Congratulations to Daniela Cossio for receiving the 2023 Jared M. Roberts Memorial Graduate Student Award from the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (CNLM)! This award recognizes outstanding contributions in neuroscience and provides support for attending the annual Winter Neurobiology of Learning and Memory Meeting in Park City, UT. Read more about this award here: https://cnlm.uci.edu/awards/robertsaward/. We look forward to hearing about her experiences at the meeting.

Undergraduate RA Nick Krohn presented his year-long analysis on “Microstructural properties of the hippocampus and individual differences in path integration ability in humans” as a poster for the Excellence in Research Program organized by the School of Biological Sciences. After a successful poster presentation and paper submission, students awarded “Excellence” in this program will have their paper published in the online Journal of Undergraduate Research in the Biological Sciences, 2022-2023. Great work, Nick!

The 30th anniversary of UCI’s annual Undergraduate Research Symposium was hosted at the end of May 2023 by the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP). This symposium celebrated the outstanding achievements of hundreds of undergraduate students in research and creative activities.

Undergraduate RAs from the Chrastil lab Taylor Le (left photo), Olivia Cooper (right photo), and Farnaz Rezwana (bottom photo, not pictured) presented research from our lab.

Luke Chi and Chris (Qianzheng) Zhou also participated in UROP this year, presenting research from outside of our lab. Well done to all of you!

One high school research assistant and four undergraduate students presented their work at LEARNMEM2023. Congrats to you all for your successful presentations!

 
Olivia Cooper (Undergraduate RA) – Walking out of time: Comparing time estimation and spatial navigation abilities
 
 
 
 

Luke Chi (Undergraduate RA) – The influence of labeled graphs, turns, and environmental properties on navigational behavior
 
 
 
 

Nick Krohn (Undergraduate RA) – Microstructural properties of the hippocampus and individual differences in path integration ability in humans
 
 
 
 

Taylor Le (Undergraduate RA) – The impact of making predictions when learning during active and passive navigation
 
 
 
 

Nikhita Kaushik (High School RA) – Individual differences in navigation: Survey and graph knowledge
 
 
 
 
 

See part 1 of this post for LEARNMEM2023 information and additional lab presentations.

The 2023 International Conference on Learning and Memory (LEARNMEM2023) took place on April 26-30, 2023 in Huntington Beach, CA. Hosted by UC Irvine’s very own Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, the conference hosted about 800-1,000 scientists from 32 countries, including high school and undergraduate presenters.

Many of our lab members presented posters on their research progress and/or results from the past year. Additionally, Daniela gave a lightning talk, “White matter structural integrity is associated with specific white matter navigation abilities in midlife adults,” where she presented one main result from her recent white matter analyses. Liz gave an open paper talk, “Individual differences in human navigation ability: Interactions between brain structure and function,” sharing the lab’s current research.

Here are the posters from lab managers, graduate students, and post-docs. Click on the names to see an action shot during their presentations:

• Alina Tu – The relationship between hippocampal subfield volumes and individual differences in navigation
• Daniela Cossio – White matter structural integrity is associated with specific white matter navigation abilities in midlife adults
• Erica Ward – Brain network dynamics for navigational learning and memory
• Marjan Rashidi – The role of chronic stress in spatial learning in humans
• Theo Kapogianis – Impact of graph metrics on non-spatial navigational learning
• Mike Starrett-Ambrose – Domain generality and specificity across egocentric and allocentric distance ratings
• Vaisakh Puthusseryppady – Alterations to spatial exploration behavior and its effect on spatial memory in early aging

See part 2 of this post for a highlight of our lab’s high school and undergraduate presenters.

Congratulations to Vaisakh Puthusseryppady, Ph.D., on being awarded the honor of Postdoctoral Scholar winner for best poster presentation at REMIND’s 14th Annual Emerging Scientists Symposium (2023)!

The symposium, organized by Research & Education in Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders or REMIND, is led by UCI MIND’s predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees and aims to foster collaboration among the next generation of scientists and clinicians while promoting community outreach and education on neurodegenerative diseases. Vaisakh and the rest of the REMIND committee organized this 5-hour event, providing a platform for predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees to showcase their work, interact with faculty, staff, and students, and learn from distinguished speakers from Southern California. We commend Vaisakh for his dedication in making this symposium a success and extend our congrats again on his award!

Pictured (left to right): Yueqi Ren (graduate student winner), Joshua Grill, Ph.D., and Vaisakh Puthusseryppady, Ph.D.

We are thrilled to announce that our PI, Liz Chrastil, Ph.D., has been promoted from assistant professor to associate professor with tenure at UC Irvine!

Her tenure is a testament to her exceptional research contributions, her positive impact on her colleagues, and her commitment to her students and mentees. With Liz’s continued dedication and expertise, the lab looks forward to the continued growth of the Spatial Neuroscience Lab. Congratulations, Liz, on this well-deserved milestone in your career.

Chrastil Lab publishes a paper in Journal of Environmental Psychology (2023), “The symmetry and asymmetry of pedestrian route choice”

Authors: Montello, D.M., Davis, R.C., Johnson, M., & Chrastil, E.R.

*See link to paper under publications tab!

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded a prestigious Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) for Training of Postdoctoral Fellows to Dr. Michael (Mike) J. Starrett Ambrose, Principal Investigator (PI), for his research project titled “Challenging Classical Theories in Spatial Cognition: Contrasting Translator and Comparator Models of Human Retrosplenial Function.”

This highly competitive grant, with a project period of two years, aims to challenge traditional models of retrosplenial cortex computations that underlie the flexible utilization of both viewer-centered and world-centered (map-like) representations in memory and spatial navigation. By advancing our understanding of the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying retrosplenial cortex contributions to learning, memory, and navigation, the research findings hold the potential to shed light on disease pathologies associated with damage to this specific brain region.

This grant not only supports groundbreaking research but also offers valuable training for postdoctoral fellows who are contributing to the field of neuroscience. Stay tuned for updates on this investigation in the coming years!

Over the weekend, members of our lab met up at the Great Park Ice & FivePoint Arena for a session of afternoon ice skating, gracefully (or not-so-gracefully) gliding across the ice with laughter and camaraderie. After this invigorating event, we continued our afternoon by heading to Irvine Spectrum Center for dinner. To top off the night, some of us rode the Irvine Spectrum Center Giant Wheel for the first time – a staple in Irvine! It’s always a fun and memorable experience to spend time with the lab, creating bonds outside of our research endeavors.

Pictured (left to right): Olivia, Nikki, Taylor, Wendy, Liz, Alina, Ying, Nick, and Jingjing.