Alumni Profile – Cody Swallows
Cody Swallows
Cody Swallows is currently a second-year medical student at the University of Tennessee in Memphis. As a College Scholar, Cody studied the molecular mechanisms of learning and memory with a special emphasis on anxiety and fear. Working in the behavioral neuroscience laboratory of Dr. Matthew Cooper, Cody and colleagues found activation of serotonin 2A receptors is necessary for acquisition of learned fear. Their findings were recently published in Behavioral Neuroscience. As part of his studies, Cody also coordinated with Cole Neuroscience on a clinical research project concerning dementia characteristic of Alzheimer’s Disease. He studied under physicians Dr. John Dougherty and Dr. Monica Crane. Cody has continued research efforts in Memphis, spending the summer of 2012 in the Pediatric Oncology Education (POE) Program at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Working under the mentorship of Dr. David Solecki in the Department of Developmental Neurobiology, Cody studied the molecular mechanisms of granule neuron migration. Granule neuron progenitors give rise to medulloblastomas, a collection of brain tumors that are together the second most common cancer in children. Cody found that several gene targets of ZEB1, a transcriptional repressor that is upregulated in many epithelial cancers, are repressed in granule neuron progenitors and actually represent novel markers of granule neuron differentiation. As the molecular biology of these cells is poorly understood, this is a crucial step toward a better understanding of medulloblastomas. Cody is currently reviewing malignant brain tumor resections at St. Jude in an effort to elucidate factors that determine patient outcomes. Cody currently plans to enroll in a medical research fellowship at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in 2013 and begin a career in neurosurgery upon graduation in 2016.