Grad student gives presentation at Wellcome Trust Conference

Michelle Amaral, Staff Writer
Published On: 03/24/2008

Rachel Penton, a graduate student in the UAB department of neurobiology, has been selected to give an oral presentation in April at the Wellcome Trust Conference on Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors in Hinxton, England.
Penton is one of only 10 graduate students and post-docs invited to deliver a talk about their current laboratory research. The invitation is an unexpected honor for this Alabama native.

“I submitted an abstract (for the conference) in the hopes of being selected to give a talk, but I didn't actually think that it would be chosen,” said Penton. “I'm excited and nervous. While it's a relatively small conference, limited to 300 people, it’s still a lot of people to present before.

I think this is going to be a really intense conference. There are eleven sessions with three to four talks per session, so there's going to be a lot of information; it will be the latest research in the field.”

Being chosen to speak for such a prestigious occasion does not surprise Penton’s peers.

“Rachel is the first person I choose to look over my presentations,” said Haley Speed, a fellow graduate student in the department of neurobiology. “She has a very critical eye, knows the literature well beyond her own field and has an uncanny feel for her audience, whether it's a group of students or professors.

She has been invaluable in helping me focus my talks and sharpen my speaking skills, and she offers criticism in a way that makes you see your mistakes and then laugh at them, rather than making you feel foolish. To top it off, I have never met anyone so excited about science. If I start losing my science drive, all I have to do is go upstairs and talk to Rachel, and I'll find myself planning my next experiments.”

Penton’s research involves the study of nicotine. She is particularly interested in the receptors that bind nicotine, called nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, which are located on the surface of brain cells. According to Penton, these receptors are important not only in nicotine addiction, but also in a variety of other processes.

“Most people are familiar with nicotine addiction. However, nicotinic acetylcholine receptors have also been implicated in addiction to other substances; psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression; a form of epilepsy; and even Alzheimer's disease. Moreover, these are just the neuronal nicotinic receptors. Sometimes it seems as though they're involved in everything.”

According to her graduate mentor, this opportunity to speak at the Wellcome Trust Conference is an important step toward attaining her future career goals.

“I think that any opportunity for a graduate student to make an oral presentation is highly beneficial to their training,” said Robin A.J. Lester, Ph.D. and associate professor of neurobiology at UAB. “In this case, though, Rachel will be exposed to almost the entire field of nicotine researchers, and I would expect that she will have to defend her thesis ideas on the neurobiology of nicotine withdrawal. In addition, it could be like giving a post-doctoral interview talk to many potential future advisors all at the same time.”

In the future, Penton plans to remain in academia and eventually run her own lab: a feat Lester is certain she will accomplish.

“Rachel ranks with the best students I have interacted with or trained. She is extremely well read, including outside her field; logical and practical, as she can put together an electrophysiological rig and has also mastered intracellular sharp electrode recording in a week; and she is independent with a good dose of innovation.”

“Rachel has made some strong steps toward scientific independence. With a little more diverse postdoctoral training and some solid first author publications, she has as good a chance of making a successful career as any other top 10 percent student.”

The tremendous respect held for Penton and her research is the result of a lot of hard work and maturity.

“I have seen Rachel grow in terms of thinking about her role in the department beyond her own Ph.D. project and believe that she is an asset to everyone around her,” said Lester.

Email: MAmaral@nrc.uab.edu