurate approaches for identifying true SVs to increase our understanding of human genetic variation and to improve our understanding and diagnosis of genetic disease.

Background/Training:

Michael Linderman, Ph.D., is a computer engineer and computational biologist working to accelerate medical genomics. Michael joined the Computer Science Department at Middlebury College in 2016; previously he was a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. His research interests include machine learning methods for structural variant genotyping, the outcomes of elective genomic testing and genomics education for the public, patients and providers.

Student Involvement in Research:

This multidisciplinary project introduces Middlebury College students to bioinformatics research and the opportunities to apply their computational skills outside “traditional” software engineering career paths. To date the project has included 9 undergraduate student summer researchers (over 5 summers) who have directly contributed to the genotyping methods and software. Summer research students first demonstrated the impacts of offset SV representations and the potential to use the similarity between the real and simulated data to identify improved SV representations, and created the initial proof-of-concept implementation of the current neural network model.

Current Collaborations:

n/a

Potential Impact of your Research on Human Health and Beyond:

Structural variants (SVs) play a causal role in numerous diseases. However, our ability to detect and analyze disease-causing SVs in short-read sequencing (SRS) data is limited by inaccurate genotyping (determining zygosity). There remains a substantial gap between the genotyping accuracy of >99% for single nucleotide and other small variants, and SVs (< 90%). Genotyping errors dilute downstream analyses and waste limited validation resources. Improving SV genotyping accuracy will increase the rates of molecular diagnosis, improve our understanding of the pathogenesis of multiple diseases and expand our knowledge of human variation.

Summary of Research Project:

I study evolution and development in plants, with a specific focus on plant leaves. I use a combination of approaches, including microscopy, flow cytometry, and field work to explore how changes in genome size and chromosome number lead to different developmental outcomes. By comparing closely related species with variation in genome size and chromosome number I can look at how this variation may influence development and morphology in consistent ways.

Background/Training:

I received my B.S. in plant biology from the University of Vermont. I then worked as a research technician in a plant molecular biology lab at the Whitehead Institute before completing my M.S. in ecology and evolutionary biology at Brown and my Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale. I was also a Putnam postdoctoral fellow at the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University.

Student Involvement in Research:

I worked with undergraduates during my doctoral work and went on to mentor multiple undergraduate interns during my postdoc. Some of these former undergraduate interns continue to work on projects they started with me.

Current Collaborations:

I continue to utilize the plant collections housed and maintained at the Arnold Arboretum.

Potential Impact of your Research on Human Health and Beyond:

Changes in chromosome number and genome size are associated with a variety of human diseases including cancer. With massive variation in genome size and frequent incidents of polyploidy, plants provide an excellent system to disentangle the effects of genome size and chromosome number variation on growth and development. This basic research in plants can have implications for understanding of development across life.

Summary of Research Project:

There is growing interest in understanding the physiologic properties of constituents derived from cannabis and hemp, as legalization of these crops continues to expand in the United States. Cannabidiol (CBD), one of the active components that can be extracted from both plants, is becoming increasingly popular as a dietary supplement and additive to functional foods to aid muscle recovery, despite extremely limited evidence in humans. This pilot study investigating the perceived versus physiologic effect of CBD in active females would help fill a critical gap in the knowledge by providing an initial understanding of the potential interaction between CBD and human skeletal muscle while simultaneously providing insight into a newly legalized substance in the state of Vermont.

Background/Training:

Dr Pojednic completed her PhD at Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy in biochemical and molecular nutrition, with a concentration in exercise physiology. She went on to a postdoctoral position at Harvard Medical school with placements at Joslin Diabetes Center and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. She recently relocated to Norwich University in Vermont after six years in the Nutrition Department at Simmons University, Boston, MA.

Student Involvement in Research:

For this pilot study, Dr Pojednic has been working with Norwich University senior Health Sciences student, Molly Flanagan. Molly plans to submit data from this project to the National American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) conference in Denver, CO in June 2023.

Current Collaborations:

Dr Pojednic collaborates regularly with colleagues from Harvard Chan School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School, MGH Institute of Health Professions, and the Boston VA Hospital. Most recently, she is working on a collaboration examining CBD with Dr. Andrea Corcoran from Castleton University in Vermont.

Potential Impact of your Research on Human Health and Beyond:

Through the progression of this research, Dr Pojednic hopes to understand the role of CBD as an accessible complementary therapy and elucidate the potential interaction with human skeletal muscle. This work will provide actionable information about CBD to consumers, healthcare providers and policy makers in Vermont and beyond.

Summary of Research Project:

Our research focuses on developing new chemical tools that enable increased understanding of biological interactions. Specifically, we seek a visible light-promoted reaction that tethers amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, with a chemical entity termed an "alkoxyamide". For this research, we use a combination of organic chemistry and biochemistry techniques.

Background/Training:

My training is in organic chemistry and biochemistry. I pursued undergraduate research with Professor J. D. Tovar at Johns Hopkins University and Professor Christian Rojas at Barnard College, graduate training at Caltech with Professor Sarah Reisman, and postdoctoral studies at UIUC with Professor Wilfred van der Donk.

