News from the Blakely Lab

Congratulations to former Blakely lab graduate student Dr. Meagan Quinlan, now a Staff Scientist II at the Allen Institute, for her publication: Quinlan MA, Guo R, Clark AG, Luber EM, Christian RJ, Martinez RA, Groce EL, Liu J, Bishaw YM, Bhowmik R, Liang E, Reding M, Ronellenfitch K, Wright V, Gudsnuk KM, Leedy JM, Mich JK, Gore BB, Daigle TL, Lopez ME, Lein ES, Ichida JK, Levi BP., AAV delivery of full-length SYNGAP1 rescues epileptic and behavioral phenotypes in a mouse model of SYNGAP1-related disorders. Mol Ther. 2025 Sep 23:S1525-0016(25)00759-2. doi: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2025.09.040. PMID: 40988338

Congratulations to former Blakely lab graduate student Gwynne Davis, Ph.D., for her new appointment as Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at DePauw University

Congratulations to Blakely lab member Dr. Paula Gajewski for her promotion from Postdoctoral Fellow to Research Assistant Professor at the Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute.

Also, see her recent publication: Nemeth DP, Liu X, Monet MC, Niu H, Maxey G, Schrier MS, Smirnova MI, McGovern SJ, Herd A, DiSabato DJ, Floyd T, Atluri RR, Nusstein AC, Oliver B, Witcher KG, Juste Ellis JS, Yip J, Crider AD, McKim DB, Gajewski-Kurdziel PA, Godbout JP, Zhang Q, Blakely RD, Sheridan JF, Quan N.J. Localization of brain neuronal IL-1R1 reveals specific neural circuitries responsive to immune signaling. Neuroinflammation. 2024 Nov 19;21(1):303. doi: 10.1186/s12974-024-03287-1.PMID: 39563437

Congratulations to former Blakely lab graduate student Raajaram (Raaj) Gowrishankar, Ph.D. for his new appointment to the Department of Neuroscience at the Department of Neuroscience at the Department of Neuroscience at the Medical University of South Carolina

Congratulations to former Blakely lab member and Res Asst Professor Dr. Felix Mayer for his new appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Copenhagen.

Also, see his recent publication: Kappa opioid receptor antagonism restores phosphorylation, trafficking and behavior induced by a disease-associated dopamine transporter variant. Mayer FP, Stewart A, Varman DR, Moritz AE, Foster JD, Owens AW, Areal LB, Gowrishankar R, Velez M, Wickham K, Phelps H, Katamish R, Rabil M, Jayanthi LD, Vaughan RA, Daws LC, Blakely RD, Ramamoorthy S.Mol Psychiatry. 2025 Oct;30(10):4651-4664. doi: 10.1038/s41380-025-03055-4. PMID: 40442453

Congratulations to former Blakely lab graduate student Cassie Retzlaff, Ph.D. for her new appointment as Scienctist at Voyager Therapeutics in Boston, MA.

Congratulations to former lab member and Res Asst Professor Adele Stewart Ph.D. for her new appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine.

Also see her recent publication: Stewart A, Blakely RD. The Ins and Outs of Dopamine Transporter Gene Manipulation: In Vivo Models of DAT Dysfunction. Adv Neurobiol. 2025;46:235-270. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-96364-3_10.PMID: 41051713