NEURON Conference | Quinnipiac University

2024 Conference Details

Sunday, April 21

Quinnipiac welcomed industry leaders in the field of neuroscience to share work and participate in workshops at the annual NEURON conference. Attendees also enjoyed a tour of Quinnipiac's Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine and School of Nursing facilities on our North Haven Campus.

Location and Directions

Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences building at Quinnipiac University
370 Bassett Road, North Haven, CT 06473

Maps and directions to our North Haven Campus

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2024 Quinnipiac Research Projects

Multiple innovation research projects are currently taking place in the Haight & Betz Lab, which were presented at the 2024 NEURON Conference. At the conference, the lab aimed to underscore their diverse research interest, outline their further plans and emphasize their active campus involvement.

The lab is a vibrant community where individuals with distinct backgrounds and interests converge to pursue research. By highlighting their collaborative efforts and mutual support within the lab, they aim to showcase the significance of teamwork in scientific endeavors and demonstrate how collective efforts propel teams toward achieving their goals.

A male student using a pippette — “Stability Concerns of Housekeeping Genes in Brain Region-Specific Western Blot Normalization” by Shalom Azerrad ’24 (pictured), Dr. Adrienne Betz and Julia Mathews ’26.

A female student looking through a microscope — “Enhanced sex differences in double-hit stress effects during early life and adolescence: Impact on rodent behavior and meningeal activity” by Hannah Jack ’24 (pictured), Shalom Azerrad ’24 and Dr. Adrienne Betz.

A female student using a pippette — “Sex Differences in the Effects of Maternal Separation on Effort-Related Decision-Making” by Jenelle Miller ’24 (pictured), Emina Metjahic ’24, Tressa Pantalena ’25, Julia Mathews ’26, Taylor Feist ’26, Maïka Lovinski-Millien ’25, Olivia St. Clair ’25, Hannah Van Blarcom ’24, Dr. Adrienne Betz and Dr. Joshua Haight

A female student hoping up a plastic tube smiling at the camera — “Assessing differences in PVT activation in a rodent model of depression” by Tressa Pantalena ’25 (pictured), Julia Mathews ’26, John Arceta ’22, Jenelle Miller ’24, Ahmed Anwar ’25, Deja Banner ’23, Ellen Bissell ’23, Aminata Fofana ’24, Carly Sipper ’24, Hannah Van Blarcom ’24, Alexander Whitney ’26 and Dr. Joshua Haight.

A female student holding a tissue paper with tweezers — “Effects of Myricetin, a Natural GLP-1 Agonist, on Weight, Memory, and Anxiety in Aged, Obese Rats” by Carly Sipper ’24 (pictured), Hannah Jack ’24, Hunter Axelrod ’25 and Jamie Wrede ’24.

A female student opening a cabinet door smiling at the camera — “Investigating the Effects of Orexin Receptor Antagonism in Effort-Related Choice Behaviors in Rodents” by Hannah Van Blarcom ’24 (pictured), Jenelle Miller ’24, Tressa Pantalena ’25, Julia Mathews ’26, Maïka Lovinski-Millien ’25, Alexander Whitney ’26, Taylor Feist ’26, Hannah Jack ’24, Shalom Azerrad ’24 and Dr. Joshua Haight

2 female student and a male professor work with a lab machine — Jenelle Miller ’24, Jamie Wrede ’24 and Dr. Joshua Haight working together.

A female student looking at a screen from a microscope — Julia Mathews ’26 working in the lab.

Keynote Speaker: Alex Kwan, PhD

Alex Kwan, PhD

Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Cornell University

“Psychedelic drug action on neural circuits”

Alex Kwan is an Associate Professor in the Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering at Cornell University. He is broadly interested in the neurobiology of drugs for treating depression. His work has revealed how compounds such as ketamine and psychedelics impact dendrites and cortical microcircuits to enhance neural plasticity. Alex supports open science by posting preprints and sharing data and code for all of the lab’s recent studies. He received a B.A.Sc. in Engineering Physics at Simon Fraser University in 2003 and a Ph.D. in Applied Physics at Cornell University in 2009. From 2013 to 2022, he was a faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine. Outside of the lab, Alex enjoys drinking a good cup of espresso and rock climbing with his kids.

Learn more about Alex Kwan

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Representative Publications

Psilocybin induces rapid and persistent growth of dendritic spines in frontal cortex in vivo

A dendrite-focused framework for understanding the actions of ketamine and psychedelics

Ketamine disinhibits dendrites and enhances calcium signals in prefrontal dendritic spines

Workshops and Sessions

Following the keynote address, attendees may partake in a number of workshops and sessions tailored to their unique interests and areas of expertise, including:

Connectomics in the Classroom: Using Drosophila
Effective Resume Writing: 6 Strategies to Make Your Resume Stand Out
Intraoperative Neuromonitoring and Surgical
Neurophysiology (IONM)
Leveraging Al in Psychological Sciences Research
Careers in Science Panel

NEURON By the Numbers

10+ Consecutive Years

Since Fall 2010, Quinnipiac University has hosted the annual NEURON Conference for over 10 consecutive years.

+120 Annual Projects

On average 100 undergraduate posters, close to 20 graduate posters and 12 data blitz talks are presented each conference.

350+ Yearly Attendees

Students and faculty throughout the northeast gather at the conference to learn about new developments and share ideas.

Past NEURON Conferences

2023 NEURON Conference

Keynote Speaker: Rebecca Shansky, PhD

"What have we been missing? New insights into Pavlovian fear conditioning from careful consideration of sex as a biological variable"

Workshops and Sessions

Following the keynote address, attendees may partake in a number of workshops and sessions tailored to their unique interests and areas of expertise, including: