Neuroscience Seminar Series
Delaware State University and the Interdisciplinary Health Equity Research Center proudly present the 2025 Neuroscience Seminar Series. The series will feature six different neuroscience experts from across the country presenting in various areas and topics at the forefront of neuroscience research.
The Series is hosted by Dr. Hakeem Lawal and Dr. Janeese Brownlow and is made possible through the Interdisciplinary Health Equity Research Center.
Each Seminar will take place at 11 a.m. on a Thursday and will be held at the OSCAR Auditorium on the first floor of the Optical Science Center for Applied Research Building on the DSU Campus (unless otherwise noted).
Official Schedule
| Date | Speaker |
| January 23, 2025 | Dr. Dayan Knox, University of Delaware |
| February 13, 2025 | Dr. Jeff Donlea, UCLA |
| February 27, 2025 | Dr. Gina Poe, UCLA |
| March 13, 2025 | Dr. Naomi Sadeh, University of Delaware |
| March 27, 2025 | Dr. Barry Rovner, Thomas Jefferson University |
| April 3, 2025 | Dr. Karine Fenelon, University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
Seminar Descriptions
(Last updated 1/15/25)
Dr. Dayan Knox – “Uncovering circuits and mechanisms that facilitate sex differences in traumatic stress reactivity”
1/23/25 – Location: Science Center 139
While it has been known that women are more likely to develop post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after trauma, mechanisms via which this sex difference manifests are not well understood. This is especially so in preclinical models where many paradigms and stress protocols that are effective in males are not effective in female model systems. In this talk I describe how the single prolonged stress (SPS) model of PTSD has been used in my lab (in conjunction with behavioral, neuroscience, and in vivo MRI techniques) to understand sex difference in traumatic stress reactivity.
Dr. Jeff Donlea – “Using flies to investigate basic functions of sleep”
2/13/25 – Location: TBA
Sleep is a physiological state that has been broadly conserved across evolution but its fundamental biological functions remain poorly understood. The Donlea lab uses fruit flies as a model system to investigate the influence of sleep on synaptic organization in circuits across the brain. We have recently found that plasticity during sleep loss varies between neurotransmitter systems, but plastic trends remain consistent across brain regions. Complementary studies also explore the evolution of sleep across related fly species to examine selective pressures that might drive adaptation in sleep need.