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This newsletter will highlight activities of the Jupiter Life Science Initiative (JLSI), which unites scientists in research and training programs from FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt Colleges of Science and Medicine, Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, FAU Brain Institute, The Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience (MPFI) and The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI). We plan to cover the local and national contributions of FAU Jupiter faculty and JLSI partners from collaborative institutions as the stories emerge.
Dr. Rod Murphey, Director
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New Courses Available in Jupiter: Fall 2018
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Announcing new courses available on the FAU Jupiter campus this fall! In the upcoming fall semester, the Jupiter campus will offer a number of upper-level Biology and Psychology courses. Now a Bachelor's degree in Biology, Psychology, or Neuroscience and Behavior can be completed at the Jupiter campus. Already recognized nationally for excellence in undergraduate education, FAU students also have access to extraordinary research opportunities with Scripps Florida, Max Planck Institute for Neuroscience, and the Jupiter Life Science Initiative.
View the Jupiter Fall 2018 schedule here
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New Faculty Joins the Honors College and JLSI Research Center
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Dr. Johanna Kowalko
was recruited as an Assistant Professor in the Wilkes Honors College and is supported in part by the Jupiter Life Science Initiative (JLSI). Drs.
Alex Keene
and
Erik Duboue
, who helped recruit Kowalko, are looking forward to strengthening their research collaboration using
the blind Mexican cavefish,
Astyanax mexicanus,
as a model system for understanding the genetic basis of trait evolution. Additionally, Drs. Keene, Duboue, Kowalko, and two other cavefish researchers, Dr. Suzanne McGaugh (University of Minnesota) and Dr. Nicolas Rohner (Stowers Institute) are working together to develop additional functional genetic tools in
Astyanax
. Kowalko's laboratory will capitalize on the strengths of the
Astyanax mexicanus
system, including their recent development of genome editing tools in this system. Read more
here
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FAU Max Planck Undergraduate Neuroscience Honors Program
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Florida Atlantic University President John Kelly, Max Planck Society President Martin Stratmann, and David Fitzpatrick, CEO of the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience (MPFI), announced a new partnership between FAU and MPFI to establish an undergraduate honors program in neuroscience that will be the first of its kind across the globe. The FAU Max Planck Honors Program is a joint initiative between FAU’s Jupiter Life Science Initiative,
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
,
Honors College
and MPFI. Commencing in fall 2018, the honors program will support several opportunities in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and will attract high performing and talented students such as national merit scholars like those who are dual-enrolled at
FAU High School
and FAU. Read more
here
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SYNAPSE 2018 A Big Success
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The Jupiter Life Science Initiative (JLSI) was intended to bring an FAU research presence to Jupiter and to collaborate with the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience and the Scripps Florida to create a tri-institutional research and training center. In the last five years, the FAU presence has grown dramatically and this very impressive showing at the SYNAPSE event demonstrates our success. Many young scientists including 40 Postdocs, 40 graduate students and 30 undergraduates from the three institutions demonstrate that we are succeeding in this endeavor. The SYNAPSE event is focused on the trainees and is designed to exhibit their work and enhance the connectivity across the campus. Students and postdocs are the workhorses and tech-transfer engines of the research endeavor, and this event is intended to create new synapses and strengthen old ones among our many members. Many of these posters and recent publications have authors from multiple institutions demonstrating the collective effort of the group.
Read more
here
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$24,000 Will Fund Research Experience for Undergraduate Scholarships
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The John Nambu Memorial Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program funded by the Jupiter Life Science Initiative offers full-time research opportunities with stipend support for FAU undergraduates. This year, the fifth annual John Nambu Memorial Summer REU Program welcomes eight participants to research labs on the FAU Jupiter and Boca Raton campuses. Read more
here
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Keene Lab Publishes Papers About Sleep Using Two Model Systems
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Micael Idani
,
a junior at the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College and member of the Wilkes Honors College Pre-Medical Society, Kingdom Club, and Musically Inclined Club, received a John Nambu Memorial Summer REU Program scholarship to continue his research project last summer. He has been a Directed Independent Study (DIS) student and intern working in the laboratory of
Dr. Tanja Godenschwege
of the Jupiter Life Science Initiative. His research project is investigating transmembrane glycoproteins associated with neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders, such as adult-onset spongiform, neurodegeneration, and autism, using the powerful genetic tools of the
Drosophila
(fruit fly) model system. The long-term goal of his project is to elucidate how specific signaling pathways contribute to neurodevelopment, protection against oxidative stress and neuronal survival, which is pertinent to a board spectrum of neurological disorders. His goals are to attain a MD/PhD degree in Neuroscience and he says that he has "learned more than he ever thought possible, and this program has embraced his zeal for science like never before.”
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I completed both BS in Molecular Biology/Biotechnology and my PhD in Integrative Biology at FAU, so I spent many years there and got to know many people. FAU’s diverse science faculty gives students like me lots of opportunity to see what areas of science are most intriguing. I got to work in different research labs – molecular biology and neurobiology mostly, as part of a great program – and I was able to get a pre-doctoral teaching fellowship from NSF. The fellowship opportunity proved to me that I could teach as well as do science, and now I am an assistant professor at Lynn University. We are working on starting our own biology master’s program here as well as improving the scientific literacy of non-science majors. I have found that there were so many experiences at FAU, large and small, that shaped the scientist/professor I have become.
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Meet the Jupiter Life Science Staff
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Silvana Jaramillo
, Budget Coordinator for the Jupiter Life Science Initiative. Please contact Silvana if you have questions about contracts, grants,or need budget support on the Jupiter campus.
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Marjorie Cazeau
,
Program Assistant for the Jupiter Life Science Initiative
. Please contact Marjorie if you need secretarial or general support on the Jupiter campus.
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The Jupiter Life Science Initiative staff is here to serve students, faculty, and staff. We are always happy to assist as well as answer questions and provide general support during your visit to the FAU John D. MacArthur Campus. For general information, contact Marjorie at 561
- 799 - 8060 or [email protected]
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To feature exciting news and accomplishments in this newsletter,
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