News and Accomplishments
Recent News from the Renden Lab
September 18, 2023
Our Proposal to examine the synaptic role of DRP1 in SV recycling has been funded! After many submissions (gnashing of teeth, pulling of hair), NIH 1R01NS119980-01A1, co-funded by NIGMS and NINDs, is good for five years! Thanks to NIH for giving us the opportunity to pursue this line of investigation!
August 9, 2023: Ryan's Paper got the cover of JNS!!
July 2023:
Busy month for the Renden Lab, and Ryan Durbin (graduate student), in particular. Ryan's paper on PH changes in the mouse NMJ was accepted by the Journal for Neuroscience. Turns out, postsynaptic liberation of Ca2+ from intracellular stores in muscles are a major contributor to alkaline transients during activity in the synaptic cleft. Moreover, prolonged activity results in a long- lasting acidification of the cleft. And some really cool STED images of the endplate! Reprint at JNS: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0815-23.2023
The SAME WEEK, Ryan passed his comprehensive/ Qualifying exam for promotion to PhD candidacy. Great Job Ryan!
May 1, 2022:
Effective July 1, Dr. Robert Renden has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure. YAY!!
April 21, 2022:
Dr. Sarpras Swain, Ph.D. has joined the lab. Dr. Swain has a doctorate in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology. Welcome Sarpras!
October 28, 2021:
Congratulations to Ryan Durbin, who has been awarded a $4,000 Berner Scholarship for the 2021-2022 academic year. Congrats Ryan!
August 25, 2021:
A long-standing project by Brendan Lujan when the lab first started was published at the Journal of Neurophysiology, examining energy stores and production in the calyx presynaptic terminal (PMID: 34432991). To our surprise, the calyx can run for a LONG time on either glycolysis or OxPhos. As far as we can tell, the calyx synapse can run indefinitely in the absence of glycolysis, as long as monocarboxylates are supplies in the media. When the synapse fails, AP propagation seems to go first. Reprint at APS website: https://doi.org/10.1152/jn.00333.2021
June 1, 2021:
Ryan Durbin, a student in the Integrative Neuroscience Graduate Program, has joined the Renden Lab. We expect great things from Dr. Durbin in the coming year!
December 31, 2020:
The first installation of the Leica Stellaris 8X STED imaging platform in the US is operational at UNR Med.
This state-of-the-art Nanoresolution 3D-STED confocal, with FLIM and Lightning deconvolution, is housed in the High Spatial and Temporal Resolution Imaging core, part of the COBRE for Molecular and Cellular Signal Transduction in the Cardiovascular System. Thanks to all involved in the acquisition of this awesome microscope!
October 31, 2020- Renden Lab spotlight on local TV news:
September 24, 2020- Article re-run in Nevada Appeal
Looks like we are big in Carson City!
September 18, 2020- Article in Northern Nevada Business Weekly:
Our work has been picked up by a local new media outlet!
https://www.nnbw.com/news/2020/sep/18/backed-by-11-million-grant-unr-med-researcher-stud/
August 12, 2020- Cleft alkalization paper highlighted in JNS Journal Club:
Our Recent collaboration with Greg Macleod's Lab (FAU), published in the Journal of Neuroscience in January (PMID:31964719) has been selected for a Journal Club article: www.jneurosci.org/content/40/33/6267
August 2020- Renden Lab Awarded NIH Ro1 research grant:
Great News! The Renden Lab has been awarded a lab research grant, supported by the NINDS and NIGMS. This grant will support the lab for three years, and bring in ~ $1.5 mil to the University. The product of this research will immediately provide new, critical, and fundamental knowledge on the routes of energy supply in healthy neuronal synapses, and how synapses compensate for the loss of mitocondrial function.
June 2020- Renden Lab Research Highlighted in UNR Nevada Weekly
A brief article in the internal UNR publication highlights Dr. Renden's recently funded NSF grant.
May 2020- Award for Synapse for our work on GCaMP expression Despite a dampening of experiments due to the national lockdown, the good news continues to come out of the Renden Lab. Our paper, Presynaptic GCaMP expression decreases vesicle release probability at the calyx of Held., has made it into the 10% of most downloaded papers recently published in Synapse. The research was commended for generating immediate impact and helping to raise the visibility of Synapse.
March 2020- Nevada Today: What does it take to receive a National Science Foundation CAREER award?
Our sincere congratulations one again to Dr. Renden for achieving the prestigious $1.1 million National Science Foundation CAREER research grant. Dr. Renden has been commended in an article from Nevada Today which outlines how researchers go about obtaining this highly sought after award. Dr. Renden joins a group of 30 faculty members from the University of Nevada, Reno who have received the CAREER award since 2013. The article can be found here.
February 2020- NSF CAREER Research Grant
Cause for Celebration recently as the Renden Lab has received funding for a National Science Foundation CAREER grant, seeking to determine the contribution of presynaptic mitochondria to synaptic transmission between neurons in the mammalian brain. We will be able to increase our efforts into understanding synapic transmission at the calyx Held with new lab members and technology. The lacb is also committed to creating a card game explaining the dynamics of synaptic transmission.
January 16, 2020- Research Paper Published in Major Journal
A collaberative effort with Dr. Gregory MaCleod's lab ( Flordia Atlantic University) has been accepted to The Journal of Neuroscience, showing that the synaptic cleft ALKALINIZES at glutamatergic synapses of the Drophila NMJ and mouse calyx of Held. We would like to take the opportunity to thank all involved in the research. The link to the paper can be found here.
December 1, 2019- UNR is a "Hidden Gem" according to College Gazette
University of Nevada, Reno was listed as the third of ten public universities that are not normally considered, that "are institutions consistently demonstrating excellence in their curriculum as well as in student opportunities." The full story can be found here.
July 11, 2019: Reno is ranked as one of "The 12 Best Places to Live" by Outside Magazine.
Turns out Reno is pretty cool. Full story can be found here.