Author Archives: Eleni Gourgou

Allison was awarded the Luce Family Internship Fund Scholarship!  This is a LSA Internship Scholarship for Summer 2021, and Allison will be continuing work in our group. Awardees were selected based on an application casebook, and there is a stipend included. Congratulations, Allison! We are proud to have you with us!

A new, fascinating, interdisciplinary project, in collaboration with Michael Gurevich, Associate Professor of Performing Arts Technology. The overarching theme of this project is to explore the concepts of learning, memory, neuronal networks, navigation, spatial orientation in an interdisciplinary way that bridges two research fields that are traditionally considered distant: experimental neurobiology and performing arts. OurContinue reading “Our new project: SoniCelegans-and beyond!”

Our paper reporting C. elegans learning in the maze environment is featured content on iScience journal issue 24(4) of 2021! (3 research articles selected from a total of 126)

On Monday, May 3rd from 9:00am-12:00pm the University of Michigan Geriatrics Center will be holding the annual Geriatrics Center Symposium-virtual. Eleni will be presenting our key findings on “C. elegans maze learning through the prism of aging”.  Join Zoom Meeting Links for KeynoteFlyer and Symposium-Schedule.

Today, Friday April 23, the 8th Midwest C. elegans Meeting took place, for the first time virtually, due to covid-19 restrictions. We are grateful to the organizers for an impeccable and fascinating event!  Our group participated with two presentations: ~ Schiavone Maria*, Zhang Zhaoyuan*, Gourgou Eleni: “Multiple event-based and bipedalism-inspired analysis of C. elegans locomotion”.Continue reading “Our group at the 8th Midwest C. elegans meeting!”

Eleni has been selected as the recipient of the U-M Women in Science and Engineering 2021 Willie Hobbs Moore Aspire, Advance and Achieve Award! Dr. Moore was a three-time alumna of U-M, a lifelong advocate, and the first African American woman in the US to earn a PhD in Physics. This award recognizes individuals who haveContinue reading “Eleni is the winner of 2021 Willie Hobbs Moore Aspire, Advance and Achieve Award!”

Our manuscript titled Caenorhabditis elegans learning in a structured maze is a multisensory behavior, by Gourgou E., Adiga K., Goettemoeller A., Chieh C., and A-L Hsu, has been accepted for publication in iScience ! In this work, we show that C. elegans nematodes learn to associate food with a combination of proprioceptive cues and informationContinue reading “C. elegans maze learning paper accepted!”

Online; Friday, February 26, 2-3pm EST ESTFREE (Registration required) The reception for the 2021 Science as Art Competition will feature a Faculty panel discussion followed by an awards ceremony. View the finalists and place your vote for the Science as Art People’s Choice Award! Panelists include:Eleni Gourgou, Assistant Research Scientist, Mechanical EngineeringBrad Smith, Associate DeanContinue reading “Eleni serves as a panelist at the Science as Art Competition Reception”

Michael Ivanitskiy, a talented young mathematician just joined our team! Michael graduated from UoM Department of Mathematics last Spring. He is now on a gap year, preparing to pursue graduate studies next year. Michael will be working with Eleni and Victoria (Dept of Mathematics, see People) on the mathematical component of the C. elegans mazeContinue reading “Michael Ivanitskiy joins our group!”

 A very special publication, titled “A journey to ‘tame a small metazoan organism’, seen through the artistic eyes of C. elegans researchers” was just published in the Journal of Neuroscience. It  is a photo gallery, honoring Sydney Brenner and John Sulston, and their legacy, which is no other than the entire C. elegans research fieldContinue reading “C. elegans photo gallery in Journal of Neurogenetics”