When Irina Calin-Jageman presents a lecture on stem cell research at Dominican University in River Forest Oct. 28, she’ll speak about the latest advances in the field of neuroscience. And if she’s lucky, someone might ask about her other passion: sea slugs.
Calin-Jageman and her husband, Robert, recently received a $250,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to fund a three-year project focusing on how animals form memories. Along with standard laboratory supplies like beakers, test tubes and pipe cleaners, the two scientists also expect to employ dozens of sea slugs — harmless, fist-sized invertebrates that eat seaweed — to help them test their hypotheses.
“I’m interested in looking at genes (that are) expressed as a result of learning,” Calin-Jageman said during a recent interview. “A lot of the genes that are present in this animal are present in us.”
Sea slugs make fitting test animals because they have relatively few neurons in their body — only 10,000 to 20,000, she said, compared to humans, who have millions. Moreover, sea slug neurons are quite large, making it possible for Calin-Jageman to identify which genes control learned behaviors.
“When animals learn, there is a change that happens in gene expression,” she said. “We’re interested in what happens in that learning.”
While Irina focuses on the molecular side of the sea slug experiment, Robert Calin-Jageman will approach the behavioral side of things. As a biopsychologist, he’ll train the sea slugs to respond to simple stimuli — hopefully creating new gene expressions that Irina can identify in the laboratory.
The findings of the project, which the team hopes to present within a year or two, could offer new avenues of research into the treatment of memory disorders in people.
As expected, the sea slug project is the main topic of discussion for the two scientists these days — both at work and over dinner at home.
“We talk about it all the time,” Irina Calin-Jageman said. “We’ve always worked together, and science has been a big part of our life as a family.”
The NIH grant will provide funds for four Dominican students to join the project as part-time researchers, giving them a hands-on look at the field of neuroscience. Student involvement proved critical when the Calin-Jagemans were preparing their grant application, Irina said.
“The NIH is always interested in having more PhD students and more scientists,” she said. “This is part of that process — feeding the pipeline of biomedical researchers. Hopefully we’ll create some scientists out there.”
Irina Calin-Jageman will present a free lecture on stem cell research at 7 p.m. Oct. 28 at Dominican’s Priory Campus, Room 263, 7200 W. Division St., River Forest. For more information, go to www.dom.edu.
