gregory Davis

ABOUT THE RESEARCHER:

1.     Who are you doing research with this summer and what kind of research project are you doing?

I am currently working with Dr. Asha Suryanarayanan and Steven Decker. For my summer project I am working alongside Steven’s research. These two experiments include “the two bottle choice” assay and the MED64 assay. Steven is currently researching the effects of Desformylflustrabromine (dFBr) on the brain. Which is a positive allosteric modulator (PAM) that affects the GABAA receptor in the brain. The two bottle choice assay consists of providing ethanol and water to rats over long periods of time in order to observe consumption over long periods of time, in hopes the administration of the drug will decrease daily consumption. The MED64 assay consists of observing hippocampal brain slices from rats in order to observe long term potentiation (LTP) which is assumed to be associated with memory. We hope to observe an increase in LTP after the administration of dFBr compared to a placebo. 

2. What do you find fascinating in the research you’re doing?

What I find interesting in the work I'm currently doing is being able to look back and observe the data after long periods of time. Throughout my research the assays can sometimes be repetitive and seem slow, but once weeks had passed and we started observing some of the trends on graphs it was so fascinating to see the changes happening as well as being able to understand them. We were able to see the increase in alcohol consumption as the young rats slowly became addicted to the ethanol solution. In the MED64 assay learning how to properly extract a brain was an interesting technique to have acquired and observed. However the work we are doing in the lab could potentially help patients suffering from alcohol addiction and possibly neurodegenerative diseases which are highly researched topics in the healthcare industry since there is little treatment available to those patients currently.    

3. What skills are you learning through the USURF experience?

I am currently learning more about rat handling and within that learning how to perform a proper brain extraction and using a vibratome in order to generate thin enough brain slices to be used on the MED64 machine. I am also practicing my skills in data collection and analysis using Microsoft excel. 

4. What are the challenges you’re encountering in your research?

Some challenges that we encountered were initially trying to get the rats to become addicted to the ethanol solution using sucrose. This took an extra week of slowly decreasing the amount of sucrose added to ethanol. The rats eventually started to drink 20% ethanol solution of just water and ethyl alcohol. 

5. How is your USURF experience impacting the way you view your field?

I didn't know my field involved neuroscience work and after my research experience I realized that my degree involves a broad range of areas, including neuroscience. This area is such a unique and exciting topic to be studying because the human brain is so complex and there is so little known about it. In my future career path I would like to continue to work in the neuroscience field. 

6. Tell us something interesting about yourself.

In my free time I enjoy taking out my dirtbike and riding in the trails behind my house.