Table of Contents
Graduate Students Honored for Brain Research
If you drive down the street late at night and you see a light in the window of a University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston building, you're probably seeing the light of research.
On the front row at a public forum on "The Aging Brain" are, from left, UT Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston (GSBS) students Diego Gutnisky and Sylvain Nouvion; former UT Health Science Center at Houston Development Board chair Dee Osborne; GSBS donors Jean Worsham and his wife, Roberta Worsham; GSBS development officer Linda Carter; and GSBS Dean George Stancel, Ph.D. Photo by Ester Fant
"Clearly the research is led by members of our faculty, distinguished scientists and physicians, but they don't work alone," George M. Stancel, Ph.D., told the audience at the March 19 Brain Awareness Public Forum. "They work in teams.
"You might think for a second who actually mixes up the test tubes? Who holds that piece of cheese for the mouse in a maze to follow? Who writes down all the numbers and feeds them into the computer to be analyzed? The answer, of course, is the graduate students, postdoctoral fellows or residents," said Stancel, dean of the UT Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston (GSBS) and the John P. McGovern Endowed Professor.
Stancel introduced two award winners: Diego Gutnisky, winner of the Dee S. and Patricia Osborne Endowed Scholarship in the Neurosciences; and Sylvain Nouvion, winner of the Roberta M. and Jean M.Worsham Endowed Scholarship in the Behavioral or Neurosciences.
The Osborne Scholarship, a $500 award, goes to the graduate student doing the most outstanding work in the neurosciences. The award was made possible by a gift from Linda Finger in honor of the Osbornes. Gutnisky's research is aimed at understanding the factors that affect the brain's ability to process visual stimuli and the resulting behavioral consequences. His advisor is Valentin Dragoi, Ph.D., assistant professor of neurobiology and anatomy in the UT Medical School at Houston and a faculty member at GSBS.
The $1,000 Worsham Scholarship was made possible by a gift from the Worshams. It is awarded for exceptional research in behavioral or neural sciences that addresses obsessive compulsive disorders, addictive behavior and related phenomena. Nouvion's research investigates the effect of Xanac, an antianxiety medication, on aggression. His advisor is Don Cherek, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Medical School and a GSBS faculty member.