Lab Chronicle

2019

• August 2019 – We welcome lots of new folks in the lab – first year rotating graduate students – Shuyi Qi and Robert Christian, – full-time technicians – Justin Galliou and Jiwen Qui, and – undergrad research assistant – Erik Glueck. I hope to post their photos and introductions soon on the website.
• August 2019 – Dr. Fuchs presented the lab’s research in a symposium talk at the European Behavioral Pharmacology Society meeting in Braga, Portugal. Now back to the lab finally!

  

  

• August 2019 – Finally (hopefully for a while) – Congratulations to Dr. Jessica Higginbotham, who defended her dissertation and is continuing as a postdoc at Washington University in Saint Louis. We will all miss Jessica’s dark sense of black sheep humor and her technical prowess.
• August 2019 – Dr. Fuchs presented the lab’s research at the Gordon Research Conference on Amygdala in Easton, Massachusetts.
• July 2019 – Congrats to Shi Min, who is starting medical school. We will miss you and hope you will visit us whenever you are in town!
• July 2019 – Dr. Fuchs presented the lab’s research at the Gordon Research Conference on Cannabinoids in Casteldefells, Spain.

  

  

  

• June 2019 – Congrats to Jen Walters for getting an awesome industry position! She has been an amazing – talented, meticulous, and caring – postdoc. We will miss her so much!

  

• June 2019 – Jennifer Wang and her husband are leaving with the Walker Lab for Tampa. We will miss Jennifer so much and hope to meet up with her when we travel to conferences in Florida. if there were a Best Technician Award – she would have received it. We will miss her tremendously!
• May 2019 – Congratulations to Chris for winning a 5K LSAMP Summer Research Award! Chris will be presenting the results at the Summer Research Symposium in August!
• May 2019 – Welcome to two excellent new undergrad RAs in the lab – Lexi Lacey and Maddy Anderson!

  

• May 2019 -Jessica, Jen, Jobe, and Rita participated in the annual IPN retreat. It was nice to have time to focus on future projects!
• April 2019 – Shi Min is graduating with this years Top Ten Senior Award after collecting every possible scholarship along the way! Congrats Shi Min and Jessica (her grad student mentor)! Shi Min will stay on with us for a couple more months to finish up her optogenetics project.

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  April 2019 – We have said our goodbyes to Taylor and Jaclyn who will be accruing some pre-med experience before continuing their educational adventures!

• April 2019 – Dr. Fuchs gave a seminar presentation of the lab’s latest research at the University of Buffalo Medical College. She enjoy
• April 2019 – Our graduating seniors – Shi Min, Taylor, and Jaclyn – presented their capstone projects at the year end Undergraduate Neuroscience Program poster session. We are so proud of their projects and presentations!

  

  

• April 2019 – The lab enjoyed a visit a seminar talk from Dr. Laura O’Dell, one of Dr. Fuchs’ lab mates from graduate school.
• March 2019 – Taylor Brown and Shi Min gave excellent presentations of their research projects at the Showcase for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities!

  

  

• March 2019 – Shi Min defended her Honors Thesis with High Honors!  Congrats to Shi Min, so well deserved!

  

• March 2019 – We celebrated Jessica’s and Jobe’s birthdays in the lab. Jobe’s attempt to keep his birthday a secret miserably failed.
• March 2019 – We held our annual graduate recruitment event and hope that perhaps one or two new graduate students will join the lab next year! Fingers crossed!
• February 2019 – The lab welcomed Dr. Janet Neisewander, Dr. Fuchs’ PhD mentor, as our IPN seminar speaker. In addition to giving a talk, Janet met with members of the lab.
• January 2019 – Jobe RItchie started the new year as an official graduate student member of the Fuchs Lab! No more rotations for Jobe!

