Archives :

  • The organizational role of ovarian hormones during puberty on risk for binge-like eating in rats

    In: Physiology and Behavior PMID: 369670031 DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2023.114177 Abstract: Puberty is a high-risk period for the development of dysregulated eating, including binge eating. While risk for binge eating in animals and humans increases in both males and females during puberty, the increased prevalence is significantly greater in females. Emerging data suggest that the organizational effects […]

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  • Kailyn Butler

    Undergrad Kailyn Butler Kailyn Butler is a third-year undergraduate student studying neuroscience with a minor in bioethics. She plans to pursue a MD/PhD or a MD/MPH dual degree to further enhance her passion on racial inequality in healthcare and how it affects children. Kailyn’s research focuses on Lateral Hypothalamic Cells projecting to the Dorsal Motor […]

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  • AWJ Lab at MISfN 2023

    Johnson Lab undergrads represent MSU on home turf at this year’s Michigan Society for Neuroscience conference! Tim Stokes presented the fruits of his licking microstructure and c-fos study, which involved tracking sucrose consumption by counting individual rat licks and the use of immunohistochemistry to quantify differences in c-fos expression between subjects. Overall the study sought […]

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  • Lauren’s Defense and PhD; Congrats and Best of Luck!

    Congratulations, Lauren! Lauren Raycraft has successfully defended her dissertation, going on to earn her PhD in June 2023. Lauren started her MSU tenure as an undergrad; in the six-plus years she spent with the AWJ lab, she in turn has taken many undergraduates under her wing and deeply involved them in her research. Lauren’s experiments […]

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  • AWJ Lab at UURAF 2023

    Our undergrads bring their best brains to UURAF Toria Fex received first place in Neuroscience for her section at UURAF this year, where she presented the fruits of the cocaine reward devaluation study she worked on in collaboration with grad student Bing Mo. The study involved rat jugular catheterization surgeries to facilitate self-administration of the […]

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  • MSU Scifest Expo

    The Johnson Lab provides demonstrations palatable to all ages! Nathan motions to a poster summarizing the gustatory goodies in store for those who visit our table. In outreach designed to bridge neuroscience to common experience, we explore differences in the perception of taste between different genotypes, and with the introduction of the compound miraculin. Test […]

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  • AWJ Lab at the ISTB Grad Student Expo

    ISTB Labs Gather to Showcase Research for Prospective Grads Hustle and bustle filled the ground floor of ISTB as students from the associated labs gathered to show off their experiments to prospective grad students looking for their perfect fit.  Afterwards, we were treated to a who’s who of prominent professors (including our very own AWJ) […]

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  • Ben’s Defense and PhD; Congrats and Best of Luck!

    Congratulations, Ben! Ben Fry has long been a notable AWJ lab figure, ambitiously tackling everything from optogenetics to IHC in the service of his research into dopamine’s role in neuropsychiatric illness.  Having worked tirelessly on his dissertation, which he presented in May 2022, Ben earned his PhD and is headed to the University of Central […]

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  • Ainsley Caldwell

    Undergraduate Ainsley Caldwell Flavor Text (~100 Words)

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  • Bella Orsucci

    Undergraduate Bella Orsucci Bella is a senior undergraduate research assistant majoring in Psychology and minoring in Cognitive Science and Law, Justice, and Public Policy. In the lab, she studies the neural connectivity of orexin and melanin-concentrating hormone cells. Bella hopes to go to graduate school to study cognitive psychology or neuroscience, with the end goal being […]

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