Congratulations to Regina Tsay (BS Biology), Gavin Lockard (BS Neuroscience), Jordan Donaldson (BS Neuroscience), and Robby Boney (BS Computer Science)! Gavin will move to Spokane this summer to begin Pharmacy school at WSU, and Robby is a database developer at Interject Inc. Both Regina and Jordan are working as emergency department medical scribes and as research technicians in our lab. They each plan to attend medical school. Very proud of the Coffin Lab team!

Last month the Coffin Lab hit the road (well, flew cross-country) to attend the 2019 Association for Research in Otolaryngology mid-winter meeting in Baltimore, MD. Graduate student Alex Hudson, undergraduates Gavin Lockard, Regina Tsay, and Jordan Donaldson, and high school intern Abby Jiang all presented posters about their research. The lab team did a great job with their posters!

Loud noise causes permanent hearing loss…and that includes loud noise that we willingly expose ourselves to for fun, like loud music. I’m not saying we shouldn’t listen to music – I love live music, EDM, and dance clubs. However, the dangers of loud music are rarely discussed, and most of us don’t protect ourselves from life-long damage. We’re launching a new video project to raise awareness about hearing loss in the music industry. Are you a musician or industry professional with hearing loss? Want to share your story? Or are you an industry professional or company who wants to sponsor the video and share the message about safe listening? Email allison.coffin [at] wsu.edu.

This video project is a collaboration with Broader Impacts Productions.

Lots of news to post, both happy and sad…here goes!

Alexandria advances to candidacy

Congratulations to PhD student Alexandria Hudson, who aced her proposal defense and advanced to candidacy. Great job Alex! The lab all went out to celebrate.

As a reward, Alex and her husband Clay got a new puppy. Welcome to Phoenix, the newest fuzzy lab member!

Welcome to Sofia

Welcome to new undergraduate researcher Sofia Grande! Sofia is a neuroscience major at WSU Vancouver and joined the lab this week.

Former lab member passes away

Former lab technician Dustin Manning (B.S. WSU Vancouver 2013) passed away in late November after a battle with opioid addiction. Dustin had a big heart and loved to help his friends and family. Our hearts go out to his family, and to all those struggling with addiction.

Congratulations to undergraduate research Gavin Lockard on his acceptance to Pharmacy School! Gavin will attend the WSU Pharmacy School in Spokane beginning August 2019.

The Coffin lab welcomes two new researchers, undergraduate Jordan Hill (neuroscience), and volunteer Darina Bondar. Welcome to the lab!

Two lab members left at the end of July for new adventures. Lab manager (and former undergraduate) Beija Villalpando will move to Rochester, Minnesota to attend medical school at the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine. Fish facility manager and undergraduate researcher Maria Sokolova is moving to South Korea, where she will teach English. We’ll miss them both, and deeply appreciate their contributions to the lab.

The Coffin Lab welcomes Mika Munger, a new high school intern working through the Saturday Academy Apprenticeships in Science & Engineering Program. We also welcome Dyana Novicio (B.S. Neuroscience 2018), the new lab manager.

Congratulations to PhD student Alex Hudson, who won second place in the graduate student poster competition at the 2018 WSU Vancouver Research Showcase. Alex’s poster clearly explained her research on berbamine analogs as potential drugs to prevent certain forms of antibiotic-induced hearing loss.

Congratulations to Robby Boney for his first-place poster finish at the WSU Showcase for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (SURCA), hosted on the Pullman campus. Robby won the Crimson Award in the Computer Science, Mathematics, and Informatics category for his poster titled, “Is the lack of mammalian hair cell regeneration linked to evolutionarily dependent amino acid changes within functional protein domains?”

Also, congratulations are in order to Jordan Donaldson for his receipt of a College of Arts and Sciences undergraduate mini-grant for $1,500. These funds will support Jordan’s research on developmental changes in drug-induced hearing loss.