October 2024
Donegan Lab graduate students present their research at the Society for Neuroscience conference
Daniel San Miguel and Jamie Palmer attended the Society for Neuroscience (SFN) conference in Chicago. Above, Daniel and Jamie pose with Savannah Boyen (previous lab member) in front of Daniel’s poster. Daniel’s poster was titled “Investigating the Neurophysiological Mechanisms of Chronic Unpredictable Stress”. Jamie’s poster was titled “Assessing the role of ventral hippocampal parvalbumin interneurons in alcohol intake and schizophrenia-like behaviors.” Way to go!
October 2024
Sifallah Bouyadjera selected to present his research at the Gulf Coast Undergraduate Research Symposium
Sifallah Bouyadjera, one of our fantastic undergraduate research assistants, was selected to present at Rice University’s 16th annual Gulf Coast Undergraduate Research Symposium in November. His talk will be titled, “Investigating The Ventral Hippocampal Microcircuit Using Chronic Unpredictable Stress and Viral-Mediated Designer Receptors.” Congrats, Sifallah!
September 2024
Daniel San Miguel receives travel award to attend the AI Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) Workshop
Daniel was selected to received support to attend the RAG workshop in Oregon. This NSF-funded program was focused on harnessing the potential of artificial intelligence to benefit our communities and our planet. Congratulations, Daniel!
August 2024
Jerry Garcia presents his summer research at the UTEP
Jerry Garcia worked in our lab over the summer as part of the LSAMP Summer Research Academy. This highly competitive program places students in research experiences at UT System campuses across the state for an 8-week, full-time research experience. Jerry’s poster was titled “The Effect of Binge-Like Drinking on the Activation of Cells Within the Ventral Hippocampus”. It was a blast working with you this summer Jerry!
August 2024
Emily Holder presents her summer research to the Women in Neuroscience program
Emily Holder worked in our lab as part of the Women in Neuroscience program. This competitive program aims to increase diversity in science by providing paid internships to high school and undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds. The title of her presentation was “The Effect of Ventral Hippocampal Parvalbumin Interneurons in Binge-like Drinking Behavior.” We enjoyed having you in the lab Emily!
June 2024
The Donegan lab kicks off summer
The Donegan lab kicks off summer with a (hot) lunch at Cosmic Saltillo. We welcomed our new UT undergrads (Kripa, Sivani, Lorenzo) and summer students (Jerry and Emily). Unfortunately, we also said goodbye to some fantastic undergrads (Lauren and Morgan), our part-time technician (Savannah), and our psychiatry resident (Jonathan). We will miss you all so much and can’t wait to hear about your next adventure!
May 2024
Lauren, Morgan, and Savannah graduate!
Congratulations to our undergraduate volunteers, Lauren (not pictured), Savannah, and Morgan on your graduation from UT! Hook ’em!
April 2024
The Donegan Lab is awarded a Hamilton Syringe Grant
The Donegan lab received a grant from the Hamilton Company to purchase syringes, needles, and accessories that will be used to perform stereotaxic surgeries.
February 2024
Jennifer Donegan is selected to attend a 3-day workshop at the Allen Institute
Jennifer was selected to attend the workshop titled, “Describe Your Neurons Like the Allen Institute.” The goal of the workshop is to give participants in-depth exposure to how Allen Institute defines “cell types.” In addition, participants will work with the Allen Institute’s free, open resources & tools for research, including the Cell Types Knowledge Explorer and Allen Brain Cell (ABC) Atlas.
December 2023
Jennifer Donegan gives a talk at the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Meeting
Jennifer discussed the role of the hippocampus in cognitive flexibility at the symposium titled, “Beyond Pavlovian Fear Conditioning: Diverse Symptoms of PTSD.” The symposium was chaired by Dr. Denise Cai and Dr. Michael Drew.
November 2023
Jamie Palmer presents a poster at the Society for Neuroscience Meeting
Jamie presented her poster, titled “Examining the role of parvalbumin interneurons in alcohol intake in the maternal immune activation model.” As a SFN travel awardee, Jamie presented her work at both the Travel Award Reception and in a general poster session. Way to go Jamie!
October 2023
The Donegan Lab celebrates the arrival of fall weather
We celebrated finally being able to exist outdoors (this summer was H-O-T) by enjoying lunch together at Pease Park.
August 2023
Jamie Palmer receives travel award to attend SFN
Jamie Palmer received a Trainee Professional Development Award from the Society for Neuroscience (SFN). The award, which recognizes graduate students that demonstrate scientific merit and excellence in research, will help offset the cost of attending the SFN meeting in Washington D.C.. Jamie will present a poster titled, “Examining the role of parvalbumin interneurons in alcohol intake in the maternal immune activation model.” Congratulations, Jamie!
June 2023
Miranda Lavine-Marines joins the Donegan Lab as a summer Wintern
Miranda is a recent graduate of the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders. She will work with graduate student, Jamie Palmer as she completes an 8 week “Winternship” through the Women in Neuroscience program. We are so glad to have you, Miranda!
May 2023
Jonathan Artz presents at the APA
Jonathan Artz presents his poster titled, “Examining hippocampal circuit dysfunction in preclinical models of maternal immune activation” at the American Psychiatric Association meeting. Way to go, Jonathan!
April 2023
Savannah Boyen is awarded a CNS Advanced Summer Research Fellowship
Savannah will receive financial support to work in the lab 35-40 hours per week over the summer. She will continue to explore the effect of maternal immune activation on hippocampal circuits. We are looking forward to having her around more!
March 2023
Donegan lab undergrads present at the CNS Undergraduate Research Forum
Savannah Boyen, Nora Li, and Lauren Rosta presented their poster titled, “Examining the effect of chronic stress on neural circuits in the ventral hippocampus” at the College of Natural Sciences Undergraduate Research Forum. Way to go, ladies!
March 2023
Jonathan Artz receives a travel award to attend the American Psychiatric Association Meeting in May 2023
With over 600 educational sessions, 50+ topics and 20+ paid courses, APA’s 2023 Annual Meeting is the best place to connect with colleagues, learn the latest in effective clinical practice and research advancements. Jonathan will present a poster titled, “Examining Hippocampal Circuit Dysfunction in Preclinical Models of Maternal Immune Activation.” Way to go, Jonathan!
October 2022
The Donegan Lab celebrates Halloween
To celebrate Halloween, the lab enjoyed ice cream and pumpkin painting at Jennifer’s house. From left, Turner, Jennifer, Elizabeth (honorary lab member), Jamie, Jade, Nora, Savannah, Lauren, Madeleine (honorary lab member).
September 2022
Nora Li presents at the Fall Undergrad Research Symposium
Nora, an undergraduate research assistant, participated in the “Science Slam” portion of the Fall Undergrad Research Symposium. She gave a 3-minute overview of the work she is doing in the lab. Way to go, Nora!
May 2022
Jade Wollenberg graduates from UT
Jade, who joined the Donegan lab last fall, graduated with a BS in Public Health. We are so excited that she will continue to work in our lab as a research assistant!
April 2022
Alyssa Marron presents the first Donegan Lab Poster at the Waggoner Center Advance
Alyssa presented our latest work in a poster titled, “Investigating the effect of chronic stress on parvalbumin-positive interneurons in the ventral hippocampus.” While still preliminary, our results suggest that chronic stress influences the function of PV interneurons.
March 2022
Alex and Alyssa were both accepted into graduate school
Alyssa will enter the University of Texas Institute for Neuroscience Graduate Program and Alex will enter the University of Florida Psychology PhD program in Fall 2022! They will be missed but we couldn’t be more proud of them!
December 2021
Jennifer Donegan is named an Anxiety & Depression Association of America Alies Muskin Career Development Leadership Award Program (CDLP) Awardee
The Anxiety & Depression Association of America CDLP program is designed to encourage early career clinicians and researchers to engage in creative discourse about anxiety, depression and co-occurring disorders in a diverse, multidisciplinary community. Awardees benefit from episodic mentoring, cross-fertilization of disciplines, networking, and the enhancement of skills to become more professionally competitive.
November 2021
Jennifer Donegan wins a travel award to attend the Society of Biological Psychiatry meeting in April 2022
The 2022 SOBP Annual meeting will provide an interactive platform for learning and discovery. The meeting program will focus on alternative and transformative frameworks for understanding psychiatric illnesses, and present enhanced and newly emerging tools for measurement and manipulation. Within these frameworks and with these tools, techniques and experimental designs are illustrated that can enhance understanding of psychiatric illness and elucidate the biological pathways and markers of illness processes.
November 2021
The Donegan Lab celebrates Labsgiving
To celebrate Thanksgiving, the Donegan Lab enjoyed a pot luck lunch at Jennifer’s house. From left, Alex, Lauren, Jade, Alyssa, and Jennifer.
August 2021
Jennifer Donegan receives a Brain and Behavior Research Foundation Young Investigator Grant
The Brain and Behavior Research Foundation provides two years of funding to promising investigators beginning careers as independent research faculty. The goal of the program is to help researchers launch careers in neuroscience and psychiatry and gather pilot data to apply for larger federal and university grants.
August 2021
The Donegan Lab welcomes new lab members
Alyssa Marron, Alexandra Sanchez, Lauren Rosta, and Jade Wollenberg will begin working in the Donegan lab in September 2021.
July 2021
Jennifer Donegan wins a travel award to attend the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) meeting in December 2021
The 60th annual ACNP meeting will be held in Puerto Rico in December 2021. The meeting is one the premiere conferences bringing together scientists and clinicians to exchange information on the brain, behavior, and psychotropic drugs.
June 2021
Jennifer Donegan joins the Dell Medical School Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Dr. Donegan joins the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences as an Assistant Professor. The mission of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences is to transform mental health care and illness prevention in Central Texas and beyond in a culture that supports diversity and inclusion. Dr. Donegan will contribute to this mission by studying the effects of stress on brain circuits and behaviors associated with psychiatric disease in order to identify new and more effective strategies for treatment and prevention.