🎉 Grant award notification! 🎉 Congratulations to M.D./Ph.D. student Itzick Nahmoud for receiving a $5,000 from the Brain Injury Association of America: "Opioid Exacerbation of TBI-induced Neuroinflammation and Pain: Role of the Kynurenine Pathway". Itzick is mentored by Drs. Conti and Woodcock.

🎓 Dissertation Defense Join us for Grant LeVasseur’s public defense (Translational Neuroscience, WSU): 🧠 Fear extinction retention deficits in a rat model of PTSD 📅 Mon, Feb 9, 2026 | ⏰ 1:00 PM 📍 In person + 💻 Zoom Advisors: Dr. Seth Norrholm & Dr. Shane Perrine All are welcome!

🎓 Dissertation Defense Join us for Taylor Takla’s public PhD defense (Translational Neuroscience, Wayne State)! 🧠 Concern about falling in multiple sclerosis: motor, cognitive, psychological & neural factors 📅 Feb 4, 2026 | ⏰ 11 AM 📍 In-person + Zoom Advisor: Dr. Nora Fritz All welcome!

🎉 TNP Leadership Spotlight! 🎉 Congrats to Jenna Laymon and Manessa Riser, our new School of Medicine Graduate Student Senate representatives! We’re excited to see them represent and advocate for TNP students. 👏

🚨 TNP Faculty Blitz 🚨 Join us for an in-person Faculty Blitz featuring our newest TNP faculty! 🗓️ Jan 13 | 🕛 12:00 PM 📍 Tolan Park Medical Bldg, 2nd Floor Conference Room

🚀 TRAIN@wayne T32 Fellowship — Now Recruiting! 2-year NIDA-funded PhD training in addiction neuroscience at WSU with full support (stipend, tuition, health, childcare, research + travel). 📅 Apply by Feb 15, 2026 🔗 train.med.wayne.edu 📧 [email protected]

👏 Congrats to MD/PhD candidate Grant LeVasseur for publishing his first, first-author paper, "The effects of spaced versus massed extinction training on extinction retention of conditioned fear learning in male rats," in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience! 📖 www.frontiersin.org/journals/beh...

Wishing you a happy, merry season from the Translational Neuroscience Program at Wayne State University! 🕎🎄🕯

👏 Congrats to Taylor Takla for receiving an Outstanding Research Award at the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Research Day! Her poster on amygdala connectivity and fear of falling in multiple sclerosis offered key insights into brain-behavior relationships. 🎉

🎉Congrats to TNP student Jessica Moser on receiving an Outstanding Research Award at the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Research Day! Mentor Dr. Gino Panza. 👏

🎉 Big congrats to Samantha Ely (mentor: Dr. Hilary Marusak) for winning 2nd place in the TNP 3-Minute Thesis competition! Her talk was entitled “The Body’s Thermostat: Understanding the Role of Endocannabinoids in Teen Suicidal Ideation.” We’re so proud of you, Sam! 🌟

🎉 Congratulations to Sebastian Pernal! 🎉 Winner of 1st Place in the 3 Minute Thesis competition for his talk: “Water Under the Bridge: Identifying Novel Targets to Treat Hydrocephalus Shunt Obstruction” 👏 Incredible work by Sebastian and his mentor, Dr. Carolyn Harris!

🎉 Congrats to Lauren Richardson on receiving a New Investigator Award! Mentored by Dr. Susanne Brummelte, Lauren will study how oxytocin may improve maternal-infant interactions in opioid-exposed families using a translational rodent model. We’re so proud of her and excited for this project! 💡🧠

👏 Congrats to Itzick Nahmoud, TNP student and New Investigator Grant Awardee! Mentored by Drs. Alana Conti & Eric Woodcock, Itzick’s project will investigate how opioids worsen neuroinflammation and pain after TBI via the kynurenine pathway. Exciting work ahead! 🧠💡

🎉 Congrats to TNP student Evan Malin on receiving a New Investigator Grant for “Investigation of Cortical Microstructure in Pediatric OCD Using Quantitative T1 Imaging,” mentored by Dr. Jeffrey Stanley! 👏 #Neuroimaging #OCDResearch #THINKLab #WayneState

🌟 Big congratulations to the New Investigator Award recipients: Evan Malin, Itzick Nahmoud, and Lauren Richardson! 🌟 We’re proud to celebrate these incredible early-career researchers whose projects are advancing neuroscience and mental health research. Join us in congratulating them! 🎉

