Welcome Stefan!
Stefan Huijgens has joined the lab as part of a MSCA Doctoral Network focused on advanced methods for imaging brain endothelial cells. Stefan condcuted his earlier research at University of Amsterdam.
Welcome to the lab, Rikke!
We have welcomed Rikke Eriksen to the lab who will be performing research on energy drink use as part of a collaboration between our lab and Prof Gerit Pfuhl. Rikke has been admitted to the prestigious Forskerlinje Research Program in Psychology at UiT, an initiative that gives students the opportunity to conduct full-time research for a year during their studies.
Welcome Hamid!
We are very happy to be able to welcome Hamid Taghipourbibalan to the lab today. Hamid joins us as a PhD candidate from Iran and will be working on the dynamic regulation of protein appetite using a combination of behavioral tasks, microbiota analysis, and fiber photometry.
New paper on protein appetite and in vivo ventral tegmental area neural activity
Not getting enough of the macronutrient protein in our diet has severe consequences for health and ultimately can lead to death. It has even been suggested that a low level of dietary protein can cause obesity by leveraging up intake of fat and carbohydrate. However, little is known about how the brain ensures adequate protein intake. In this recent paper published open access in The Journal of Neuroscience , we showed that when rats were protein-restricted a key part of the brain's reward circuity, the VTA, was activated more strongly when rats were drinking protein than carbohydrate. Moreover, after the rats' diet was changed their behavior towards protein shifted quickly even though the VTA activity evoked by protein remained high. Thus, there might be persistent effects of protein deprivation on brain activation.
This work was funded by BBSRC, EC, The Leverhulme Trust and Tromsø Research Foundation.
Welcome Mette!
The lab would like to welcome Dr Mette Kongstorp who has joined as a postdoc. Mette recently completed her PhD at University of Oslo where she studied the long-term effects of prenatal opioid exposure. At UiT, she will be using multiphoton imaging to investigate brain regions involved in the generation of protein appetite. This position is funded by the Tromsø Research Foundation.
Welcome Linnea!
Dr Linnea Volcko has joined the lab as a postdoctoral researcher (forsker) and will be working on a project involving protein appetite as part of a grant from Tromsø Research Foundation.
Linnea gained her PhD at University of Buffalo (NY, USA) in the lab of Derek Daniels where she focused on the control of drinking behavior.
Postdoc and PhD opportunities
Positions are open for a Postdoctoral Researcher and a PhD candidate to use advanced neuroscience techniques (2 photon imaging, fiber photometry, molecular analysis) to investigate the neural basis of protein appetite.
Our lab is based in Tromsø, Norway at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. It is a beautiful place to work with a superb work environment and excellent opportunities.
Links with more details are here or email the lab. Deadline for applications is 25th October 2020.
https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/193618/postdoctoral-research-fellow-in-neuroscience
New paper on how protein restriction affects dopamine
Getting enough protein in our food is crucial for health and development. When we are still growing this protein is especially important. In this study, we looked at how inadequate dietary protein affects brain function both when rats were adults and during their adolescence. We used a recording technique called fast-scan cyclic voltammetry, and saw that low protein diets affected the release of dopamine, an essential neurotransmitter for motivation and learning. Interestingly, the consequence of the low protein diet differed depending on the age of the rats and had stronger effects in adolescent animals than in adults. This research, led by Fabien Naneix and published as an Open Access paper in Neuropsychopharmacology, highlights the vulnerability of the brain to dietary deficiencies during development.
Functions and code available on PyPi as a package
We have now released much of the Python code that we use for analysis and plotting as a PyPi package that can be installed via pip. This is an early release and we are still working on the documentation but feel free to test it out and report bugs and feedback to us.
The package includes a GUI for analyzing photometry data recorded on TDT systems and a GUI for analyzing lick microstructure.
Massive congratulations to Fabien!
We are delighted to announce that Fabien Naneix has been offered and has accepted a faculty position at the Rowett Institute for Nutrition at the University of Aberdeen. The Rowett is a leading site for feeding and nutrition research across Europe and the world.
