Student at St. Joseph’s University
Neuroscience Major, Pharmacology Minor
Joey Dupree joined the IOA as an intern after his time participating in the Penn Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center’s (ADRC) Summer Training in Aging Research (STAR) Program and interning with Penn Memory Center. So far during his time at the IOA, Joey has played an integral role in moving several projects along including the monthly e-newsletter’s IOA Members Spotlight and building the IOA Members Research Database, a comprehensive list of all IOA members including their name, division(s), research interests, and faculty page link aimed at fostering potential collaborative opportunities between IOA Members and those with similar research interests at Penn and beyond. He will also assist in writing a grant focusing on the success and progress of the STAR program.
While Joey is a student at St. Joseph’s University, he says he was drawn to involvement at Penn because of its reputation for resourceful and collaborative training opportunities.
In addition to interning at the IOA, Joey spent the summer at the University of California Irvine for their School of Medicine’s Summer Institute in Neuroscience Program. His summer research project focused on learning and memory. There are two main receptors that control learning and memory; one class is AMPA receptors. Joey’s project looked at one of four components of AMPA receptors to determine how genetically removing that component may impact the other components, he explained. “The way AMPA receptors aid in learning and memory is by moving from lower in the cell to the cell surface,” said Joey. “If they don’t do that, then they aren’t able to perform their function.” He explains that in many neurodegenerative diseases and neuropsychiatric disorders this process malfunctions, so if we can better understand what each component does then we may be able to better find suitable pharmaceutical interventions.
Following his graduation this year, Joey is hoping to attend graduate school studying molecular neuroscience and neurodegenerative diseases. He’s confident that his internship experiences, including grant writing and wet lab experience, will prepare him for this next step in pursuing his future career in the field.
