News
TIMELINE 2014-2022
September 2021. Welcome back to Fall! Good luck to all students, staff, faculty for a healthy remainder of 2021. Dr. Lee is back teaching her class, PHCL 4343 Pharmacology of the Synapse in-person for Fall.
May 2021. We hope everyone is doing well this year and that people are in a better spot compared with last year. The lab is slowly recovering from a stressful year and we're looking forward to the summer. Thank goodness for vaccines! Although there have been few updates over the last few months, so many exciting things have occurred in the Lee lab.
First and foremost, Dr. Janna Moen successfully defended her PhD in January 2021!!! Congratulations Dr. Moen!!! She is now a post-doctoral fellow with Dr. Paul Kenny at Mt. Sinai in NY.
We have a new research scientist in the laboratory, Shaydel Engel, and a new PhD graduate student, Amelia Schneider. Welcome to the lab and we are so glad you're here.
Fayzeh El Banna has been accepted into the Clinical Psychology and Psychopathology PhD program at the University of Minnesota! Congratulations Fayzeh and we will miss you after you leave in August 2021 to start your program.
Runbo Gao will also be leaving us to start his PhD at Baylor College of Medicine in TX this August 2021! Congratulations and we will miss you.
Dr. Anna Lee was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure, which will be effective June 21, 2021. Thank you to everyone, students, colleagues, mentors, friends and family!
December 2020. We welcome some new faces in our laboratory: Runbo Gao, a new Research Technician, and Siddharth Sobti, a new Masters of Pharmacology student. Welcome to the lab!
September 2020. Well folks, it's been quite a year. The Lee lab has been chugging along as best we can, while also taking care of ourselves and the important things in life. A couple of notable celebratory points to mention:
Paper publications! We have 4 papers published in 2020(!): undergrad students Alyssa Wong and Scott McElroy co-first authorship on electronic cigarettes, Janna Moen's amazing paper on sex differences in nAChR regulation, Jill Touchette and Janna Moen's co-first authorship on alcohol aversion, and Margot DeBaker's paper on alcohol and nicotine co-consumption. Congratulations to all!
New project! We are excited to be co-investigator on an R01 with Dr. Steven Graves (Department of Pharmacology, University of Minnesota) on chronic alcohol and Alzheimer's related pathogenesis. We have some exciting data and can't wait to see where this project goes.
Wishing everyone the best through this odd time.
Janna will be presenting her work during the Gordon Research Seminar on Alcohol and the Nervous System, February 29, 2020. Make sure to check it out if you're at the GRS, or stop by her poster at the GRC!
Pre-prints galore! Read all about them!
Margot's first first-author paper has been accepted in Alcohol! Congratulations to everyone involved, this paper was a true team effort in the Lee lab!
A huge welcome to new graduate student Sarah Mulloy and research scientist Fayzeh El Banna! Read their profiles on the members page.
Jenna Robinson got into med school!!!!! We will miss her a lot but since she's studying at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, she can come visit us :D
RSA 2019! The Lee lab had a great time at RSA this year, especially since it was in Minneapolis and offered a great opportunity to showcase the city.
Good-bye 2018 and Welcome 2019!!
We had a fun and busy year in science. I am very much looking forward to 2019, there are a lot of developments and exciting projects/papers to come this year. Stay tuned!!!
Fall semester (September - December 2018): Another semester, another year! We say good-bye to 2018 with some notable developments.
Janna Moen presented at the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego for the first time! Way to go Janna! There was great interest in her project and she was busy for the entire 4 hour session. Stay tuned for more news on Janna's second exciting project on sex differences in genetic regulation of alcohol and nicotine co-addiction!
Carli Poisson (Graduate Program in Neuroscience) rotated with us in the Fall. We enjoyed her energy and enthusiasm and wish her good luck in the rest of her rotations :)
Adelyn Tsai joined the lab as an undergraduate research student with an Undergraduate Research Scholarship. Congratulations Adelyn and welcome to the team.
July - August 2018: I can't believe summer flew by!
Our amazing summer student, Lauren Turner, presented her work at the LSSURP symposium on August 9, 2018. We will miss her in the lab!
Next, we welcome our new Research Technician, Cecilia Huffman! Check out our members page for her profile.
Finally, Jenna Robinson defended her Master's project in August and will graduate at the end of the month. Congratulations Master Robinson!
June 2018: A very busy June for the Lee lab.
First, we welcome Lauren Turner, our LSSURP student for this summer. Lauren is finishing her freshman year at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Her major is biology and she hopes to pursue an MD/ PhD after graduating. Lauren is working on an exciting DIY 3D printed 3-bottle mouse lickometer project this summer.
Second, Jill Touchette, Janna Moen and Anna Lee attended the Research Society on Alcoholism meeting in San Diego. It was Janna's first national scientific meeting and in all the commotion, we forgot to take poster pictures!! The projects and talks were very well received, and we look forward to the next RSA meeting in Minneapolis!!! I promise to take pictures the next time around.
Third, at the end of June, Jill Touchette had her final day in the Lee lab before moving on to a career of science writing. We will all miss her positive energy in the lab.
May 2018: Lots of news in the Lee lab recently!
We recently received our Notice of Award for R01 funding! Woot woot! This is fantastic news and we have very exciting projects that are coming up. With this funding, the Lee lab is looking to hire a post-doctoral fellow. Please contact Dr. Lee at amlee@umn.edu if interested.