🎓 Thinking about grad school? Join Wayne State’s Graduate School Fall Virtual Information Session on Nov. 5 (12–2 p.m. ET) to explore programs, funding, and meet faculty & students. 👉 Register: gradslate.wayne.edu/register/gsi... #WayneState #GraduateSchool #FutureWarrior

🧠 Interested in a PhD in Neuroscience? Join Wayne State’s Translational Neuroscience Program (TNP) for our next Virtual Open House on Thurs, Oct 23 at 2 PM (ET)! Meet faculty & students, learn about our research, and get your questions answered. 💻 Register: www.tinyurl.com/tnpopenhouse2025

✨ TNP was proud to volunteer at Voices Unlocked (Sept 25, 2025 @ WSU)—an evening of music, storytelling & dialogue to break the silence around mental illness. 💙 🎥 Watch highlights here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K7h... #VoicesUnlocked #MentalHealthAwareness #WSU

🎓 Curious about a PhD in Translational Neuroscience? Join our Virtual Open Houses to learn more! 📅 Oct 16 @ 12 PM 📅 Oct 23 @ 2 PM 👉 Register: www.tinyurl.com/tnpopenhouse2025 #Neuroscience #PhD #GradSchool

Congratulations to Manessa Riser and team on their new Brain Sciences publication: Weaving Invisible Threads: The Impact of Caregiver Trauma on Parenting and Child Brain Development. 👏

🎉 TNP is back! Highlights from our Welcome Back Info Session (Sept 9, 2025): New leadership & committees 🏛️ Welcome to new faculty & students 👋 Congrats grads, RUMBLE Awardees & MPSI Fellows 🏆 PhD credit hours reduced to 60 📚 Inaugural TNP Retreat: Oct 24 🗓️ #WayneState #TNP #Neuroscience

💛 💚 Congratulations to TNPeople Taylor Takla (Ph.D. candidate), Dr. Ana Daugherty (faculty affiliate), and Dr. Nora Fritz (faculty affiliate) on their latest publication in Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders! Read it here: doi.org/10.1016/j.ms...

Huge congratulations to Dr. John France on his new publication “Trauma from the Eye of the Beholder: Reporter Discordance in Child’s Trauma, Psychopathology, and Neurobiology” in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging! 🎉 Link: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

🌟 Welcome to our newest TNP PhD student, Maryam Abbawi! 🌟 We’re thrilled to have Maryam TNP. A fun fact about her: she loves trying new coffee shops and even started a page to share her favorites! ☕✨ We can’t wait to see all the amazing work she’ll do with us—please join us in welcoming Maryam! 💛

Shoutout to our 2025-2026 Rumble Awardees, Christine Lee and Jessica Moser! These competitive awards reflect promise for conducting research and scholarship. #WSU #TNP

🧠 Looking for high-quality graduate training in interdisciplinary, translational neuroscience? Look no further than the Translational Neuroscience Program (TNP) at Wayne State University in the heart of Detroit. Applications now open! Learn more: tnp.wayne.edu Apply: grad school.wayne.edu

🎉 Big congrats to Annie Nguyen, winner of the Corrine F. Resta Endowed Doctoral Award! 🧠🔬 Her $25K project explores how prenatal benzene exposure affects microglia + antiviral neuroimmunity. Huge impact ahead in neuroimmunology—go Annie!

Congrats to Dr. John McClellan France on defending his dissertation! 💚💛🧠 His research studied emotion processing and cognitive control in trauma-exposed teens. Mentored by Drs. Jovanovic, Stanley, Marusak, Ofen, and Daugherty. Best wishes on your postdoc move to Minnesota with Dr. Larsen!

👏 Congrats to Lexi Soltesz (@panza.lab), 2nd-year PhD student, on winning the 2025 DiMarco Award from ASIA! 🧠💤 Her work explores boosting sleep and cognition after spinal cord injury. #Neuroscience #SCI #WomenInSTEM

Join us for Ph.D. candidate John M. France’s public defense! 🧠 He’ll present on trauma, emotion processing & cognitive control in early adolescence — Tues, July 29 (hybrid: in-person + Zoom). Hosted by the Translational Neuroscience Program 💚💛

Samantha Ely has received the $25K Corrine F. Resta Award for her project on endocannabinoids and adolescent suicidal ideation. We're proud to celebrate this impactful work in youth mental health—congrats, Sam! 💙

Join us this coming Tuesday, July 15, at noon, for the Stride for Pride Walk and Lunch on the Wayne State U campus. #Detroit ruthelliscenter.networkforgood.com/projects/253... @waynestatechem.bsky.social @waynestateresearch.bsky.social @waynestateclas.bsky.social @waynestatetnp.bsky.social #pride