2018

• December 2018 – The IPN Departmental Holiday Party and blue elephant gift exchange at Case Lokensgard was a nice occasion to close a successful year. Over 50 colleagues, friends, and family were present!
• December 2018 – Dr. Fuchs presented the lab’s newest data on endocannabinoid involvement in cocaine-memory reconsolidation at the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology in Hollywood, Florida.
• November 2018 – Annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego! Jessica gave an excellent nanosymposium presentation on findings

  

  from her dissertation research. Dr. Fuchs also presented a poster on a developing story regarding mTORC1 signaling in heroin-seeking behavior.

• October 2018 – Our new rotating student, Rowal Calkins started in the lab! Welcome!
• September 2018 – And then there were two… The new semester brings a new, second prospective graduate student in the Fuchs lab: Welcome Jobe Richie! Welcomes also go out to

  

  two new undergraduate research assistants – Chris Ibarra (who actually started earlier this summer) and Shayna Grogan. These folks are already impressing me!

• September 2018 -Dr. Fuchs served as discussant at the annual meeting of the Washington State Academy of Sciences and shared with academy members – including several Nobel laureates (!) – information about the opportunities and challenges associated with cannabis research.

  

• August 2018 – Legislative staff tour – Dr. Fuchs educated legislators about the role of preclinical studies in combating the opioid epidemic and presented new research from the lab on the cellular mechanism of heroin-seeking behavior.
• July 2018 – Jessica and Dr. Fuchs traveled to Berlin to present their research at the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies Forum. Jessica did a great job and even obtained a travel award from the graduate school to attend this conference!

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• June 2018 – Our French summer vet intern, Coline Sagot, arrived and jumped right into research. Coline stayed with us until August and has become an integral part of our team. We will miss her!
• June 2018 – Jessica presented some of her dissertation research as a symposium speaker at the annual meeting of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence. She also served as symposium co-chair and successfully competed for a NIDA Director’s Award to cover her travel to this conference!  Rock on!
• March 2018 – Dr. Fuchs received her notification of promotion to full professorship. A big thank you to the hard-working students and collaborators who contributed through research, amazing and supportive colleagues in Pullman and around the world, external letter writers, and family! 🙂
• March 2018 – We had a great time getting to know potential future team members during our annual graduate recruitment event. We hope that they will join us in Pullman in the fall.
• March 2018 – Jen Walter’s first day as postdoc in the Fuchs lab – welcome!
• February 2018 – It is official – Jessica’s predoctoral NIDA NRSA notice of award arrived! Congratulations to Jessica! This is a huge deal!!!
• February 2018 – Shi Min Tan received the Gilman Scholarhip – congrats to Shi Min; she gets to study in Costa Rica this summer!
• January 2018 – Our new postdoc, Dr. Jennifer Walters, will be joining the lab on March 1st. Yippie!
• January 2018 – Dr. Fuchs is honored to join the editorial board of Neuropsychopharmacology.

2017

• December 2017 – the Fuchs lab and friendly faculty celebrated the holidays with Indian tacos and other good food at Casa Lokensgard. Ethan and Nicole – our most recent lab alumni – also joined us with their families. Also present were two excellent postdoc candidates (one for the Fuchs lab and one for the McLaughlin lab) who happen to be interviewing. They shall remain anonymous for now…
• December 2017 – Dr. Fuchs presented the lab’s findings at the annual meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and received some useful feedback.

  

• November 2017 – Jessica and Dr. Fuchs presented a poster on Jessica’s BLA cannabinoid work at the Society for Neuroscience conference in Washington DC. This was a busy time as Dr. Fuchs was also interviewing potential postdocs and grad student applications at the conference. 
• October 2017 – Melissa Vargas, our SURF intern won a poster presentation award at the recent Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students. Congrats to Melissa!

  

• October 2017 – Dr. FUchs started her tenure as chair of the Neurobiology of Motivated Behavior NIH study section.
• September 2017 – Jessica, received not one but two highly competitive travel awards for this year’s SfN conference! Kudos to Jessica!
• September 2017 – Sierra’s last manuscript from the lab is now in print in Neuropharmacology. Kudos to all contributors! Stringfield et al., 2017 
• September 2017 – Dr. Fuchs accepted a position on the Scientific Advisory Group for Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

  

• September 2017 – Dr. Fuchs was nominated for the Zoetis Award for Veterinary Research Excellence.
• September 2017 – Nicole gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Welcome Kimber Rose and congrats to Nicole and Curtis!
• September 2017 – Dr. Fuchs presented the lab’s research in the IPN Seminar Series.
• August 2017 – Melissa Vargas, our SURF intern from Florida State University, presented the results of her methamphetamine vapor self-administraiton project at the SURF poster session. Great job to all who assisted her!
• August 2017 – Amy’s final paper from the lab is now out in Psychopharmacology! Arguello et al., 2017
• July 2017 – We have said goodbye to two of our awesome lab members. Nicole is having a baby girl, and Ethan is starting medical school. We will miss you guys!
• July 2017 – Congratulations to our collaborator, Dr. David Rossi, for his new R01 grant award.
• June 2017 – R01 grant award notice arrived!!!! Next step – finding the perfect postdoc for this project!
• June 2017 – Jessica received a great score on her F31 NIDA NRSA proposal! We are proudly crossing our fingers!

  

• May 2017 – Dr. Fuchs presented her research and some advice to students at the annual Neuroscience Department retreat at her postdoc alma mater, the Medical University of South Carolina, in Charleston.
• May 2017 – Dr. Fuchs presented our circuitry mapping research at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
• May 2017 – Congratulations to our collaborator, Dr. Don Lysle, and his lab on a new publication! Hutson et al., 2017
• April 2017 – Congrats to Shi Min for winning (a) First (Crimson) Price at the SURCA poster competition, (b) the Auvil Scholarship, and (c) an individual undergraduate ADARP research grant – all in the span of two weeks!

  

• April 2017 – Brain Awareness Week – Kids’ Judge – was a success! Elementary school students had fun while they learned lots about the brain.
• February 2017 – Amy’s optogenetics paper is out in print in Neuropsyhopharmacology! It was selected to be a social media feature by NPP! Congrats to Amy and all the collaborators, including Dr. Garret Stuber. Arguello et al., 2017
• February 2017 – Invited commentary by Dr. Fuchs and McLaughlin in the current issue of Neuropsychopharmacology! Fuchs and McLaughlin, 2017

2016

• December 2016 – Fuchs/McLaughlin/Rossi Lab Christmas Part was a great success!
• December 2016 – Sierra’s first papers from the lab is now out in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology! Yes! Stringfield et al., 2016
• December 2016 – Dr. Fuchs presented the lab’s research at the annual meeting of the ACNP in Hollywood, Florida.
• December 2016 – Jessica participated at the Memory Mechanisms in Health and Disease Conference, in Tampa, Florida.
• November 2016 – Jade Donaldson, our SURP intern presented her project on noradrenergic mechanisms of memory reconsolidation at the 2016 Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students in Tampa, Florida.
• October 2016 – Fuchs lab came in second in the IPN Halloween Group Costume Competition. The Rat with Rabies trophy went to the McLaughlin lab this time…

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  Dr. Fuchs presented our memory reconsolidation research at the ISBRA/ESBRA Conference in Berlin, Germany.

• August 2016 – Christinal Lebonville’s paper from our collaborator, Dr. Don Lysle’s lab is now out in print! Lebonville et al., 2016
• June 2016 – Dr. Fuchs presented the lab’s research on cocaine-seeking behavior in Budapest, Hungary.
• May 2016 – Dr. Fuchs received a travel award to present the lab’s research on memory reconsolidation at the Addiction in Theory conference at the Gatsby Institute in London, UK.
• May 2016 – Congratulations to Dr. Craft for a Grant Challenges Seed Grant (Dr. Fuchs is a co-PI on this award)!
• April 2016 – Nicole and Theresa presented their independent study research findings at SURCA Poster Session. Great job!
• April 2016 – Brain Awareness Week – Kids’ Judge – was so much fun!
• February 2016 – Wohoo! New ADARP grant was awarded to our lab on novel models of methamphetamine psychosis!
• February 2016 – Fuchs lab research featured on the cover of Neuropsychopharmacology.  Wells et al., 2016
• January 2016 – New review paper with our collaborator, Dr. Zhihua Jiang, on genomic approaches!  Jiang et al., 2016

