Check out our mentors below who have made research for our undergraduates possible! Click each blue bar to expand all details, including lab links and past Distinction project titles
Lab info here
- Caffeine, Alcohol, and Delirium: The Associations between Home Beverage Consumption and Post-Operative Delirium
- Pre-Learning Affective States and Trait Anxiety Impact Learning from Error
- Learning from Prediction Error: The Impact of Perfectionism, Anxiety and Perspectives on Learning
- Down the Rabbit Hole: The Self-Perpetuating Properties of Curiosity and Its Influence on Memory
- Multilingualism, Literacy, and Cultural Preservation in Uyghurs in Xinjiang and the Diaspora
- Electrophysiological Analysis of Lifelong Musicianship: a New Approach using Dry EEG
- Brain Activity: A Dry EEG Neuroimaging Approach within a Semiotic Framework
- A Multivariate Perspective into Risk for Alzheimer's Disease using Small Animal Models
Lab info here
- Solvent Dependent Network Formation of Thermoresponsive Hydrogels for Central Nervous System Drug Delivery
- Childhood Adversity, Acute Stress and Working Memory in Children and Adolescents
- Intraoperative EEG Pre-Burst Suppression as a Predictor of Postoperative Delirium
- APOE2 Effects on Alzheimer's Disease Biomarkers and Cognition
- Impact of Peripheral Influenza Infection and IL34 on Microglial Density in the Adult Mouse Brain
- Neuroimmune Regulation of Dopaminergic Circuitry throughout Adolescent in the Dorsal Striatum
- The Role of Inflammation in Maternal Diet-Induced Sex-Specific Behavioral Differences
- A Neural Pathway for Microbial Signaling from the Gut
- Exploring the Role of Neuropod Cells in Gut Reward and Obesity
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- Towards a Domain-General Framework for Insight: Identifying Shared Neural Correlates of Verbal and Perceptual Problem-Solving using fMRI
- Pharmacological Targeting of the ISR for the Prevention of Dopaminergic Degeneration in Parkinson's Disease
- DYT1 Dystonia Impairs eIF2A Signaling through Nuclear Sequestration of the Proteasome
- Identifying Motor Cortical Neural Ensembles Associated with Habit Learning
- Investigating how the CNS Engages Alpha-Cell GPCRs to Initiate Glucagon Secretion during Counter Regulation of Hypoglycemia
- The N170 in Co-Occurring Autism and Attention-Deficit /Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
- Investigating Macular Edema in Preterm Infants by Examining Microvascular Patterns using OCT-Angiography
- Exploring the Mechanistic Role of A-synuclein in the Nucleus: Insights from Familiar Parkinson's Disease
- The Role of DNA Methylation at SNCA Intron1 in Gene Regulation: Mechanistic Understanding of Parkinson's and Implications for Gene Therapy
- Autonomous Brain Tumor Boundary Identification in Secondary Brain Metastases
Information here
- Intracranial Electroencephalography Study of Error Monitoring
- Transporters in the SAM Cycle: A Possible Mechanism Behind Tau Hyperphosphorylation in Alzheimer's Disease
- EDA during the Autobiographical Recollection of Remembered Wrongdoings and its Association with Valence and Rumination
- The Structural Correlates of Moral Foundation in Younger Children and Older Adults
- Investigating Age-Related Differences in Moral Judgments and Resting-State Functional Connectivity
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- The Relationship between Pupillary Unrest under Ambient Light with Postoperative Delirium and Postoperative Changes in Sustained Attention
- Preoperative Posterior Cingulate Cortex Microstructural Damage is Linked to Postoperative Delirium
- Early Motor and Communications Indicators of Autism and ADHD and Prediction of Later Skills Based on Home Video Coding at 12 Months
- The Role of Harsh Parenting and Maternal Depression on Executive Function in Early Childhood
- Behavioral Characterization of Humanized Mice: A Platform to Understand Chronic Graft- Versus Host Disease-Associated Pain?
