For the fifth consecutive year, University of New Mexico Biology Professor Mubarak Hussain Syed, also known as the FlyGuy, together with Matthew Clark, assistant professor of biology at Bucknell University; Veronica Evans, associate professor of biology at San Juan College; Maciah Shendo; and community partners Pueblo Brain Science, hosted the annual Neuroscience Workshop.
The traveling three-day workshop is a hands-on, introductory session designed to increase access to neuroscience education for students from historically underrepresented and rural communities.
Held in April, the workshop stopped at three locations across the state. It began April 16 at San Juan College in Farmington, then moved to Newcomb High School in Newcomb and concluded April 18 at Jemez Pueblo.
“We have seen tremendous growth and increased interest over the past five years, expanding from a single-venue format to visiting three communities this year,” said Syed. “The neuroscience workshop’s success is that it has established a pipeline for students to enter the scientific enterprise. Several former participants are conducting research in my lab.”
Syed reiterated that the newest addition was Newcomb High School, which hosted the workshop for the first time this year and reached approximately 200 students in a single day.
As always, this year’s theme was the use of Drosophila melanogaster, or the fruit fly, as a model system for neuroscience. Syed and his team set up seven hands-on stations covering a variety of topics within the discipline, including fluorescence imaging of neurons and muscles, fly sorting and genetic mutants, optogenetics (hacking the fly brain with light), pain sensation, fruit fly sleep and circadian rhythms, virtual reality for flies, and courtship and aggression behavioral assays.
Most notably new this year was that the organizing team asked a high school student, a previous workshop attendee, to deliver the keynote address on her independent research project. June Luckenas shared her research project on the effects of microgravity on Drosophila development, building on her work as a previous attendee on fruit flies.
The conference instructors were from universities across the country, including Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the Janelia Research Campus in Virginia, Indiana University, and UNM, highlighting the importance of this workshop for community building and its impact on the global neuroscience field.
Syed shared that the brain is one of the most complex organs in the body, containing over 80 billion neurons, and at the same time, neurological disorders are becoming more common. He is passionate about training a diverse group of future neuroscientists who will help understand brain development, function and brain disorders.
Making this workshop’s hands-on activities particularly valuable for engaging K-12 students, teachers and community members. These activities provide an accessible and interactive way to align with New Mexico Next Generation Science Standards while introducing students to modern neuroscience research. Thanks to the teachers, educators, instructors, and community members who have supported and helped bring the workshop’s cutting-edge neuroscience to local schools and communities.
“I hope each year attendees take away the excitement that science gives to those who practice it, and the understanding of the need for interdisciplinary approaches, including using computers and AI to understand our brain,” Syed said.
Visit the workshop’s website for more information.
To learn more about FlyGuy, read his interview with ScienceDirect, and for more on his science and education work, visit the Neural Diversity Lab website.