2015

• December 2015 – Dr. Fuchs received a State of Washington Dedicated Marijuana Account grant to develop a novel model of cannabis-seeking behavior.
• December 2015 – Amy accepted a tenure-track faculty position at Michigan State University. Congratulations Amy!!!
• December 2015 – Amy presented research from the Fuchs lab at the annual meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. Amy received a travel award from ACNP to attend this meeting. Woot woot!
• December 2015 – The competitive grant renewal for our R01 was submitted! Time to rest! <jk>

  

• November 2015 – Jacob won an individual undergraduate ADARP research grant for his optogenetic studies with Amy. Great job!
• November 2015 – Dr. Fuchs received an Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Program seed grant to develop and validate a procedure for studying methamphetamine-induced psychosis.
• October 2015 – Amy, Jessica, Sierra, Mark, and Dr. Fuchs presented their research at the Society for Neuroscience Conference in Chicago.
• July 2015 – Congratulations to Dr. Zhihua Jiang for our new multi-PI ADARP grant on the neurogenetics and neurogenomics of addiction vulnerability!
• July 2015 – Dr. Fuchs received a College of Veterinary Medicine faculty research grant to develop an animal model of cannabis psychosis.
• July 2015 – Audrey’s paper accepted for publication in Neuropsychopharmacology! Wells et al., 2015
• May, 2015 – Jessica Higginbotham, graduate student in the Fuchs lab, received an individual graduate Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Program (ADARP) research grant to study CB1 receptor involvement in memory reconsolidation.  Congratulations!
• April 2015 – Jacob received an Auvil Scholarship. Congrats!
• April 2015 – Brain Awareness Week – Kids’ Judge – was a fun event for members of the lab.
• March, 2015 – Nicole received a summer internship to work with disadvantaged youth in New Zealand!  Impressive!
• March 2015 – Dr. Fuchs presented research on hippocampal contributions to drug relapse at Ruhr-University Bochum, in Germany.

2014

• December, 2014 – Priyanka Bushana successfully completed her lab rotation in the Fuchs lab. Great job!
• October, 2014 – Cody Kowalski successfully completed his lab rotation in the Fuchs lab. Well done!
• October 2014 – Mark, Sierra, Amy, and Dr. Fuchs presented the lab’s research findings at the Society for Neuroscience Conference in Washington DC.
• June, 2014 – Amy Arguello, postdoc in the Fuchs lab, received an NIH/NIDA K99 grant award to explore novel subcircuits of cue-induced cocaine seeking. Super!
• May, 2014 – Jesse Barnes and Jessica Higginbotham successfully completed their lab rotations in the Fuchs lab. Congratulations! Welcome Jessica!

  

• March, 2014 – Dr. Fuchs received an NIH R21 grant to study the impact of a drug-associated environment on impulsivity.
• March, 2014 – Dr. Fuchs and Dr. Lysle (UNC Chapel Hill) received an NIH R01 grant to study the role of cytokines in drug context-induced immunosuppression and motivated behavior.
• April 2014 – Brain Awareness Week at IPN – Kids’ Judge! Our Neuroscience seniors rocked it.
• April, 2014 – Experiments resumed in the Fuchs Lab!
• February 2014 – Dr. Fuchs gave a Translational Addiction Research Center seminar on optogenetics.
• January, 2014 – Tiger’s paper accepted for publication in Int J Neuropsychopharm!  Xie et al. 2014
• January, 2014 – Dr. Fuchs has been elected to full membership in the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology!
• January, 2014 – The Fuchs lab moved into its brand new state-of-the art laboratory on the Palouse after a move from North Carolina.

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