- STING Signaling in Peripheral Sensory Neurons Confers Protective Immunity against Listeria Monocytogenes Infection
- Oxytocin and Vasopressin 1A Receptor Neuroanatomy in Monogamous and Non-Monogamous Eulemur Species
- Brain-Wide Spatiotemporal Dynamics Underlying Depression
- Neural Evidence of Control State Reinstatement: an fMRI Study
- Influence of Threat and Anxiety on Cognitive Map Learning
- Prenatal Environmental Stress Disrupts Microglia State Distribution and Perineuronal Net Homeostasis in Adolescence
- Mechanisms by which δ-catenin regulates ocular dominance critical period closure in the primary visual cortex
- Discovery of a Novel Mechanism in Astrocyte-Microglia Crosstalk
- The Impact of AIs-Associated OPTN Mutants on Wild-Type OPTN
- Exploring APoE-Mimetic Peptide CN-105 as a Potential Treatment for Spinal Cord Injury in Mice
- Neurodevelopment Effects of Thyroid Hormone Disruption from PFAS Exposure: The Placental Link between Environment and Fetal Brain
- Assessing the Efficacy of Immunotherapy in Mouse Models of Brain Metastasis
- Multiple Identity Mindset, Flexible Thinking, and Cross-Race Interactions
- Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Effect of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) Levels
- Muscarinic Influence on Cortical Interneuron Excitability
- Automatic Segmentation of Patient-Specific Anatomy for AR-Assisted Neurosurgery
Lab info here
- Single-Cell RNA Sequencing of Mouse Cerebrovasculature in the Blood-Tumor Barrier
- A Finite Element Analysis Model of Deep Brain Stimulation with Complex Lead Geometry
- Thriving or Declining: Predicting Burnout in College Students
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- Childhood Adversity is Associated with Accelerated Brain Aging in Midlife
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- Ivestigation of Candidate Epileptic Engram Populations in Intra-Hippocampal Kainic Acid-Induced Epilepsy
- Is Sleep Reflected in the Brain: Functional Connectivity Patterns and Disordered Sleep
- Graph Theoretical Analysis of fMRI: Test-Retest Reliability of Common and Innovative Approaches to Network Neuroscience
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- Novel Optical Parallelized Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy Distinguishes Task-Specific Prefrontal Cortical Activity
- Cis-Regulatory Elements in HIV-Based Vector Transcription
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- Characterizing Early Retinal Outer Limiting Membrane Development: Temporal Dynamics and the Role of CRB1 in Formation
- Understanding Brain Cancer with RNA Sequencing: A Single-Cell Approach
- Understanding Survival Heterogeneity in Glioblastoma through Multi-Omic Analysis
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- Assessing Anticonvulsant Effects on Injury Severity Metrics in a Mouse Model of Traumatic Brain Injury
- Dissociating Behavioral and Circuit Levels of Rapastinel on Alcohol Consumption and Withdrawal
- Adolescent Marijuana Use and Depression in the United States: A State-Level Analysis of Survey Data, 2013-2023
- Novel In-Vivo Fast Scan Cyclic Voltammetry Method Quantitates Phasic and Tonic Dopamine, MDPV Simultaneously in Adult and Adolescent Rats
Information here
- Behavior Isn't Everything: Physiological Signatures of Costly Norm-Following in Preschoolers
- Emotional Regulation of Moral Memories
- Neurobehavioral Toxic Effect of Cadmium and Benzo[a]pyrene on Rats and Offspring
- Validating a Novel and Language-neutral Neurocognitive Screening Test for Alzheimer's Disease (AD)
- Sleep-Dependent Modulation of Executive & Oculomotor Functioning in Adolescents
- Quantifying the Association between Oculomotor Response and Sub-Concussive Loading among High School Football Players using Deep Learning
- Oculomotor Responses as an Assessment for Subconcussive Loading in the Pediatric Population
- The Discovery of Novel, Selective Human Olfactory Receptor 51E2 Antagonists: Implications in Olfaction and Beyond
- The Neurobiological Relationships among Sleep, Stress, and Physical Activity in College Students
- Peptide Uncoupling of Trkß from Phospholipase Cý1 in the Pilocarpine Model of Status Epilepticus
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- Disordered Eating in Type 1 Diabetes: The Role of Hyperglycemia and Its Impact on Executive Function
