Sarah Jo Howard, M.S.
Research Assistant II
B.S. Biology, Austin Peay State University, 2007
M.S. Physiology, University of Tennessee, 2009
Biosketch and Research Interests
Sarah Jo Howard recently joined the Conn Laboratory in August 2010. She comes to us with a broad animal behavior background.
Sarah Jo began her behavioral work as an undergraduate at Austin Peay State University. Under the advisement of Dr. Andrew Barrass, she established a site fidelity, spatial analysis, and general survey of fragile bat populations residing in middle Tennessee cave systems. Her work lead to the discovery of the endangered gray bat species, and set the ground work for APSU’s current project in monitoring the destructive White Nose Syndrome among bat species.
At Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Sarah Jo worked in the System Genetics Lab of Dr. Elissa Chesler. There she investigated differences in gene expression that are critical for sleep regulation or sleep function. Sarah Jo monitored different Collaborative Cross mice strains for behavioral differences ranging from total sleep time, to their daily activity patterns using a non-invasive, high-throughput alternative method including a piezoelectric film attached to the floor of a mouse cage that helped develop signal processing algorithms to score sleep and wake in real time. Sarah Jo also assisted Dr. Chesler in the Gene Network Project (GNP) which successfully incorporates data from basepair to behavior. Specifically, she instructed others to use many of the GNP analytic features including tools for multivariate analysis, trait clustering of gene expression, and systems level phenotypes in QTL maps and graph visualization.
Sarah Jo’s graduate work was completed in the Animal Science Agriculture department at the University of Tennessee. She worked in the labs of Dr. Cheryl Kojima and Dr. Henry Kattesh. There, Sarah Jo studied stress reduction in commercial swine systems by monitoring the effects of Syndyphalin-33 on appetite, stress, immune, endocrine, and behavioral profiles of recently weaned pigs. Her work offered much promise for the development of tools and/or therapeutics improving weanling status.
In the Drug Discovery Program at Vanderbilt, Sarah Jo continues her interests in behavioral pharmacology research, working in the lab of Dr. Carrie Jones. As part of the in vivo team, Sarah Jo will be investigating the effects of novel compounds that act as positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) of various metabotropic glutamate receptor subtypes important in Parkinson’s Disease, Schizopherina, and Fragile X syndrome.
Selected Publications
Kojima CJ, Jenkins SJ, Cooper TA, Roberts MP, Carroll JA, Kattesh HG. June 2009. Effects of syndyphalin-33 on feed intake and circulating measures of growth hormone, cortisol, and immune cell populations in the recently weaned pig. Journal of Animal Science. 87(10):3218-25.
Jenkins, SJ, Cooper, TA, Roberts, MP, Mathew, AG, Carroll, JA, Kattesh, HG, Kojima, CJ. September 2009. Effects of Syndyphalin-33 on immune function during a Salmonella challenge in recently weaned pigs. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances. 8(12):2562-2567.
