Michael Burman, Ph.D., professor of psychology and academic director of the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, along with students Megan Tomasch (Ph.D. Candidate, ’24), Emma Naess (M.S. Candidate, ’24), Aidan Fox (B.S. Neuroscience, ’24), and Brooklynn Merrill (B.S. Neuroscience, ’24) presented findings from three research projects at the 2023 Society for Neuroscience (SfN) Annual Meeting, held in Washington D.C. on November 11th-15th, 2023.
Every year, SfN holds an annual meeting to promote research dissemination, idea sharing, and social connection between attendees traveling from around the world. The conference draws attendees from all neuroscience sub-disciplines, ranging from development and synapses to cognition and emotion.
The Burman Collaborative is interested in how exposure to early life pain, as experienced in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU)-like environment, affects brain development and subsequent mental health challenges later in life. The amygdala is a brain structure heavily associated with fear and pain, and therefore serves as a region of interest for investigation of mechanisms underpinning negative emotionality.
Tomasch and Merrill presented research conducted with Burman and former lab manager Jared Zuke, on the impact of neonatal pain on the development and cellular physiology of the central nucleus of the amygdala.
The project uses a combination of biochemical and electrical techniques to characterize cells within the male central amygdala, with the goal of further understanding the cellular changes that occur following early-life exposure to pain. Findings of this project demonstrate changes in the number and phenotype of central amygdala cells, as well as distinct firing patterns. These data suggest that NICU-like trauma may lead to significant changes in cell characteristics, but additional work is still needed. This project was funded by the National Institutes of Health (P30GM145497) and the Kahn Family Foundation Summer Research Fellowship. Tomasch was additionally awarded a SfN Trainee Professional Development Award (TPDA) for her excellence in science and demonstration of merit.
Naess presented research conducted with Burman and students Fox and Ella DiTomaso, on neonatal pain inducing lasting tactile hypersensititivity mediated by neurons in the amygdala.
Project overview. Findings. Meaning. This project was funded by National Institutes of Health (P30GM145497).
Fox presented research conducted with Burman, Zuke, Tomasch, Naess, and Andrew Kennedy of Bates College, on epigenetic changes in DNA methylation that are involved in the lasting changes in pain sensitivity following NICU-like treatment.
Project overview. Findings. Meaning. This project was funded by National Institutes of Health (P20GM103423 and P30GM145497), Kahn Family Foundation Summer Research Fellowship, and Bioscience Association of Maine Scholarship.