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President-Elect
Zoe Donaldson
Helen Kamens
Megan Mulligan
Member-At-Large
Jason Bubier
Senior Research Scientist at the Jackson Laboratory has been using mouse genetics to understand the disease for nearly two decades. He became involved with IBANGS in 2013, attending his first meeting in Leuven. In 2022 and 2023, he was a part of the Memphis and Galway meeting organizing committees, designing the schedule, inviting symposiums, selecting abstracts for talks and recipients of travel awards. He joined the Membership committee in 2022 and is excited about the opportunity to serve the society as member at large.
Kristin Scaplen
I am delighted to be considered for the position of member-at-large for the International Behavioral and Neural Genetics Society. I am currently an Assistant Professor of Neuroscience at Bryant University and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Neuroscience at Brown University. I am also the Program Coordinator of the Health Sciences Program and an Executive Faculty Fellow in the Center for Health and Behavioral Sciences at Bryant University. I lead an undergraduate-powered lab focused on understanding the circuit mechanisms of memory for natural and alcohol rewards using Drosophila.
I attended my first IBANGS meeting in 2015 as a postdoctoral fellow in Karla Kaun’s lab at Brown University and have since steadily increased my involvement in the society. In 2019, I took a leadership role as a member of the local organizing committee and program committee for the 2020 IBANGS meeting at Woods Hole in Massachusetts. For this meeting, I organized the first annual IBANGS trainee satellite symposium and sought outside funding opportunities to support the event. The goal of the symposium was to provide all participants with an opportunity to hone their science communication skills, network with other early career trainees at the meeting, and establish a supportive community of peers. I also co-organized and co-hosted a virtual trainee day on September 23rd, 2020, to showcase the work of graduate and postdoctoral trainees that were unable to present when the 2020 meeting was canceled due to COVID.
In the fall of 2020, I became chair of the training and education committee. The goal of the training and education committee is to foster an atmosphere for scientific exchange, provide opportunities for networking among early career trainees and established mentors in the field, as well as establish a supportive community of peers. Since the establishment of the training and education committee, I am happy to report that we have been successful in meeting these goals. In 2021, while still virtual we organized the first annual IBANGS Trainee Symposium. At this symposium hosted a career panel in which trainees had an opportunity to learn about the diversity of careers in science at and away from the bench. We also hosted a grant writing panel that included investigators at various stages of their career who could provide insight to the grant review process. The symposium was wildly successful with 16 different research and data blitz style presentations provided exclusively by trainees. In 2022, we organized another successful IBANGS Trainee Symposium entitled “Networking for Success in Science.” In-person trainees gave two-minute lightning talk followed by an informal small group discussions to facilitate cross-disciplinary interactions. We ended the day by inviting established IBANGS members and mentors in the field for several energetic rounds of speed mentoring. I am thoroughly looking forward to running a similar program at the upcoming IBANGS Trainee Symposium in Galway Ireland. Since 2020, I have also continued my role as a member of the IBANGS program committee. I look forward my continued involvement in the IBANGS and would be delighted to serve as a member-at-large to engage and serve the IBANGS community.
Francesca Telese
I am an Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). I would be honored to be appointed as a member-at-large of the International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society (IBANGS).My research focuses on understanding disease mechanisms contributing to the susceptibility and development of substance use disorders.In my lab, we study the role that transcription factors, chromatin modifications, and non-coding RNAs play in neuroadaptations to addictive drugs, including cannabinoids, opioids, and psychostimulants. To answer these fundamental questions in addiction biology, we combine bulk and single-cell genomics methods with rodent models of addiction. We are also working on genetic studies using outbred rats to understand how single-cell expression and chromatin accessibility QTLs play a role in addiction vulnerability. I recently joined IBANGS as a regular member in 2021, and since then, I have participated in various activities organized by the society. In March 2021, I was a speaker for the virtual IBANGS seminar series organized by Dr. Paul Meyer. In 2022, I joined the Program Organizing Committee for the Annual Genes, Brain & Behavior Meeting, and I was a speaker in one of the selected Symposia for the 23rd Annual Meeting (Memphis, USA, May 23rd-27th, 2022). In 2022, I joined the Training Education Committee and helped organize the Trainee Day held at the Annual Meeting in Memphis. Finally, I have published and reviewed for the Genes, Brain and Behavior Journal. I look forward to contributing more to IBANGS as a member-at-large. I appreciate your consideration and can answer any questions you might have.
Secretary
Amanda Barkley-Levenson
Dr. Amanda Barkley-Levenson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center. She received her PhD in 2015 in Behavioral Neuroscience from Oregon Health & Science University and went on to complete her postdoctoral training in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California San Diego. Dr. Barkley-Levenson’s research is focused on understanding the genetic basis of alcohol use disorder and related psychiatric disorders using genetic mouse models. She has been an active member of IBANGS since 2011 and a frequent attendee of the annual meetings, and she hopes to expand her involvement in the society by serving as secretary.
Alex Keene
My research program investigates the evolution of neural function and behavior, with a particular focus on sleep and metabolic regulation in fish and fly model organisms. We regularly use genetic screens in Drosophila to identify genes and neural circuits underlying sleep-related processes. In parallel, we have been developing the Mexican cavefish as a model for studying how sleep evolves in different environmental conditions. I have served as director of NIH and NSF undergraduate training grants at Florida Atlantic University. In 2021 I moved to Texas A&M where I serve as Head of the Biology Department.
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