CMU neuroscience program awarded top honors
The Society for Neuroscience recently named Central Michigan University’s undergraduate neuroscience program as its Program of the Year.
This award is a huge boost for the program, as it indicates that CMU’s approach to training undergraduates in neuroscience is a national model for other schools to emulate.
“Our program has a strong focus on understanding the causes of, and potential treatments for, disorders of the central nervous system, particularly Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke and spinal cord injury,” neuroscience program co-director Gary Dunbar said. “Much of the current work in our lab involves (the) transplanting of genetically altered adult stem cells to treat all of the above.”
The award was presented earlier this month in San Diego at the Society for Neuroscience’s annual meeting. More than 30,000 neuroscientists from around the world were in attendance.
“We have developed a new way in which we can genetically alter adult stem cells, such as skins cells, to function as if they were like embryonic stem cells,” Dunbar said. “That is, they can possess the flexibility to become almost any kind of cell given the right environment.”
Dunbar, who has committed a major portion of his life to building up the program, was thrilled to have been honored at such a high level.
“To have it be considered the best in the country was beyond what I had ever imagined,” Dunbar said. “Most importantly, the sense of satisfaction was greatest in knowing that the hard work and dedication of my colleagues and of the hundreds of CMU neuroscience majors over the past 15 years has received the level of recognition that most programs can only aspire to attain."
One of the neuroscience students in the program is Illinois junior Amy Rechenberg.
“Being awarded Program of the Year by the Society of Neuroscience has increased the value of our degrees and proves not only to CMU, but to the nation, that our neuroscience program is the best,” she said. "The program allows undergraduates to not only observe and practice experiments, but to conduct, analyze and present them.”
Students graduating with degrees in neuroscience can find a job in many pre-health careers. The field, Dunbar said, is quickly growing and is changing how diseases are being treated.
“I think if our administration continues to support this program, it will continue to grow,” Dunbar said. “However, I do have serious concerns that some of the growing pressure to convert instructional space to research space could have a devastating consequence on our undergraduate program.”
According to Dunbar, this conversion will take away from the program’s emphasis on being student-centered.
“We have to put our students in the forefront of our research program,” Dunbar said. “I think there is room for both, but there needs to be a healthy balance between supporting our students and being vigilant not to take away the very opportunities we have provided them to become part of the best neuroscience program in the country.”
