ACHIEVEMENTS
Souzane Ntamubano at ISRS | Summer ’22
Souzane Ntamubano presenting her poster on the impacts of chronic imidacloprid exposure on the learning and memory of adult CD-1 mice at the 2022 Illinois Summer Research Symposium.
Dr. Stephanie Soriano’s PhD Defense | Spring ’22
Dr. Stephanie Soriano successfully defending her PhD
Jacob Maxon Research Presentation | Spring ’22
PhD student Jacob Maxon presenting a poster on the effects of in utero exposure to phthalates on sexual behavior in mice
Camryn and John Poster Presentation | Spring ’22
Camryn DuSold and John Salazar presenting a poster on how phthalate exposure in mice impacted anxiety-like behaviors.
Spring 2024
- News: Dr. Mahoney and Selin Aktuna attended the Society of Toxicology annual meeting in Salt Lake City Utah. They both presented posters.
Summer 2023
- News: We have a summer undergraduate toxicology student working in the lab testing spatial memory in mice exposed to a pesticide.
- News: We have a summer Veterinary Student developing machine learning to analyze ultrasonic vocalizations in mice exposed to phthalates.
Spring 2023
- Grant: Dr. Mahoney received an NIH grant to examine the effects of pesticides on cognition in mice
- News: The Mahoney lab attended the Society for Toxicology Conference. Jake, Colin, and Selin presented posters.
Summer 2022
- News: MCB Undergraduates Truman Poteat and Kendall McFarlin have joined the lab.
Spring 2022
- News: Dr. Mahoney received an excellence in teaching award from the College of Veterinary Medicine
- Congratulations: Stephanie Soriano successfully defended her PhD! Congratulations Dr. Soriano!
- Grant: Dr. Mahoney received the Arnold O. Beckman Campus Research Board grant to look at the impact of a pesticide on cognitive behaviors, acetylcholine receptor expression, and acetylcholine release in male and female mice.
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Winter 2021
- News: Post doctoral fellow Colin Lee has joined the lab.
Fall 2021
- News: Graduate Student Jake Maxon has joined the lab.
- News: The Mahoney Lab attended the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting
Spring/Summer 2021
- News: Graduate Student Stephanie Soriano received a spot on the T32 Toxicology Training Grant.
- News: Graduate Student Stephanie Soriano received a Welcome Initiative Award from the Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology
- News: Megan Mahoney received the NSO Faculty Recognition of Excellence from The Neuroscience Student Organization.
Summer 2020/Fall 2020
- News: Graduate Student Stephanie Soriano received the Billie Fields Fellowship
- News: Katherine Hatcher successfully defended her PhD titled EXAMINING THE ASSOCIATIONS OF ENDOGENOUS HORMONES AND PHTHALATE EXPOSURE WITH SLEEP IN MIDLIFE WOMEN. She is now a post doc at Albany Medical College.
- Grant: Dr. Mahoney was awarded an NIH grant titled “Gender and sex differences in phthalate-induced toxicity in the reproductive system”. She will work with Co-PIs Dr. Bagchi and Flaws to discover how endocrine disrupting chemicals impact reproductive behaviors and tissues.
- News: Dr. Mahoney was appointed to the Graduate College Executive Committee.
- Presentation: Dr. Mahoney gave an invited seminar at the University of Georgia on the impact of phthalates on biological rhythms.
- Published: Dr. Hatcher and Dr. Mahoney published a paper on associations of phthalate exposure with sleep in menopausal women. Read more here
- Published: Dr. Hatcher and Dr. Mahoney, along with collaborators Dr. Eubig and Balachandran, published a paper on changes in sustained attention in rats undergoing circadian disruption. Read more here
- News: Graduate Student Stephanie Soriano was awarded a spot in the Toxicological Scholars Program!
SPRING 2019 NEWS
- Published: Katherine and Dr. Mahoney published recent work from a collaboration with Dr. Jodi A. Flaws on the effects of ancestral exposure to di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate on anxiety-like behaviors and gene expression in male and female mice in Physiology & Behavior. Read more here.
- Invited talk: Katherine presented her research on the impacts of two models of circadian disruption on locomotor activity, reproductive outcomes, and clock gene expression in the suprachiasmatic nucleus in male and female Long-Evans rats at the Environmental Protection Agency in Raleigh, NC in April.
- Presentations: Katherine presented her research on the impacts of dim light at night and phthalate exposure on circadian behaviors and hypothalamic gene expression at the Developmental Neurotoxicology Society.
