LAB NEWS
July 2023 - Welcome to new postdoc Kirstyn Grams! Kirstyn got her PhD from the Medical College of Wisconsin, where she studied physiological and transcriptional responses to hypercapnia .
Jan 2023 - Welcome to new postdoc Madison Herrboldt! Madison received her PhD from the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Tulsa, studying pheromone receptor expression in salamanders.
October 2022 - Farewell to Tom Eiting, who is starting as an Assistant Professor of Physiology at Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine. Had a great farewell hike with current and past lab members. Good luck, Tom!
September 2022 - A new paper, "Decoding the olfactory map through targeted transcriptomics links murine olfactory receptors to glomeruli" is published in Nature Communications. Beautiful work by Kevin Zhu in the Matsunami lab, generating a probabilistic mapping of odorant receptors to glomeruli across the mouse olfactory bulb, with contributions from Shawn Burton, validating map predictions and providing functional characterizations of select receptors in vivo. An ongoing collaboration with the Matsunami lab as part of the NSF Neuronex Odor2Action network.
July 2022 - Our paper mapping high-sensitivity odorant responses across the dorsal olfactory bulb is published in eLife. By mapping glomeruli of the mouse olfactory bulb to their most-sensitive odorants across a large panel of stimuli, this study reveals exceptionally high sensitivity and exceptionally narrow tuning of olfactory sensory neurons and a sparsely structured organization to response spectra and glomerular maps that reflects basic chemical features of olfactory space. A tour de force from Shawn Burton, with analysis help from Audrey Brown, Tom Eiting, and our Neuronex Odor2Action colleague Michael Schmuker.
June 2022 - Welcome to new lab tech Norm Olsen, and new undergrad researchers Alize Robles and Cole Mika.
November 2021 - Welcome to new postdoc Elvis Acquah, and new lab tech Alex Price!
September 2021 - Andrew Moran's second paper, "Circuit Contributions to Sensory-Driven Glutamatergic Drive of Olfactory Bulb Mitral and Tufted Cells During Odorant Inhalation" is out in Frontiers in Neural Circuits. This study uses iGLuSnFR imaging and in vivo pharmacology to dissect the circuits underlying excitatory drive of mitral/tufted cells during odor inhalation in anesthetized mice. A great study, with key contributions from Tom Eiting.
July 2021 - Farewell to Shaina Short, who starts her new position as Scientist at Recursion, here in SLC, after a job hunting season that yielded multiple offers. Good luck - academia will miss you!
March 2021 - Excited to see Andrew Moran's first paper from his PhD work published in eNeuro. This beautiful study, to which postdoc Tom Eiting also contributed, uses iGluSnFRs to characterize the dynamics of glutamatergic signaling onto olfactory bulb mitral/tufted cells in both anesthetized and awake mice, and shows that these dynamics are remarkably diverse. Stay tuned for the second installment of this story.
August 2020 - Congratulations to Audrey Brown, who was awarded the Association for Chemoreception Science Award for Undergraduate Research for her poster presentation, "Generating Consensus Functional Maps of Sensory Input to Glomeruli of the Mouse Olfactory Bulb", at the recent International Symposium on Olfaction and Taste!
August 2020 - We are excited to be a part of a newly-announced Neuronex research network, funded by the National Science Foundation and the BRAIN Initiative, formed to understand how animals use odor information to guide natural behaviors. The 'Odor2Action' network consists of 16 investigators from 16 research institutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. For more info about the Odor2Action network, check out the website, here.
July 2020 - We have two new papers in the Journal of Neuroscience! The first is from Tom Eiting, characterizing how sniff frequency differentially impacts odor representations by mitral versus tufted cells. The second is computational work done with our collaborators Alla Borisyuk and Daniel Zavitz, examining how short axon cell networks can shape odor representations among glomeruli. Congrats to Tom, Daniel and Isaac!
