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Steven Hicks MS IV hickss@upstate.edu Department: Neuroscience Advisor: M. Miller, PhD

Research Interest:

My research focuses on the effects of alcohol on the central nervous system of the developing fetus. I use a line of neural stem cells to explore the molecular events which facilitate ethanol's teratogenic effects. Specifically, I am interested in how ethanol may control neurogenesis through activation of the p53 pathway. This signaling cascade, which is implicated in a number of human pathologies, appears to link ethanol-induced cell cycle restriction with the delicate balance between neuronal death and repair. I use a number of molecular techniques, including microarray, immunoprecipitation, and BrdU cytochemical labeling to examine how such cell fate decisions are controlled at the epigenetic and transcriptional levels.

Fellowship Award:

Steve was awarded a Pre-doctoral fellowship from the NIH NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON ALCOHOL ABUSE AND ALCOHOLISM. The title of his grant is: "Effects of ethanol on cell cycle regulation and DNA repair in neural progenitors"
This is a three year fellowship to support his research from 5/25/2009-5/24/2012.

Publications:

Hicks S, Middleton FA, Miller MW. 2010. Ethanol-induced methylation of cell cycle genes in neural stem cells. J Neurochem., in press. [Epub ahead of print]