2023 BIO481 Winners - April 10: Celina Javier & Veronica Venditti

Celina Javier and Veronica Venditti, under the guidance of Prof. Gerlai, have emerged as the winners of the April 10 BIO481 Best Presentation Award with their research project, titled "Appetitive Associative Learning & Memory: A New Fish Model in Behavioral Neuroscience with Mikrogeophagus ramirezi".

Celina Javier  is going into her fourth year of Neuroscience specialist and a Biology minor. Next year, she will finish her Honours Bachelor of Science degree.

I am currently doing research projects with the Gerlai Behaviour Genetics Lab and the Biopsychosocial Investigations of Gender Lab. After graduation, I plan on pursuing a Master's degree to research topics on neurological disorders. Specifically, I will focus on learning and memory disabilities such as Alzheimer's using neuroimaging techniques.

I worked with Veronica on my BIO481 thesis project in the Gerlai Lab. Using an associative learning paradigm, we tested the learning and memory abilities of ram cichlids. We found that they learned with just a few days of training. As the first researchers to use this fish species in behavioural neuroscience, we hope to create a new and effective fish model for learning and memory studies. We believe that the universal applicability of genome editing techniques, along with our proof-of-concept study revealing rapid acquisition of CS-US association in the ram cichlid, will facilitate the mechanistic examination of learning and memory

Veronica Venditti  recently completed her Honours Bachelor of Science degree with a Specialist in Neuroscience and a Minor in Biology. Next year she will continuing her education at the University of Toronto by pursuing her Master of Science degree in the Department of Molecular Genetics, where she will be investigating the genetic basis of pediatric cancer.

I worked with Celina Javier to complete my BIO481 thesis project in the Gerlai Lab. Together, we investigated the associative learning capabilities of ram cichlids, a fish species that has never been used before in behavioural neuroscience. We discovered that this species was capable of simple learning and was able to demonstrate learning with relatively little training. We hope that our research can be used to help establish ram cichlids as a new model organism for neurobehavioural research.

As the UTM Biology community celebrates the success of Javier and Venditti, their win serves as an inspiration to aspiring young researchers and underscores the importance of undergraduate contributions in advancing our understanding of the intricate workings of the brain and behavior.