Slug Lab Memory Research Continues with Renewal of National Institutes of Health Grant

Memory studies will carry on in Dominican University’s Slug Lab, thanks to the renewal of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant.

Over the next three years, the $400,000 grant will fund stipends for students to immerse themselves in intensive research, purchase equipment and the sea slugs used in the study of memory and forgetting, and run the lab year-round. The research is led by Dr. Irina Calin-Jageman, professor of biological sciences, and Dr. Robert Calin-Jageman, professor of psychology and director of DU’s neuroscience program.

This is the third renewal of the grant, which was first awarded in 2014 for the study of the formation and forgetting of sensitization memory in Dominican’s Behavioral Neuroscience Lab, more popularly known as the Slug Lab. Since 2010, students in the Slug Lab have been studying memory using Aplysia californica, a type of sea slug. Through this experiential learning model, undergraduates have made new discoveries, published studies of their findings, participated in national conferences, shared their research with the university community during the annual Scholarship and Ideas Expo, and acquired skills to aid them in graduate school and beyond, the Calin-Jagemans noted.

This new round of grant funding will continue the lab’s work in examining what happens to memories after they form, why memories fade, and what makes them return.

“This project will test our hypothesis that forgetting is active, that it’s not just an accident,” Robert Calin-Jageman said. “It’s like a deconstruction process. The brain may be actively tearing down long-term memories to make room for others. We believe there is a particular gene involved in helping to clear out old memories. We want to manipulate that and see if we can regulate the forgetting process.”

Further research will look at why some memories are protected from forgetting and what neuron changes occur to prevent expression of memory.

Dominican’s grant application was ranked in the top 4% among applications reviewed in this year’s cycle, putting the lab’s research high on the list of projects eligible for funding, Robert Calin-Jageman noted.

“What’s unique about this work we’ve been doing all these years at Dominican is that we are able to start with studying the behavior of the animal and go all the way down to what’s happening in the cells and in the genes,” Irina Calin-Jageman explained.

The lab has also aided students in career discernment and is a launchpad for future scientific work, the Calin-Jagemans said. Alumnae/i have gone on to attend medical, dental, optometry, podiatry and veterinary school, and obtain master’s degrees in areas like psychology, nutrition, education and more.

“With DU’s support, we’ve had a lot of success and have seen our lab alumni really do well,” Irina Calin-Jageman said.