PHYSICAL THERAPY FACULTY KONTNEY, SIMONEAU RECEIVE NATIONAL RECOGNITION Drs. Laurie Kontney and Guy Simoneau received national awards from the American Physical Therapy Association. Kontney, a clinical associate professor, received the Education Section President’s Award, recognizing her contributions to the organization, including serving as program chair.
DR. JENNIFER EVANS RECEIVES $1.7 MILLION NIH GRANT Dr. Jennifer Evans, assistant professor of biomedical sciences, was awarded a $1.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. The grant will fund research on the effects of biological rhythms on human health, specifically related to neuropsychiatric disorders like schizophrenia and depression. “Nearly every biological process in our body fluctuates over the course of the day,” Evans says. “All these rhythms are controlled by a master clock located in a very small region of the brain.” According to Evans, this “master clock” is made up of a network of about 20,000 neurons that need to synchronize to ensure that biological processes happen at specific times in the day. Disruption of this network is linked to a vast number of diseases, including depression, obesity and cancer. These diseases and health problems are prevalent in shift workers, representing 15 percent of American wage earners. But Evans says the issue has even wider relevance because clock dysfunction is also incurred during aging, jetlag and nighttime light exposure from increased use of computers and smartphones.
Professor Simoneau received two awards — the Paris Distinguished Service Award and the Catherine Worthingham Fellowship, the APTA’s top honor. He joins only 190 PTs to ever receive this honor, in recognition of his work as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy.
“Nearly every biological process in our body fluctuates over the course of the day. All these rhythms are controlled by a master clock located in a very small region of the brain.”
“The link is there, but we need to better understand how this coordination behavior adjusts in a changing environment,” Evans says. “To do this, it is imperative that we identify the mechanisms and molecules through which these neurons communicate.” “Dr. Evans’ research could prove critical for our understanding of a number of neurobiological diseases,” says Dr. John R. Mantsch, professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Sciences. “There is a fundamental gap in understanding how neurons communicate to coordinate biological activity, and her study aims to close that gap.” To learn more about this initiative, read the article in the 2015 issue of Marquette University’s Discover magazine by visiting go.mu.edu/ discover-jennifer-evans.
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