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Center for Brain, Behavior, and Cognition

Promoting interdisciplinary and integrative research across the life, social, neural, and computational sciences.

CBBC student travel award

The Center for Brain, Behavior, and Cognition (CBBC) at Penn State is pleased to announce a center-specific travel award for a student that will present their own research on integrative mechanisms of behavior or cognition at a national or international scientific conference. The goal is to support a Penn State student whose research aligns with the CBBC goals of understanding complex mechanisms underlying naturalistic behaviors and/or the integration of different methods and analytical approaches.

To apply, please send the following information to sac34@psu.edu:

(1) presentation title
(2) conference name, date, and location
(3) brief description of the research that you will present and how it addresses the integrative research goals of the CBBC (no more than 250 words)

Awardees and their presentation information will be highlighted on the CBBC website. Travel for the 2022-2023 fiscal year award must be completed before June 30, 2023. This award is available to graduate students at the Pennsylvania State University and is a supplement to other sources of funding for student research presentations at scientific conferences.

The Center for Brain, Behavior, and Cognition (CBBC) promotes cutting-edge research that quantifies and addresses the mechanisms underlying human and animal behaviors in complex, natural environments. Members of the CBBC investigate these mechanisms across a wide range of systems at different levels (e.g., molecular, cellular, and physiological) by using different methodological and analytical approaches (e.g., behavioral, imaging, and computational).

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News

$2M NIH grant to support study of how the brain and body acclimate to stress

Experiencing stress leads to a suite of rapid physiological changes, and over time, the body can acclimate to the stress, eventually changing an individual’s baseline brain state. To improve understanding of the changes in the brain and body during acclimation to stress using a mouse model, the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of General Medical Sciences has awarded a five-year, $2 million grant to Grayson Sipe, assistant professor of biology in the Penn State Eberly College of Science.

$3M NIH grant to support research on memory and exaggerated fear responses

Experiencing a traumatic event sometimes produces long-lasting biological changes that can lead to an exaggerated fear response to future stressful events, such as what occurs in individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder. To better understand the regulatory mechanisms in the brain that produce this biological memory and exaggerated fear response, a team of researchers from Penn State and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has been awarded a grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Mental Health.

Hydraulic brain: Body motion linked to fluid movement in the brain

The brain is more mechanically connected to the body than previously appreciated, scientists reported in Nature Neuroscience. Through a study using mice and simulations, the team found a potential biological mechanism underlying why exercise is thought to benefit brain health: abdominal contractions compress blood vessels connected to the spinal cord and the brain, enabling the organ to gently move within the skull. This swaying facilitates the surrounding cerebrospinal fluid to flow over the brain, potentially washing away neural waste that could cause problems for brain function.

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