Fall ’25 Wrap-Up Newsletter

And just like that, we say goodbye to the fall semester! As we transition to a new term in MCIN, we wanted to provide a few updates about the fall 2025 semester and upcoming events and projects.

Student update

On December 3, MCIN first-year student Lal Durmaz presented a talk on the outcomes of her time in the Tsunoda lab, marking the end of her first rotation. Lal is now working through her second rotation in the Smith lab and will present on that rotation during the seminar time on Wednesday, February 18. After that, Lal will move on to her third and final rotation for the remainder of the spring term. Our 2024-2025 cohort students, Emma Pinskini and Joel Amralo, are now fully situated in the Myers lab and Moreno lab respectively.

Recruitment

Believe it or not, it’s also time to start thinking about next year’s cohort. The MCIN Graduate Academics Committee, currently chaired by Dr. Chris Vaaga (BMS), is in the process of reviewing applications for the fall ’26 class. Dr. Vaaga is joined on the committee by Dr. Claire de la Serre (BMS) and Dr. Glenn Telling (MIP).  The committee is conducting first-round interviews via Zoom the week of January 12. A second-round on-campus recruitment event will take place on Friday, January 30 for those who progress. Please keep an eye on your emails for information on events and faculty involvement during the January 30 event.  

Seminars

The MCIN spring seminar series will kick off in February. Please keep an eye on your email and our website for a full seminar schedule during the first week of classes. Seminars will continue being held in the H210 classroom of the Anatomy/Zoology building from 12-12:50pm in the spring semester. If any of your students have interest in attending lunch with a particular speaker, please have them reach out to Jane in advance to be added to the lunch plan.

Thanks to everyone who hosted a seminar speaker, served on a committee, and helped teach NB courses in the fall term, and thanks in advance to those of you participating in the spring. We will host a full faculty meeting at the end of the spring semester to go over the year’s events, provide a budget update, and talk about the incoming class. Until then, please reach out to Jane or Susan if you have any questions about getting involved.

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2025-2026 Start of Year Update

Welcome to the start of a semester, MCIN! As we prepare for the start of the fall term, we’d like to share some updates about the program and the year ahead.  

Student update

First and foremost, we are welcoming a new graduate student, Lal Durmaz, to the program. Lal received a bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from Texas Christian University, also in May of this year. 

Irene and Lal ranked in the top two slots on the admission committee’s list, and we are thrilled to welcome them both to the program. If you are interested in hosting either of these students for a rotation, please reach out to Jane for more info. 

Seminars

The MCIN seminar series will kick off on September 10 with a seminar by Dr. Grace Shearrer from the University of Wyoming. Seminars will continue throughout the semester on Wednesdays from 12-12:50pm in the H210 classroom of the Anatomy/Zoology building, following the schedule that was sent out last week. Please encourage your labs to attend as many seminars as possible. Seminars are an important part of the MCIN community and a great way for everyone to network with fellow researchers! If you have an interest in inviting a guest speaker for the spring semester, please reach out to Jane.

Committee changes and faculty participation web page

Spring 2025 also ushered in changes to MCIN committees. We’d like to sincerely thank the members who have concluded their committee terms and welcome new members to their posts! Dr. Patti Davies completed her term on the Graduate Academics Committee, Dr. Fred Hoerndli completed terms on the Executive and Seminar Committees, and Dr. Hollis Karoly completed time on the Undergraduate Academics Committee before she departed CSU.

We truly appreciate the time and effort put forward by everyone involved in MCIN committees. For updated committee lists, you can check out this new page on the MCIN website: Committees & Courses – MCIN at Colorado State University. Also on that page, you’ll find lists of faculty participating in NB courses offered by MCIN this year, and faculty-run journal clubs. We are grateful and proud to have representation of actively participating faculty from across multiple colleges and 12 departments at CSU. If you are interested in getting involved with any of these opportunities to contribute to MCIN, please reach out to Jane or Dr.  Susan Tsunoda.

Neurolink: CSU and UNAM

This summer, MCIN faculty engaged in a new MCIN program called Neurolink, established just last year between CSU and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).  As part of the program, MCIN members Dr. Michael Thomas and Dr. Emily Merz hosted undergraduate student researchers from UNAM for a summer rotation. The students, Angelica Heredia and Daniel Chaguen, spent two months in CSU labs learning new techniques and building partnerships between the two universities.

“Overall, my experience was one of a kind. For this to be my first international experience, it managed to set the bar really high,” Angelica said of her time participating in Neurolink. “I’m deeply grateful to all the people I met at CSU who only made the experience even better.”  While working in the Merz lab Angelica studied neurodevelopment in children, early stimulation, and the impact of socioeconomic factors on development.

Daniel, working in the Thomas lab, investigated fMRI data in patients with Schizophrenia to analyze functional network differences. While his primary goal was to better understand the underlying mechanisms of Schizophrenia, Daniel also wanted to contribute to a valuable cultural exchange between CSU and UNAM.

“The team at CSU introduced an initiative to establish a program focused on UNAM students conducting research internships with a list of available researchers open to collaboration,” Daniel said, “after meeting with Dr. Thomas, I became fully committed to participating in the program.”  

Thanks to the success of the Neurolink program, MCIN is pursuing ways to expand the program to provide more research opportunities for both CSU and UNAM undergraduate students. You can follow along to find more information and updates about the program here.  If you would like to get involved with Neurolink, please contact Dr. Susan Tsunoda.

New MCIN course

This fall, MCIN is launching the redesigned MCIN course, NB502: Cell and Molecular Neurobiology, coordinated by Dr. Susan Tsunoda and Dr. Fred Hoerndli. The course is designed for graduate students seeking to establish a fundamental understanding of cellular and molecular neuroscience and will focus on principles and understanding of cellular neurophysiology, molecular and genetic signaling, as well as classical tools and methods of cellular and molecular neuroscience. The class will bolster students’ understanding of primary literature in cellular and molecular neuroscience and foster their ability to design basic experiments in the field. Anyone interested in the course or looking to register should reach out to Dr. Susan Tsunoda for more details.

The year ahead

We are looking forward to a great year in MCIN and wishing everyone a successful start to the semester. We will host a full-faculty meeting in early December wherein we will provide more updates on the students, the budget , and information about next year’s recruitment. In the meantime, please reach out to Jane or Dr. Tsunoda if you have any questions or are interested in getting more involved!