Also, we welcome our new graduate student Margot DeBaker to the lab :)
April 2018: Julia Myjak presented her Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program poster on April 20th at Northrup Auditorium. She's already landed a job and she hasn't graduated yet!! Way to go Julia!
TRAVEL AWARDS!
Janna Moen has received a Stark Award and Jill Touchette received a Pharmacology Travel Award to present their work at the upcoming Research Society on Alcoholism meeting in San Diego, CA, June 2018. Fantastic!
March 2018: Jill Touchette presented her research at the 2018 Young Investigator Research Symposium at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, where she won the best poster presentation by a postdoc. Congratulations Jill!
PS. the prize was headphones!!
February 2018: Janna Moen presented her thesis work at the annual Graduate Program in Neuroscience retreat at the Science Museum of Minnesota. Great job, Janna!
January 2018: Our newest paper detailing the effects of sazetidine-A in nicotine and alcohol consumption is now out in Neuropharmacology! Congratulations to first author Jill Touchette!
October 2017: Janna was nominated as one of two University of Minnesota graduate students to the national competition for the Lindau prize. Congratulations! Finalists of the national competition will go to Lindau, Germany to meet and speak with Nobel Laureates in Medicine and Physiology. Good luck Janna!
September 2017: The Department of Pharmacology held its annual retreat at the Commons Hotel. Jill won the best poster presentation by a postdoc competition! Congratulations and enjoy your prize money!!!
Itasca 2017: I had a great time teaching the neuropharmacology module for the incoming Neuroscience PhD students at Itasca. Good luck to everyone in their first year!
August 2017: Soniya Coutinho presented her research project at the LSSURP symposium on August 10. Fantastic job Soniya, and thanks for joining our lab for the summer.
July 2017: Jill presented her work at the Department of Pharmacology Faculty Research Club. Nice work Jill!
Research Society on Alcoholism annual meeting, June 2017.
Jill and Anna attended the RSA meeting at the RSA meeting in Denver, Colorado. Jill presented her latest work at the meeting. Great work Jill!
JUNE 30, 2017: We'd like to say a fantastic farewell to the amazing Ky O'Rourke, who has left to pursue a Masters degree in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Minnesota.
Thanks for all your hard work and cheerful attitude!
JUNE 2017: Our summer student from the Life Sciences Summer Undergraduate Research Program (LSSURP) this year is Soniya Coutinho. She is studying Neuroscience at Macalester College with a minor in Chemistry. She is particularly interested in pharmacology and substance abuse research, and is excited to be a part of the Lee lab this summer. Welcome Soniya!
MAY 2017: Good news for our lab this month!
Janna has been appointed to the NIDA T32 Neuroscience of Drug Abuse training grant! Congratulations Janna!
Also, Ky has been accepted into the Masters program in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Minnesota. Congratulations Ky!
EARTH DAY, APRIL 22, 2017: It was a beautiful day for the Minnesota March for Science. It was amazing to see so many people supporting science, innovation and critical thinking in our daily life.
APRIL 2017: Maggie presented her research at the Undergraduate Research Day symposium in Northrup Hall.
MARCH 2017: Our two undergraduate students, Margaret Mason and Rachael Pearson, have both been accepted into the Pharmacy program here at the University of Minnesota, the 2nd ranked program in the USA. Congratulations to both of them! Drop by the lab and say hello if you have a spare moment :)
FEBRUARY 2017: Janna presented her data at the Graduate Program in Neuroscience annual retreat in downtown Minneapolis.
Janna also presented her work at the second annual Wallin Neuroscience Discovery day in McNamara Hall on campus.
JANUARY 2017: Our new editorial review is out! Congratulations to Jill Touchette!
JULY 2017: Jill Touchette has been appointed to the NIDA T32 Neuroscience of Drug Abuse Training Grant! Congratulations Jill!
DECEMBER 2016: Good news! We have been awarded a University of Minnesota Medical Foundation New Investigator Grant!
NOVEMBER 2016: Jill presented a poster at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego, Nov 12-16, 20-16.
JUNE 2016: Lots of news this month!
Our very first research paper is out in Neuropharmacology! CONGRATULATIONS to all the authors who worked so hard on it!
Jill and Anna are headed to this year's Research Society on Alcoholism annual meeting in New Orleans, June 25-29, 2016, to present 2 posters.
Angela Liu is joining us for the summer as part of the LSSURP program. Angela is a sophomore at Columbia University, majoring in neuroscience and behavior and minoring in visual art. Welcome to the lab, Angela!
SEPTEMBER 2015: Our undergrad student, Racheal Pearson, presented her first scientific poster at the Department of Pharmacology Retreat on September 11, 2015. Great job Rachael!
JUNE 2015: Our summer students from the Life Sciences Summer Undergraduate Research Program (LSSURP) have arrived! Lizzie Warren is a junior at Macalester college majoring in Biology with a strong interest in neuroscience. Anibal is a sophomore at the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey pursuing a B.A in Natural Sciences majoring on Biology. He has been an active member of Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE), as well as the ACS chapter in his college during his freshman year.
DECEMBER 2014: Good news! We have been awarded an Academic Health Center Seed Grant by the University of Minnesota Medical School.
AUGUST 2014: The Lee lab opens in Nils Hasselmo Hall at the University of Minnesota!