June 2020 - Shaina is awarded a new R21 grant from NIDCD, "Establishing patterns of dopamine signaling in the olfactory bulb". This project will characterize the dynamics of dopamine signaling in the olfactory bulb in vivo. Congrats to Shaina on this exciting project!
June 2020 - Farewell to Andrew Moran, newly-minted PhD, who will be joining the Restrepo Lab at University of Colorado as a postdoctoral fellow and T32 Training Grant recipient.
January 2020 - Welcome to new lab technican Diana Borrego!
December 2019 - Andrew successfully defends his PhD Thesis, "Optical Analysis of Odor-driven glutamate dynamics
in circuits of the mammalian olfactory bulb". Congratulations Dr. Moran!
September 2019 - Farewell to Shawn Burton, who returns to the Urban Lab at Univ of Pittsburgh as a Research Associate. Good luck!
June 2019 – Shaina’s paper highlighting the importance of glomerular layer inhibition in shaping inhalation-linked temporal dynamics of neuron sub-populations in the olfactory bulb was published in eNeuro. Check it out here:
https://www.eneuro.org/content/6/3/ENEURO.0189-19.2019
June 2019 - Welcome back to NARI intern Jaime Rae Willow Harris, and welcome to UROP fellow Audrey Brown.
April 2019 - Congrats to Shaina on receiving an AChemS Polak Young Investigator award!
March 2019 - Shawn's paper describing our new olfactometer is published in Chemical Senses: https://academic.oup.com/chemse/article/44/3/173/5292343. You can also check it out here: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/461582v1.
Oct. 2, 2018 - Shaina's baby is born! Welcome Iris, and congrats to Shaina and Max!
Sept. 2018 - The Wachowiak lab is awarded a new BRAIN Initiative R01, "Using Functionally Identified Glomeruli to Probe Circuit Function in the Olfactory Bulb", from NINDS.
Sept. 2018 - The renewal of our collaborative R01 with Michael Shipley at University of Maryland, "Basal Forebrain Modulation of Glomerular Function", is funded by NIDCD.
Sept. 2018 - Tom Eiting's Bio-protocols article on artificial sniffing is published here: http://www.bio-protocol.org/e3024.
Great job Tom!
March 2018 - Yusuke returns to Japan as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Integrative Neurophysiology, University of Kanazawa. Congrats to Yusuke, and good luck!
Feb. 2018 - Marta and Isaac's paper, "Inhalation Frequency Controls Reformatting of Mitral/Tufted Cell Odor Representations in the Olfactory Bulb" is published in Journal of Neuroscience.
Oct. 2017 - Shaina receives a Trainee Professional Development Award from the Society for Neuroscience. Congrats!
Sept. 2017 - Shawn's NRSA proposal, "Large-scale monitoring of sensory transformations in the mammalian olfactory system" is funded via the new BRAIN Initiative F32 mechanism. Congrats!
May 2017 - Welcome to Jaime Rae Willow Harris, who joins the lab for the summer as part of the NARI program at the U of U.
April 2017 - Shaina's NRSA proposal, "Inhibitory mechanisms of odor intensity processing in the olfactory bulb" is recommended for funding. Congrats!
July 2016 - Mike E's paper, "Control of Mitral/Tufted Cell Output by Selective Inhibition among Olfactory Bulb Glomeruli", is published in Neuron!
Work....and Life
The lab - and the U of U research community as a whole - values work/life balance, and Salt Lake City offers a fantastic quality of life and a reasonable cost of living. There are many opportunities for outdoor adventure year-round and, despite being the capital of a conservative state, Salt Lake City is culturally and ethnically diverse and relatively progressive, including a thriving microbrew scene and a healthy LGBTQ community. Salt Lake City and the Wasatch Front boast hundreds of miles of trails for hiking and mountain biking as well as premier climbing and backcountry skiing, all within a few miles of downtown. During the winter months, lab members can enjoy any of 6 world-class ski resorts within a 45 min drive Seven of the country's premier national parks are within a 4 - 5 hour drive.