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- Visuospatial Constructional Deficits and Brain and Behavior Correlates after Right Hemisphere Stroke
- Investigating a Potential Mechanism for the Progression of Alternating Hemiplegia of Childhood: Age-dependent Na+/K+-ATPase Activity and Behavioral Symptoms in Mashl+/- (Atp1a3Mashl/+) mice
- Impacts of mTBI and Subconcussive Head Injury in Military Veterans
- More than an Increase in Sea Levels: The Impact of Climate Change on Mental Illness Prevalence
Lab here
- Exploring the Impacts of Heavy Metals on Neurodevelopment using Human Brain Organoids
- Generation and Validation of a Novel Adipocyte-Specific Adrb3KO Mouse Model
- Development of the Optomotor Response in Dark-Reared Larval Zebrafish
- Neural Dynamics of Phonetic Adaptation under Different Attention Conditions
- The Role of Surveillance MRI in Pediatric-onset NMOSD and MOGAD: a Retrospective Cohort Study
Dr. Prichard is a new investigator in our system and has not yet mentored a senior thesis. Check out her exciting research profile and research opportunities--you might be her first senior thesis student!
Prichard Lab Blurb
Our lab studies how new noninvasive therapies for Alzheimer's disease affect learning, memory, and neuroimmune responses in the brain using translational rodent models. The current research project examines noninvasive audiovisual neurostimulation's effects on pathology in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease. Noninvasive neurostimulation or "flicker" or "sensory stimulation" etc. has neuroprotective effects and engages the brain’s immune system to reduce neuropathology. We measure Flicker's effects on translational rodent models of Alzheimer's disease using methods in immunohistochemistry, confocal microscopy, cellular quantification, and behavioral measures.
An overview of the Prichard Lab can be found on the website www.ashleyprichard.com
Research Opportunities
Our lab is looking for motivated students interested in helping us to study how new noninvasive therapies for Alzheimer's disease affect learning, memory, and neuroimmune responses in the rodent brain. Students will assist with building and testing circuits, wet bench work, analysis of cellular imaging data, collection of rodent behavioral data, and statistical analysis.
Project 1: Cellular Imaging Research: This position will assist in designing and utilizing cellular analysis protocols. After flicker stimulation, mouse brain samples will be cryosectioned, stained using immunohistochemistry, imaged on the confocal microscope, and quantified in ImageJ software (open source available anywhere) and cells reconstructed in Imaris software (available in person at Duke or virtually at the Atlanta VAMC for now). While protocol documentation exists within the lab, testing and refining protocols is always a possibility. Most of this work will be done in person for using Imaris software
Project 2: Noninvasive Neurostimulation/ Engineering Research
Creating/ Implementing LED and Auditory based Flicker stimulation: This position will assist in designing and utilizing flicker stimulation. Auto-flicker is controlled by an arduino microcontroller and/ or a NIDAQ via MATLAB code to deliver flickering light and sound stimulation at different frequencies (10, 20, 40Hz etc.) for specific durations (e.g. 1 hour per day for 7 days). This exposure setup must be created at the Durham VAMC including the soldering and testing of simple circuits, execution of code on the Arduino or NIDAQ, and confirmation that stimulation has occurred at the same time every day for experimental consistency.
Project 3: Vasculature Morphology Reconstruction of iDisco cleared mouse brains
Whole Brain Vasculature Imaging Research: This position will assist in designing and utilizing vasculature reconstruction protocols. After flicker stimulation, mouse brain samples will be cleared of all pigment, stained using immunohistochemistry, imaged on the mitryl blaze microscope at Emory University, and quantified in Imaris software (available in person at Duke or virtually at Emory University for now). While protocol documentation exists within the lab, whole brain analysis is new, so testing and refining protocols is required.
