Update on 53rd Michigan chapter Society for Neuroscience (MISfN) annual meeting
​The 53rd Michigan chapter Society for Neuroscience (MISfN) was held on June 9, 2023, at the Michigan State University (Brody Hall), Lansing MI. The annual meeting was attended by 188 participants including the undergraduate students, graduate students, post-doctoral trainees, faculty members and guests from various universities in Michigan.
The event started with attendee registration/breakfast followed by poster presentations from 95 attendees. 52 attendees participated in the poster presentation competition at the event. The themes for the poster presentation were based on the 10 major themes from the Society for Neuroscience. The participants presented their posters on various themes that includes Development, Neural Excitability, Synapses, and Glia; Neurodegenerative Disorders and Injury; Sensory Systems; Motor Systems; Integrative Physiology and Behavior; Motivation and Emotion; Cognition; Techniques; History, Education; and Society
Following the poster presentation, lunch and beverages were provided to all the participants. The business meeting was commenced by the Chapter president, Dr Anna Moszczynska.
Updates on the chapter outreach events and the winners of the 2022-2023 outreach events (Dr. Joseph Patterson and Dr Hilary Marusak) were announced.
Following the outreach event announcements, the cabinet position elections were held. Dr Julien Rossignol (Central Michigan University) was appointed as the President-Elect; Dr Harold Green (University of Detroit Mercy) was re-elected as the secretary; Dr Eric Petersen was elected as the Central Michigan University Councilor; Dr Lisa Baker was elected as the Western Michigan University Councilor; Dr Kelly Bosse was elected as the Wayne State University Councilor; Dr Bhairavi Srinageshwar was re-elected as the Website co-ordinator; Dr Eric Ramsson (Grand Valley State University) was re-elected as the Award Chair; Cameron Davidson (Oakland University) was elected as the Counselor at Large I; Michael Kubik (Michigan State University) was elected as the Graduate Student Representative II. Dr. Jessica Matchynski-Franks (Rochester University) was recognized for her outstanding service as President & outgoing Past President of the Chapter. The business meeting was adjourned following the Treasurer’s Report from Dr Hilary Marusak (virtual).
Our next event was the Keynote speech from Dr Gregory Scherrer, Ph.D. from Department of Cell Biology and Physiology University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. The keynote lecture on “The neurobiology of pain experience and its modulation by opioids” was very informative and took the audience in fascination. We thank our Keynote speaker Dr Gregory Scherrer for gracing the occasion with such an invaluable and intriguing lecture.
Next event on the agenda was to recognize our Founders, Duncan McCarthy and Montford F. Piercey. Every year the chapter recognizes two outstanding students performing research in the area of neuroscience and recognizes them after our Founders. The 2023 MiSfN Founders award was awarded to Carlye Szarowicz (Michigan State University) and Sierra Boyd (Michigan State University). The plaques were presented to the winners by the award chair Dr Eric Ramsson and the President Dr Anna Moszczynska.
The last agenda in our annual meeting recognized the poster presentation awardees under the categories of best undergraduate poster (4), best graduate poster (3) and best post-doctoral trainee poster (1). We also had an additional category of people’s choice award (1).
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Best Poster award (undergraduate category) was won by Morgan Henry (Michigan State University); Kate Sapkowski (Michigan State University); Isabella Orsucci and Kira Becker (Michigan State University); and Victoria Fex (Michigan State University).
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Best Poster award (Graduate category) was won by Rabail Khan (Michigan State University); Sonia Khalid (Wayne State University); Noam Gannot (University of Michigan).
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Best Poster award (post-doctoral trainee) was won by Insha Zahoor (Henry Ford Health).
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People’s choice award was won by Ahmad Almaat (Wayne State University).
This meeting would not have been possible without our generous institutional and commercial sponsors. Our Key Sponsor was Life Science Exhibits, Diamond Sponsor was Michigan State University, College of Human Medicine, Platinum Sponsor was Michigan State University, College of Natural Science; Gold Sponsor was Michigan State University, Neuroscience Program and Translational Neuroscience, College of Medicine; Silver Sponsor was Michigan State University, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology.
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The 54th Annual meeting of the Michigan Chapter Society for Neuroscience will be held at University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI)