Lab News

2023

• Cass Dedert received the Sigma Xi Grants in Aid of Research Award! Congratulation, Cass!

• Our graduate students (Kristina Springer and Cass Dedert) and undergraduate students (Julia Petti and Vandana Mishra) received Knoedler Research Funds.  Congratulations to all! 

2022

• Julia Lanfersieck, an undergraduate neuroscience student in our lab and a 2022 NeuroSURF fellow, presented her research in the 4th Henry and Amelia Nasrallah Center for Neuroscience Research Symposium and received the best Undergraduate Presentation award. Congratulations, Julia! 

• We had a very fun and productive summer of 2022, please check our newsletter here!!! 

            2022 Xu Lab Summer Newsletter : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VUHAGLDvxjn2ldMDrH_5OTIrRI3KYKW-/view?usp=sharing

• Kyle Pemberton (our former graduate student), Martina Rosato (our former postdoc, co-first author), and Cass Dedert (current Ph.D student) have their manuscript accepted for publication in eNeuro. The title of the article is "Differential Effects of the G Protein-Coupled Estrogen Receptor (GPER) on Rat Embryonic (E18) Hippocampal and Cortical Neurons"Congratulations to all for the great collaborative work! 

• Cass Dedert (Ph.D stduent) and Vandana Mishra (Undergraduate student) have their paper in print by the Frontier in Cellular Neuroscience. The title of the article is "Progranulin Preserves Autophagy Flux and Mitochondrial Function in Rat Cortical Neurons Under High Glucose Stress", DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2022.874258. Very well done and Congratulations, Cass and Vandana! 

• Lyuba Salih (second year Ph.D student) has been chosen for funding by the SLU Department of Pharmacology NIH T32 Training Grant in Pharmacological Sciences. Congratulations, Lyuba!

• We are extremely excited to welcome four high school students joining our lab to conduct summer research from June 13-July 22! They are Colin He (UMSL STARS program), Taiylor Carr (Saint Louis Science Center Youth Exploring Science program), Jessie Wang (Volunteer), and Sophia He (Volunteer)! Welcome and look forward to working with all of you! It is going to be a fun and productive summer!

• Kyle Pemberton (our former graduate student) and Martina Rosato (our former postdoc) have a co-authored paper published in ACS Chem Neuroscience. The title of the article is "Novel GPER Agonist, CITFA, Increases Neurite Growth in Rat Embryonic (E18) Hippocampal Neurons". This is a collaborative project with Dr. Chris Arnatt (corresponding author) at SLU chemistry department.

• Vandana Mishra (Junior, biology major) in Xu lab received 1st place presentation award for the Undergraduate Life and Biological Sciences in the SLU Sigma Xi Research Symposium “Benefits of progranulin on mitochondrial health”. 

• Brittany Hoelscher (our former graduate student) has been awarded the Distinguished Dissertation award from SLU College of Arts and Sciences. Congratulations, Brittany! Very well deserved!

• Congratulations to our undergraduate student Julia Lanfersieck who received the DeNardo NeuroSURF fellowship award for working in our lab this summer from May to August 2022. Look forward to working with you, Julia!

• Our graduate students Lyuba Salih, Kristina Springer, Cass Dedert and undergraduate student Julia Lanfersieck received Knoedler Research Award for their own projects. Very well done and so proud of you all! 

2021  

• Our graduate students Cass, Lyuba, and Kristina did fantastic jobs in their doctoral oral exams. They are now advanced to doctoral candidacy! Congratulations to all! We had a small gathering to celebrate their success!

• Our graduate student Mr. Cass Dedert (Ph.D program in Biology) and undergraduate student Ms. Vandana Mishra (Junior, Biology major) received the Graduate/Undergraduate Research Collaboration Fund Award from SLU College of Arts and Sciences for the project titled “Progranulin protects against high glucose-induced mitochondrial dysfunction in cortical neurons”. Congratulations, Cass and Vandana! 

• We welcome two new undergraduate students joining our research lab in the fall of 2021. They are Ms. Julia Petti (Sophomore in Neuroscience) and Mr. Andrew Hill (Sophomore in Neuroscience)! We are looking forward to working with you!

• Our transcriptomic study of Lymnaea stagnalis CNS genes in young, adult, and old animals has been published in BMC Genomics! Congratulations to Dr. Martina Rosato (postdoc), Dr. Brittany Mersman (Ph.D graduate student), and Mr. Chidera Agwu (undergraduate student)! Thanks Dr. Lin for your contributions to this work! Congratulations to all! This is the first study sought to uncover and analyze genes in the central nervous system of the freshwater Lymnaea stagnalis at different developing ages including old and aging animals. We are very excited for these data and many intriguing questions can come out of this study! https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-021-07946-y

• Our collaborative work with folks at SLU School of Medicine studying Adropin's effects on improving cognitive function in aging mice was accepted for publication by the prestigious npj Aging and Mechanisms of Disease! Our lab has contributed to the discovery of the direct effects of Adropin on promoting neuronal morphological development and neuronal firing activity in primary cultured mouse hippocampal neurons (Fig. 5). This work was done by our undergraduate student, Prerana (Rayna) and graduate student Brittany! https://www.nature.com/articles/s41514-021-00076-5

• Brittany successfully defended her Ph.D thesis on April 30! She passed the oral defense with distinction and her written thesis was rated excellent! Brittany has been a very dedicated student in the lab and has contributed significantly to our lab research in many different ways! She will be so much missed by all lab members! Brittany, we wish you the best of luck for your future endeavors!

• Brittany was awarded the Outstanding Graduate Student Research Award and the Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award in the Department of Biology at SLU! Very well deserved! We are so proud of you!

• Our undergraduate student Mr. Chidera Agwu (senior, neuroscience major) was awarded the Knoedler Undergraduate Research Fund to study "The effects of pesticide rotenone on Lymnaea hemocytes and the potential protective methods." Congratulations!

• Dr. Xu received the SLU President's Research Fund Award for the project "Trophic factors regulate complexing and synaptotagmin 1 curing synapse formation". Thanks to the Science and Engineering Research Council and OVPR at SLU for the award!

• Ms. Brittany Mersman was awarded first place for the "Three-Minute Thesis" competition - Saint Louis Univeristy chapter (doctoral category)! The title of her presentation is "Can consuming energy drinks help a developing brain grow." Very well done, Brittany! Congratulations!

• We warmheartedly WELCOME three new undergraduate students join our lab this spring semester. They are Ms. Julia Lanfersieck (sophomore, neuroscience major), Ms. Vandana Mishra (sophomore, biology major), and Mr. Asad Siddiqui (freshman, neuroscience major). We very much look forward to work with you!

2020  

• Dr. Martina Rosato gave another excellent talk in our 2nd Annual SLU Department of Biology Research Retreat. Her talk is about "Transcriptome analysis provides genome annotation and expression profiles in the nervous system of Lymnaea stagnalis". This project is supported by NSF fund. 

• Our postdoc Dr. Martina Rosato received the best presentation award (postdoctoral category)  from SLU Henry and Amelia Nasrallah Center for Neuroscience at SLU. She was also invited to give a talk for the 2nd Annual Center for Neuroscience Research symposium on November 13, 2020. The title of her talk is "Transcriptome analysis provides genome annotation and expression profiles in the nervous system of Lymnaea stagnalis". Well done and congratulations, Martina, for the excellent talk and the presentation award!

• Our collaborative work studying the CtBP1 mutation affects on iPSC neurons was accepted for publication by the Frontiers in Neuroscience! Our lab has contributed to the characterization of CtBP1 mutation-induced changes in iPSC neural morphology and physiology using phase contrast,  immunocytochemistry, electrophysiology, and calcium imaging techniques. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2020.562292

• Brittany has another paper published in  Frontier in Synaptic Neuroscience. Congratulations, Brittany! https://doi.org/10.3389/fnsyn.2020.00029

• Kyle Pemberton successfully defended his thesis in April. He passed the oral defense with distinction and his written thesis was rated as Excellent. Very well done and Congratulations, Kyle! The title of his thesis is "The effects of the G-protein-coupled estrogen receptor on early neuronal development in hippocampal and cortical neurons". 

• Dr. Fenglian Xu received an honorable mention 2019 Faculty Grantwinner Award from Saint Louis University. It is a great honor to receive this award!

• Brittany and Sonia have a paper published in Frontier in Synaptic Neuroscience. Congratulations! The genetic and molecular information about gap junction coding innexin genes in our Lymnaea stagnalis is critical for further studies of gap junctions using this robust invertebrate model organism.  We thank NSF for supporting this project!   https://doi.org/10.3389/fnsyn.2020.00001

• Drs. Xu (Biology) and Arnatt (Chemistry) were awarded a seed grant from the SLU Henry and Amelia Nasrallah Center for Neuroscience. We sincerely thank the center for supporting junior faculty in collaborations. 

2019

• Ms. Sonia Jolly, a senior year undergraduate student in Xu lab, was recently awarded the Spirit of the Billiken Senior Recognition Award! Sonia has been a very dedicated undergraduate student research assistant in the lab since the first day she joined lab in August, 2017.  She has contributed to our lab research in many ways. She is a second author of one manuscript that is under revision! She deserves the award. We are very pround of you, Sonia! Congratulations!

