McCullagh lab at the Winter Karen L Smith undergraduate research symposium. Included are Bodhi, Luberson, Preston, Jesse, Cameron, Gracie, Sabiha, Margaret, Clare, Jesse, Madison, me, Gen, Rachel, and Anya. Bodhi got first place for his poster, and Tamara (not pictured) got third place!

We went to Society for Neuroscience in Washington D.C. where Sabiha (left picture) presented her poster on elemental alterations in Fragile X Syndrome across tissue types. Also got to present our work on myelination at a minisymposium organized by the amazing Ilse Gantois (right picture Francesco Longo, Ilse Gantois, Nisha Raj, me).

We finally got our first paper on prairie voles out of the lab! Spearheaded in the early days by undergraduate researcher Margaret New (who graduated and is hopefully going to crush PA school in the future). Support from many folks in the lab including Jesse, Gen, Peyton, Cameron, and Casey. Not to leave out folks at CU Anschutz/Denver including Nate Greene, Tim Lei and Ben-zheng Li. Check out the full paper here – https://pubs.aip.org/asa/jasa/article/155/1/555/3061584/Hearing-ability-of-prairie-voles-Microtus

Fabio Machado and I received a tech grant from the College of Arts & Sciences allowing us to get some Syglass (https://www.syglass.io/) systems for the lab and our courses (Mammology and Neuroscience). Left picture is Michael Morehead of Syglass and Gen demoing the system at the Association for Research in Otolaryngology. Right picture is Fabio Machado trying it out in my office for the first time.

Ultimate frisbee was still very much present with Hayride ultimate (https://x.com/HayrideUltimate) winning the Harvest Moon festival in Fayetteville (theme Gayride – top left pic). Folks from the Integrative Biology Department banded with me to play intramurals, which we won (middle top pic). For New Years also won a hat tournament hosted by Masters team Soar*sore (who also came in 2nd at Masters Nationals in 2023) https://x.com/Soar_dfw. Last but not least, coached Ultimato (https://x.com/okstateultimato) which met our goal of making regionals and winning a game (even if it was an unsanctioned rain out). Thanks to co-coaches (Layla, Addie, and Ciaran Shaughnessy).

We made lab pumpkins in the Fall!

The best doggo Jack is joining Pete’s Pet Posse for Class 11 to be a therapy dog at OSU. Here is a pic of him passing his Canine Good Citizen test with flying colors (https://hr.okstate.edu/pet-therapy/)

Members of the McCullagh lab presented at the Midwinter meeting of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology. Casey gave an amazing talk on pinna representing the lab well (left pic), Andi and Gen had their first conference posters, and Amita got to check out ARO for the first time.

The McCullagh lab was represented well at the Undergraduate research symposium! Jorja (left) also presented at the Human Performance and Nutrition Research Institute and got a poster prize as well as receiving a Niblack scholarship this year on her work on Alzheimers and estrogen deficiency in collaboration with Ed Lucas. Avery and Kami (middle picture) presented their work on hormonal expression in the auditory brainstem of wild rodent species (not picture Josh who is also working on this project). Grant and Olivia Emerson presented their work on Fragile X Syndrome mouse auditory behavioral development (right picture). Grant also received a Wentz fellowship this year.

McCullagh lab members received several awards at the Integrative Biology end of year banquet including Olivia and Grant Emerson, Casey, Sabiha, and Lu.

We had the opportunity to start to build and exhibit the Sound of Science in collaboration with Kicker and Aaron Surratt (check out our Honors course on sound offered this Fall). Peyton and Cameron spent the summer building the system and now we are starting to show it off with the first stop which was the Native American Indian Science and Engineering Fair in the Spring. Stay tuned for media from that event. Also check out when Peyton and Cameron went on Kicker’s Unmasked to talk about the exhibit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDN28LHxXDU

Got to go to Rennes and hang out with Giulia Bertolin so we could talk about our collaborative project on Fragile X Syndrome and mitochondria (preprint coming soon!). Was a very productive time despite all the wine pictures where we worked on a manuscript and brainstormed some ideas for grant proposals.

Had an amazing time talking science with super smart researchers on Fragile X and Autism at the Gordon Research Conference chaired by Kim Huber, who did a fantastic job at organizing one of my favorite conferences of my career. Was honored to co-chair the Power Hour with Melanie Brandabur of Ultragenyx where we discussed mentorship and imposter syndrome with our colleagues (photo on left). Also always a great trip to Barga to get some gelato.

Other notable lab happenings – just no pictures:

-Luberson received the Payne County Audubon Society Award to continue his work on wild rodent hearing, particularly in the context of human generated sound pollution.

-Gen is “graduating” as our first ON-RaMP technician and will be joining the lab in Fall 2024 as an MS student!

-Casey walked for her MS (will be defending in July) and will be joining the lab for her PhD in Fall 2024.

-Undergraduate students who are graduating include Josh Mckinney (wild rodent anatomy), Clare Barr (tonotopic hearing in FXS), Margaret New (everything wild rodent), Bodhi Hale (wild rodent hearing), Katelynn Rodman (HRTFs and pinna), Vanessa Franco (oligodendrocytes in FXS), and Madison Merideth (oligodendrocytes in FXS). We are so proud of all of you and know that you are going to go on and do amazing things!

-We are welcoming several new folks to the lab for the summer including Naleyshka Colon-Rivera (ON-RaMP 2024-2025), Sarah Hobbs (visiting undergrad from Connecticut), and Kate Watts (SRTP vet student). Also new undergraduates Anastacia Simmons and Julie Luper.