Project 4: Vasculature Morphology Machine Learning Analysis
Whole Brain Vasculature Imaging Research: This position will assist in designing and utilizing vasculature analysis protocols. After flicker stimulation, mouse brain samples will be quantified in Imaris software in Project 3. This results in GB to TB of data which needs to be quantified. Some machine learning approaches are available but have yet to be tested by the lab. Experience with coding is a must. Below articles for reference.
https://www.erturk-lab.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Todorov-Erturk-Nature-Methods-2020March.pdf
https://academic.oup.com/bioinformatics/article/39/4/btad145/7083435?login=false
Location Information
The majority of this work will be in person at Building 15 of the Durham VA Medical Center at 508 Fulton Street.
More info here
- Effects of Vagal Modulation on Intestinal Stem Cell in Mice
- Dopamine Modulation of Preferences for Equity in Economic Exchange
- Individual Differences in Grit and Physical Activity
- Drugs, Dopamine, and Dollars: Subjective Responses to Dextro-amphetamine are related to fMRI Anticipatory Responses to Monetary Reward
Lab info here
- Investigating Deficits in Mitochondrial DNA Replication in Parkinson's Disease-Linked LRRK2-G2019S Mutation
- Neutrophil Dectin-1 Signaling Negatively Regulates T Cell Proliferation
- Investigating ASC Isoforms in Astrocytes
- Studying the Impact of Lung Inflammation on CNS Resident Cells
- A Novel Link between Mitochondrial Energy Metabolism and Ubiquitin Conjugase Rad6
- The Role of Eif4a3 in Axonal Development
- Resilience and Psychological Functioning in the Context of Infertility
- The Neuroendocrinological Underpinnings of Affective Responding within Anhedonia
- Associations between EEG Microstates and Self-Compassion Scores during Meditation and Rest
- Uncovering Protein Localization at Inhibitory Synapses
- Developing Transsynaptic Tracing for Exploring Interneuron Transplantation in a Seizure Model
- Investigating Ventral Striatal Activation During Reward Anticipation in Smokers Attempting to Quit
- Neural Correlates of Social Reward in Smoking and Depression
- The Role of Abelson (ABL) Family Kinases in Medulloblastoma Cell Invasion, Proliferation, and Migration
- Optineurin Attenuates Oxidative Stress in Glaucomatous Neurodegeneration
- Generation of Nuclear-Localized Rabies Virus for Dissection of Adult Cortical Circuits
- The Involvement of IG Superfamily Cell Adhesion Molecules in the Development of Olfactory Circuit Architecture
- Role of SMARCAL1 in Pediatric Malignant Gliomas with ARTX Mutations
- Identification and Characterization of STAT3 Post Translation Modifications in the U251 Glioblastoma Cell Line
Lab info here
- Do Changes in the Bone Marrow Alter Glia Activiation in the CNS in Parkinson's Disease?
- Parkinson's Disease-Associated Neurotoxicity of Nanoplastics in Rapidly-Induced Human Glutamatergic Neurons
- Mapping Activity-Dependent Circuit Maturation in a Model of Kdm6b Haploinsufficiency
- Utilizing Novel Epigenomic Editing Tools to Regulate the Expression of the Immediate Early Gene Arc
- The Role of Aging and Tryptophan Hydroxylase 2 (TPH2) on Inflammation in a Mouse Model of Depression
- Genetic Basis for Variation in Non-Visual Cues-Driven Spatial Learning in Drosophila
- Spatial Learning Differences between Male and Female Drosophila
- Neural Mechanisms Underlying the Use of Sensory Feedback during Fine Motor Behavior
- Regulation of Multimodal Orienting Behavior to Targets in Egocentric Space by the Superior Colliculus
- The Role of Globus Pallidus Externa in Regulating Movement
- Using Visualization to Reduce Test Anxiety in Collegiate Student Anxiety
- Freshmen Attitudes towards Mental Health Treatment: The Effects of Psychoeducational Dialogues