Dunlop School Graduate Students Take First and Second Place in UCI Grad Slam Finals
Congratulations to Casey Vanderlip (NBB; Stark Lab) and Sydney Prange (DCB; Thompson-Peer Lab) who last week took first and second place, respectively, in the UCI Grad Slam Finals! Casey will move forward to the UC-wide finals on April 29, where he will communicate his research project and compete with finalists from the other 9 campuses. Grad Slam is a systemwide competition that showcases and awards the best three-minute research presentations by graduate scholars.
Sydney’s research investigates the potential for protecting and regenerating damaged dendrites in neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and Huntington's. Sydney has discovered that controlled injuring of a single dendrite can induce a protective response and even new growth in other uninjured branches. These findings are promising for slowing and reversing dendrite loss in patients with neurodegenerative diseases. Sydney is currently working to pinpoint specific parts of these regeneration pathways that could be targeted for future therapies.
Casey's research focuses on developing a digital memory test to detect early signs of Alzheimer's disease (AD) before traditional symptoms appear. His research led to the creation of a cognitive test that encourages users to differentiate between similar experiences, an ability that is impacted in patients with AD. This test has been extremely valuable with identifying individuals with elevated AD biomarkers and identifying patients that will develop symptoms in the next two years. This method is more efficient, affordable, and accessible in detecting AD which allows for faster intervention.
We want to congratulate both students on this incredible accomplishment and their impactful work here in the Charlie Dunlop School of Biological Sciences!
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