• Ms. Brittany Mersman was awarded second place for the "Three-Minute Thesis" competition - Saint Louis Univeristy chapter! The title of her presentation is "What Can Snails Teach Us? Utilizing Non-Mammalian Organism in Scientific Research." Very well done, Brittany! Congratulations!

• We are thrilled to have Martina Rosato, a brilliant postdoctoral fellow, to join our lab for the NSF funded project! Welcome, Martina!

• The Xu lab recently received NSF funding for a project studying the mechanisms of electrical synapse formation! Thanks NSF for the strong support of advancing fundamental research and training students in STEM.

• Ms. Brittany Mersman won the second place of poster presentation award in the SLU Graduate Research Symposium! Well done, Brittany! Congratulations!

• Ms. Prerana (Rayna) Jayanth ayna presented her capstone project in the SLU Biology Undergraduate Research Symposium. She was selected to present again in SLU Senior Legacy Symposium based on her excellent job in presenting in the Biology Symposium. Congratulations, Rayna! You rock!

• Ms. Brittany Mersman and Mr. Kyle Pamberton presented their research in the international Experimental Biology (EB) conference (April 6-9) in Orlando, FL. They also presented in the Society for Neuroscience (October 19-23) in Chicago. They both did awesome job! We all enjoyed these conferences very much! 

• Congratulations to Prerana (Rayna) Jayanth (neuroscience major, senior) who received this year's James D. Collins Award for Student Excellence (Outstanding Neuroscience Senior Award)! Rayna is a valued undergraduate student research assistant in Dr. Xu lab since 2016. Very well deserved, Rayna!

• Dr. Fenglian Xu was awarded the 2019 William V. Stauder, S.J. Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching - Natural Sciences. Thank you so much for the award! https://www.slu.edu/arts-and-sciences/pdfs/celebrating-faculty-staff-excellence-2019.pdf

• Dr. Fenglian Xu was nominated for both the Undergraduate Teaching Award and Undergraduate Mentoring Award. Thank you very much, colleague and students for the nomination!

• Mr. Kyle Pamberton passed the Ph.D. oral thesis exam on January 28, 2019! You did a fatanstic job, Kyle! Congratulations!

• Ms. Brittany Mersman successfully passed the Ph.D. oral thesis exam with distinction! Congratulations, Brittany! Very well done!

2018

• Ms. Jalaja Madhusudhanan has recently joined our lab for a summer research internship. Jalaja is a graduate student from Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER). She has recently received a prestigious Khorana Scholarship (top 3% students were awarded). It is a great honor to host you, Jalaja, in our research lab at SLU.  For more information about the Khorana Scholars Program, please check http://www.winstepforward.org and 

• http://iusstf.org/assets/sitesfile/image/download_links/pdf/pdf_1712121301.pdf 

• We welcome Ms. Haniya Habib and Ms. Sudheesha Paladugu, two students from the STARS program to join our lab this summer! We look forward to working with you, Haniya and Sudheesha!

• Congratulations to Kyle Pemberton, Brittany Mersman, and Dr. Xu for having a paper published in the Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education (JUNE). 

• Congratulations to Brittany Mersman (Ph.D. candidate in Xu lab) who received the Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid of Research award for her project "Cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying electrical synapse formation”. 

• Congratulations to Brittany Mersman and Kyle Pemberton on your success in passing the Ph.D. qualification written exams!

• Congratulations to Dr. Xu who received the SLU Beunment Faculty Development Fund (BFDF) award for her project entitled "The role of trophic factors and activity-dependent mechanisms in electrical synapse formation". We thank the Office of the Vice President for Research for the support of this project. 

• Congratulations to Jason Cocjin and Uddish Mondal (senior year undergraduate students in the Neuroscience Program) for the excellent presentation of their poster titled "Understanding the role of deubiquitinating protein MINDY-1 in Neurons'' in the Undergraduate Student Research Symposium organized by the SLU Biology Department. They are going to present the same but updated story of MINDY function in neurons in the SLU Senior Legacy Symposium on April 18.

  • Congratulations to Dr. Xu who received the SLU President's Research Fund (PRF) award in the amount of $25,000 for her project studying the role of trophic factors in the regulation of gap junction innexin expression, protein trafficking, and synaptic assembly during electrosynaptogenesis between Lymnaea central neurons.

  • Congratulations to Dr. Xu whose second-author paper titled:"A novel approach to primary cell culture for Octopus vulgaris neurons " was published in the Frontiers in Physiology in March.