- News: Katherine was awarded the Conference Travel Award from the Developmental Neurotoxicology Society to attend their annual conference in San Diego, CA.
FALL 2018 NEWS
- Published: Katherine and Dr. Mahoney, alongside Mahoney Lab alumna Dr. Sara Royston, published a recent review titled, “Modulation of circadian rhythms through estrogen receptor signaling” in European Journal of Neuroscience. Read more here.
- Published: Katherine and Dr. Mahoney wrote published a book chapter in the Encyclopedia of Reproduction discussing circadian rhythms in the male reproductive tract. Read more here.
- Presentations: Katherine presented her research on the impacts of two models of circadian disruption on locomotor activity, reproductive outcomes, and clock gene expression in the suprachiasmatic nucleus in male and female Long-Evans rats at several conferences, including Developmental Neurotoxicology (presentation), Illinois Symposium on Reproductive Sciences (poster), and Society for Neuroscience (poster).
- News: Katherine was awarded the Trainee Professional Development Award from the Society for Neuroscience, as well as ranked an alternate for the Paul D. Doolen Graduate Award for the Studying of Aging from the University of Illinois.
NEWS: Mahoney Lab participates in annual Brain Awareness Day.
On Saturday April 7th, 2018 the Mahoney Lab participated in the annual Brain Awareness Day hosted by theNeuroscience Program. This outreach event is aimed at bringing a broad range of neuroscience- and neurobiology-based topics to the surrounding community. Aimed at younger students, this year the program experienced it’s highest number of young participants, with over 400 children attending the event
The Mahoney Lab excitingly participated, bringing the “Dark Lark vs. Night Owl” poster board to their booth. Children were asked to identify animals they think are diurnal, nocturnal, or crepuscular and place them appropriately on the poster. Students learned about animal sleeping patterns, and learned how to calculate their average sleep per night!
Congratulations to Dr. Mahoney, who was the faculty sponsor for this year’s event!
PUBLISHED: Sleep problems in menopause linked to hot flashes, depression-and may not last.
“Sleep problems are one of the most commonly reported complaints among menopausal women. A new study of middle-aged women found that sleep problems vary across the stages of menopause, yet are consistently correlated with hot flashes and depression.”
NEWS: Hatcher awarded DNTS Travel Award
Katherine was recently awarded a travel award to attend this year’s Developmental Neurotoxicology Society meeting in Clearwater, Florida in June. She will be presenting her talk titled, “Two types of circadian disruption modify locomotor behavior, reproductive outcomes, and clock gene expression in male and female Long Evans rats.”
NEWS: Mahoney receives research funding from Carle Illinois
“Dr. Megan Mahoney, associate professor of comparative biosciences, will receive $50,000 from a Carle Foundation and University of Illinois initiative for a research project that will focus on the impact of hormonal changes and environmental chemicals on sleep disruptions in menopausal women.”
NEWS: Members of the Mahoney Lab present their research at the 25th annual Center for Integrative Study of Animal Behavior conference.
Dr. Mahoney attended Indiana University’s Center of Integrative Study of Animal Behavior conference with Katherine, Angel, Leo, and Yesha for this year’s 25th annual conference. During the morning session, Katherine presented a 12-minute talk titled, “Impacts of dim light at night and phthalate exposure on circadian locomotor and feeding behaviors in male and female mice.”
In the evening, Angel presented a poster titled, “Impacts of circadian disruption on estrous cyclicity and folliculogenesis in the female rat”. Leo and Yesha presented a dual poster titled, “Effects of two models of circadian disruption on gene expression in the suprachiasmatic nucleus in Long-Evans rats.”
PUBLISHED: Sleep problems in menopause linked to hot flashes, depression-and may not last.
“Sleep problems are one of the most commonly reported complaints among menopausal women. A new study of middle-aged women found that sleep problems vary across the stages of menopause, yet are consistently correlated with hot flashes and depression.”
NEWS: Hatcher awarded DNTS Travel Award
Katherine was recently awarded a travel award to attend this year’s Developmental Neurotoxicology Society meeting in Clearwater, Florida in June. She will be presenting her talk titled, “Two types of circadian disruption modify locomotor behavior, reproductive outcomes, and clock gene expression in male and female Long Evans rats.”
NEWS: Mahoney receives research funding from Carle Illinois
“Dr. Megan Mahoney, associate professor of comparative biosciences, will receive $50,000 from a Carle Foundation and University of Illinois initiative for a research project that will focus on the impact of hormonal changes and environmental chemicals on sleep disruptions in menopausal women.”