Category: Neuroscience

Amherst College Science Center

Exploring PAR-1 in Neuromuscular Junctions—An Interview With SURF Participant Zakaria Shenwari

Could you briefly describe your research? “Of course! Our lab research is concerned with Drosophila—a fancy name for house flies. We are using the JR neuromuscular junction of Drosophila as a model system. Every student’s research is different, [but] I was assigned to research one of the proteins called PAR-1 within the presynaptic region of…

Supporting PEERs in Biology: An Interview with Prof. Josef Trapani

Joe Trapani

Prof. Trapani joined Amherst College in 2011. He is an Associate Professor in the Biology Department and also contributes to the Neuroscience program. He has chaired the Biology department since July this year. His research involves the use of the model organism larval zebrafish to look at how hair cells encode information which leads to…

Sleep, Summer, and Susceptibility: How Childhood Lead Exposure Impacts Sleep Patterns

Staying up until 2-3AM in high school studying for AP tests, putting together presentations, and sending out club emails, I always assumed I could catch up on sleep later that week (or at the very least over the summer). After joining a sleep research lab two weeks ago, I was shocked to learn how naively…

Uncharted waters

cartoon of fish getting on bus

Hello! My name is Phyllis Oduor, and I am a rising sophomore at Amherst College. I moved to the US from Kenya in August 2019 to start my undergraduate studies. I was born and raised in Kenya from my hometown Nakuru, well-known for its pink flamingos that inhabit Lake Nakuru and its Menengai crater. This…