Student Involvement in Research:

Undergraduate involvement is integral to my research program. The students contribute to research, gain expertise with various techniques (e.g., NMR, LCMS, protein expression, and solid phase peptide synthesis), and practice scientific communication.

Current Collaborations:

N/A

Potential Impact of your Research on Human Health and Beyond:

In the long-term, we anticipate using our visible-light promoted reaction in biological systems to characterize protein-protein interactions and to identify the targets of drugs (i.e., target ID).

Summary of Research Project:

How does the brain allow a person to acquire complex bimanual skills, such as playing the piano, or even simple ones, such as typing a message? This project is aimed at understanding the brain waves that underlie bimanual learning. We hypothesize that as the hands learn to work together, specific brain waves from the left and right hemispheres begin to synchronize.

Background/Training:

Dr. Sisti graduated from Dartmouth College, where she majored in Physiological Psychology. She earned a M.Ed. in kinesiology at Temple University and later pursued her Ph.D. from Rutgers University in Psychology, with a Concentration in Behavioral Neuroscience. She was the lead developer of a visuomotor bimanual tracking paradigm used for a range of brain mapping studies, while she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Research Centre for Movement Control and Neuroplasticity of Leuven in Belgium. Sisti is currently serving as the Guest Executive Editor of Journal of Motor Behavior and is a contributing author to the Encyclopedia of Behavioral Neuroscience, Human Brain Mapping, and Learning & Memory, among others.

Student Involvement in Research:

Each student is involved in all aspects of research, from data collection to analysis. In each of the projects below, they serve as the lead. Elias Gabrielsson: EEG acquisition in Curry 8, prepping subjects to collect brain signals (optimizing signal-to-noise) Mercedes (Sadie) Bishop: Transforming raw data from Curry 8 into Excel to prepare for statistical analysis Annika Beebe: Using biomedical databases for systematic literature review of motor imagery and bimanual coordination for publication

Current Collaborations:

National Center for Adaptive Neurotechnologies

Potential Impact of your Research on Human Health and Beyond:

Data from this study will be used to inform neurorehabilitation of stroke, multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurodegenerative disorders. Stroke and MS result in loss of upper limb coordination. Elucidating the neural mechanisms that underlie bimanual learning will accelerate patient recovery.

Summary of Research Project:

Childhood stress is associated with changes in brain white-matter linked to adult psychopathology and greater risk for substance use disorder. However, the pathways between stress hormones, substance initiation patterns, and white-matter micro-structure is not well understood. Our study examines, in longitudinal data, the relationships between cortisol stress hormone levels and brain white-matter micro-structure, and the impact of changes in substance use initiation over the course of adolescence.

Background/Training:

I joined the Middlebury College Program in Neuroscience at Middlebury College in 2017 after completing my NIDA T32 post-doctoral training in the Department of Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine. I received my PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Pittsburgh in 2015 and my BA in Neuroscience from Middlebury College in 2007.

Student Involvement in Research:

I encourage any STEM major from traditionally under-represented groups interested in research to join my laboratory. The training in my lab focuses on building critical thinking and career promotion. Trainees learn to use a variety of advance data analytic techniques to examine complex samples in large representative data, as well as data from longitudinal designs and neuroimaging data. They are also exposed to a range of disciplines through collaborations with other labs, which deepen their understanding of psychology and neuroscience. My trainees have opportunities to co-author or first-author manuscripts submitted to peer-reviewed journals, which raises their profiles for their future careers.

Current Collaborations:

I actively collaborate in research activities with several faculty and students in the Yale Department of Psychiatry. My work with Dr. Marc N. Potenza includes multiple secondary analysis projects involving data on high-school adolescent gambling and behavioral addictions in conjunction with Drs. Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin and Rani A. Hoff, the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance system, and neuropsychological assessments and brain imaging in collaboration with Drs. Linda C. Mayes, Sarah W. Yip and Patrick Worhunsky. I contribute to research with Dr. Kristen P. Morie in projects on alexithymia, emotion regulation, and cannabis use. I also provided statistical support in studies on behavioral addictions conducted by Dr. Amir Garakani at Silver Hill Hospital, Norman Greenberg, a student in the Yale School of Medicine, and several visiting scholars. Further, I have collaboration with Drs. Ralph E. Tarter, Levent Kirisci, and Maureen Reynolds at the University of Pittsburgh to examine the etiology of substance use disorder in at-risk youth. These efforts have contributed to multiple peer reviewed publications, research presentations in national and international conferences, and NIH grant applications.

Potential Impact of your Research on Human Health and Beyond:

Our lab focuses on the relationships between childhood adversity, neurocognitive development of self-regulation abilities, and the risk for substance and behavioral addictions. The interdisciplinary research combines methods in statistical modeling, epidemiology, and neuroimaging to understand addiction liability and protective factors that may be used to reduce the risk of substance and behavioral addictions. We use longitudinal and cross-sectional data from at-risk youth and their families to identify psycho-social determinants that may be used to improve preventions.