Dr. Melissa Borgen's research highlighted on the cover of Genetics

Melissa Borgen Genetics CoverOne of the reasons for establishing the Jupiter Life Science Initiative (JLSI) on the MacArthur campus was to enhance collaborations with The Scripps Research Institute. The success of this endeavor is illustrated by a number of publications in the past year. In the past year alone there have been at least 7 joint publications between The Scripps Research Institute and FAU. These publications involve 11 faculty; 5 at FAU and 6 at Scripps. The projects have a common theme in exploring the development and function of the nervous system using genetic and molecular methods. 

One example that highlights the ease of collaboration between Scripps and FAU is Melissa Borgen’s career trajectory (pictured left). She started a PhD in the FAU Integrative Biology Program, moved to Jupiter with the Murphey lab in 2013 and finished her PhD in 2014. Melissa recently published her thesis work in the journal Genetics where it was chosen by the editors to be highlighted with one of her images on the cover of this issue of the journal. She has also published a review paper jointly with her new Principle Investigator (Brock Grill of Scripps) and old PI (Rod Murphey of FAU) and has a manuscript in progress on her work with Grill at Scripps. The proximity of the Scripps and FAU on the Jupiter campus simplified her change of institutions, enhanced her ability to continue collaborating and enhanced her career by adding the Scripps name to her resume. Her two papers are listed below and a third is in preparation at Scripps.

 

Melissa Borgen, Kimberly Rowland, Jana Boerner, Brandon Lloyd, Aruna Khan, Rod Murphey (2017) Axon Termination, Pruning, and Synaptogenesis in the Giant Fiber System of Drosophila melanogaster Is Promoted by Highwire Genetics. (Early Online January 18 , 2017 | DOI: 10.1534/genetics.116.197343) 
*Chosen as a cover article for the March issue of the journal

Grill B, Murphey RK, Borgen MA. (2016) The PHR proteins: intracellular signaling hubs in neuronal development and axon degenerationNeural Dev. 2016 Mar 23;11:8. doi: 10.1186/s13064-016-0063-0. Review


Other publications from this very productive year are listed below and each includes at least one PI from Scripps and one from FAU:

Murphy KR, Deshpande SA, Yurgel ME, Quinn JP, Weissbach JL, Keene AC, Dawson-Scully K, Huber R, Tomchik SM, Ja WW. Postprandial sleep mechanics in Drosophila. Elife. 2016 Nov 22;5. pii: e19334. doi: 10.7554/eLife.19334.

Risley MG, Kelly SP, Jia K, Grill B, Dawson-Scully K. Modulating Behavior in C. elegans Using Electroshock and Antiepileptic DrugsPLoS One. 2016 Sep 26;11(9):e0163786. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0163786.

Valerio Rizzo, Khalid Touzani, Bindu L. Raveendra, Supriya Swarnkar, Joan Lora,
Beena M. Kadakkuzha, Xin-An Liu, Chao Zhang, Doron Betel, Robert W. Stackman, and Sathyanarayanan V. Puthanveettil. Encoding of Contextual Fear Memory Requires De Novo Proteins in the Prelimbic Cortex. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging ]]] 2016; ]:]]]–]]]

translin Is Required for Metabolic Regulation of Sleep. Murakami K, Yurgel ME, Stahl BA, Masek P, Mehta A, Heidker R, Bollinger W, Gingras RM, Kim YJ, Ja WW, Suter B, DiAngelo JR, Keene AC. Curr Biol. 2016 Apr 4;26(7):972-80. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.02.013.

Neurofibromin Loss of Function Drives Excessive Grooming in Drosophila. King LB, Koch M, Murphy KR, Velazquez Y, Ja WW, Tomchik SM. G3 (Bethesda). 2016 Apr 7;6(4):1083-93. doi: 10.1534/g3.115.026484.