Of course, we will miss Fabien when he moves on but he's had a highly productive couple of years in the lab and we're excited for future collaborations.
Keep your eyes peeled for Naneix Lab opening up in June 2020!
New funding from Tromsø Research Foundation
We are very grateful to Tromsø Research Foundation (Tromsø Forskningsstiftelse; TFS) who have awarded us four years of funding to study the neural basis of protein appetite. This project will allow us to bring two new postdocs to Tromsø and to purchase equipment including a two photon microscope for in vivo imaging. The positions will be announced in 2020 and if you are interested in joining the lab then contact Jaime.
The funding mechanism is similar to the ERC Starting Grants and is part of a program designed to attract excellent international talent to UiT. To find out more about the program click here.
McCutcheon Lab has moved to Norway!
As of last week, the McCutcheon Lab has established its base of operations in Tromsø at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. Jaime has moved to start setting things up in the north while Fabien and Giulia will continue working to finish up projects under co-supervision by our colleague, John Apergis-Schoute.
If you are interested in coming to work or study in Norway, please get in touch with Jaime as the lab will be hiring soon.
Instructions for flow cell now online
In response to popular demand, we have now posted instrcutions for using the flow cell (The Sinkala Cell) online. They are currently available on Github in draft version and any comments would be gratefully received.
Congratulations to Dr. Kate Peters!!!
Dr. Kate Peters became the first PhD student to emerge from the lab when she successfully defended her thesis last Friday. Her examiners were Mark Walton (Oxford) and Todor Gerdjikov (Leicester, internal). In January she will be crossing the Atlantic to join Joe Cheer's lab at University of Maryland in Baltimore. Good luck, Kate, and thanks for all your hard work in the lab!
New PhD studentship with Campden Instruments
We have a new PhD studentship available in the lab that will run in conjunction with Campden Instruments. As a BBSRC-funded industrial collaboration, the student will spend time both in the lab and in Campden's offices and manufacturing plant where they help to engineer innovative laboratory equipment. More details can be found at the following links:
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/mibtp/pgstudy/icase/feeding_patterns
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/mibtp/pgstudy/icase/
Deadline is 6 January 2019 with a start date of October 2019.
Thanks, Conor!
Conor McKiernan has just finished a successful summer placement in the lab funded by BBSRC. Conor was using voltammetry to look for feeding-induced electrochemical signals in the snail brain and made some critical steps towards this goal. He will now have a few weeks' break before coming back in October to complete the final year of his Neuroscience BSc course.
New Github site
We now have a lab Github site where we are depositing our analysis code. It is mostly Python at the moment but we plan to add more of our legacy Matlab code as well. The Functions-and-Figures repository has a number of simple functions for dealing with photometry data and plotting figures. It is a work in progress so any comments gratefully received.
New paper available in Physiology & Behavior
Our first paper on the role of protein restriction in mediating appetite for protein is now published in Physiology & Behavior. All the data and analysis code can be found on Mendeley Data.
Link to paper
BBSRC-funded PhD position available
We have a new BBSRC-funded PhD position available for an exceptional student as part of the Midlands Integrative Biosciences Training Partnership. The project is titled, "Integration of sensory input with motivational state" and more details can be found at the following link:
https://www.findaphd.com/search/ProjectDetails.aspx?PJID=92547
Interested applicants are encouraged to contact Dr. Jaime McCutcheon for more information.
Fabien has arrived!
Today, we welcome Dr Fabien Naneix who is joining the lab as a postdoc. Fabien is moving to Leicester from Bordeaux where he conducted a PhD and postdoctoral with Dr Etienne Coutureau, Dr Martine Cador, and Dr Guillaume Ferreira. His research to date has examined the role of mesolimbic and mesocortical systems in goal-directed behaviour with a later focus on sugar consumption during adolescence. In the McCutcheon Lab, Fabien will primarily look at neural coding of nutrient value using electrophysiology.