2017

• Congratulations to Kyle Pemberton (Ph.D. candidate in Dr. Xu lab) on winning the Best Graduate Student Poster Presentation at the 3rd Annual SLU Neuroscience Symposium on Nov 3, 2017. The title of this poster is "The role of G-protein coupled estrogen receptor in neurite outgrowth of cortical neurons".

• Congratulations to Kyle Pemberton (Ph.D. candidate in Xu lab) who received the Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid of Research award for his project: The role of G-protein coupled estrogen receptor (GPER1) in the early development of axonal process and polarity”. 

• Congratulations to Brittany Mersman (Ph.D. candidate in Xu lab) who received the Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid of Research award for her project "Investigation of the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the mitochondrial division inhibitor 1 (Mdivi-1)-induced neural protection from cytotoxicity”. 

• Congratulations to Ms. Prerana Jayanth (undergraduate student in Xu lab, Junior in Neuroscience program) who received the NeuroSURF fellowship from the SLU Center for Neuroscience! Check the link to find more information about the award and the center for neuroscience program at SLU: https://sites.google.com/a/slu.edu/slu-center-for-neuroscience/home

• Congratulations to Dr. Xu who received two SPARK Microgrants from the  Office of the Vice President for Research at SLU·

  1. Project 1: “Molecular study of electrical synapses in the central nervous system of the mollusc Lymnaea stagnalis”. The objective of this project is to clone the gap junction genes in Lymnaea central nervous system and conduct protein structural analysis and phylogenetic inferences (in collaboration with Dr. Dapeng Zhang and Dr. Zhenguo Lin in the Biology department, SLU).

  2. Project 2: “A study of neural growth and regeneration on topographic carbon nanotube (CNTs)-hydrogel scaffolds”.  The objective of this project is to test how carbon nanotube-hydrogel composites could interact with neurons and promote their growth and regeneration after nerve injury (in collaboration with Dr. Silviya Zustiak in Biomedical Engineering and Dr. Irma Kuljanishvili in Physics Departments, SLU) 

·       

2015-2016

1. Welcome all members in Xu's lab. These students are 

    Sebastian Chirayil : Sophomore,  Biochemistry Major

    Pallavi Mhaskar: Sophomore, Neuroscience Major

    Jane Lee: Junior,  Biomedical Engineering Major

    Azfar Shaik: Junior, Biology Major

    Priya Shah: Senior, Neuroscience Major

    Zorawar Singh: Senior, Biology Major

    Nicki Patel: Sophomore, Neuroscience Major

    Amber Olson: Senior Year of High School

2. Students (Priya, Jane, Pallavi, Sebastian, Azfar) have completed an abstract and submitted to the first SLU Center for Neuroscience symposium for a poster presentation on Oct 30, 2015. The title of the poster is "The Mollusk Lymnaea Stagnalis as a Model Organism: From Molecules to System". 

Priya Shah and Pallavi Mhaska will represent all students and present the poster.

3. Dr. Xu will attend the 45th Annual Society of Neuroscience meeting in Chicago from Oct 16-21, 2015. She will present a poster entitled:" Taurine increases neurotic outgrowth and promotes synapse development in the central nervous system". She will present the same poster to our SLU center for Neuroscience members on Oct 30th.

4. Dr. Xu presented her poster in SFN on Oct 18th. She had a wonderful time in the meeting. She visited many booths of vendors for equipments and lab supplies. She  was actively networking with scholars, professors and students. Importantly, she has established a connection through friends for a collaborative research opportunity with an expert in the field of nanoparticles! This was a absolutely fantastic experience! Thanks for the generous support for this trip from the Department of Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences at SLU!

5. Priya and Pallavi successfully presented their poster on Oct 30th, 2015 in SLU Center for Neuroscience first symposium! This is their first time presenting a poster and they both did excellent job!  I am very proud of you! Thank you also to other students who contribute to put such a great poster together. The poster will be displayed on the wall in front of the lab.

6. Priya presented a poster in the Biology undergraduate research symposium in March 2016; Priya and Sebastian had a poster presentation in Saint Louis Area Undergraduate Research Symposium (STLAURS) at Washington University in Saint Louis in April 2016. It was a fantastic and very successful symposium!

7. Dr. Xu was a judge of SLU Graduate Student Association (GSA) symposium (oral and poster sections) in April, 2016, STLURS (oral and poster) in April 2016, and  SLU Chapter Sigma Xi research symposium (poster, adding the scores) in May 2016. Thanks for the opportunity to volunteer in these great symposiums. Dr. Xu was very impressed by the quality of students' research and students' superb communication skills.