Name: Cody Lee Swallows

Title of Program: Neurological Disease and Implicit Cognition

E-mail Address: cswallow@utk.edu

Hometown: Soddy Daisy, TN

Year: Sophomore

Anticipated Graduation Date: May 2011

Description of Program:  My program utilizes both chemical and behavioral approaches to the human brain.  By approaching neurological disease from both perspectives, the goal of the program is to seek chemical correlates to changes in behavior caused by neurological disease.

Departmental Emphases: Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology, Psychology

Faculty Mentor: Neil Greenberg

Plans after graduation (career, graduate/professional school, etc.): I plan to pursue an M.D., Ph.D. at a university that emphasizes neuroscientific research.  After residency, I plan to have a career in neurosurgery that focuses on the interface of surgery and neuroscience.  By doing so, I hope to contribute new surgical and pharmacological treatments for neurological diseases.

Other Academic Interests: Sociology, Religious Studies/ Spirituality

Prior Enrollment at Other Colleges or Universities: n/a

Study Abroad: I plan to study abroad during the spring 2009 semester.  Currently, I am considering participating in UT’s direct exchange program with the University of Manchester.  However, I am also discussing other opportunities abroad with my faculty mentors.  In any case, I plan to use studying abroad to supplement my academic and laboratory experience with behavioral and cognitive neuroscience.

Research Experiences or Internships: I am currently an undergraduate assistant in Dr. Matthew Cooper’s lab, where we aim to understand the neural pathways that underlie behavioral changes seen in response to social stress.  Using the social defeat model in Syrian hamsters, current studies focus on serotonin receptors in the basal-lateral amygdala.  I am also looking to work with the Cole Neuroscience Center at the UT Medical Center, where I hope to perform experiments that will supplement my senior project. 

Part-time employment; Hobbies; Campus Clubs/Activities: Rowing club secretary, honors ambassador, Alpha Epsilon Delta Pre-Health Honor Society, American Medical Students Association, peer mentor, nurse assistant at Soddy Daisy Health Care Center (summer, December 2007), Clinic Vols volunteer (2006-2007)

Additional Information: The culmination of my College Scholars program will be a study of chemical correlates of spirituality in the brain.  Drastic changes in religiosity/spirituality have been recorded with the onset of certain diseases, and my project will focus on a single neurological disease or a single brain structure/chemical that is known to be involved with spirituality.  This project will utilize past research, available brain images, and perhaps functional studies of patients at the Cole Neuroscience Center.