Aubrey Demchuk


Phone: (403) 394-3959
e-mail: aubrey.demchuk@uleth.ca

Biography

Aubrey completed a B.Sc. in Molecular Genetics at the University of Alberta (2008) but returned to her hometown of Lethbridge to work as a Research Technician for the McNaughton lab (2011). During her employment, she went on to complete her M.Sc. in Neuroscience (2015) under Dr. McNaughton, examining patterns of immediate-early gene expression as a marker of neural activity in the hippocampus before and during learning. In 2014, she was a student member of the Lethbridge International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) team and helped develop a method for packaging DNA into microglial exosomes for use as a targeted stroke or traumatic brain injury therapy, a technology that was subsequently patented. She has since continued working with the Lethbridge iGEM team in an advisory role. In 2018, Aubrey began her Ph.D. in Neuroscience and is combining immediate-early gene expression mapping and lineage tracing with inducible transgenic fluorescent protein expression to determine if ontogenetic cortical minicolumns operate as functional units during behaviour.

Education

  • 2004 – 2008: B.Sc. with First Class Honors in Molecular Genetics, University of Alberta
  • 2013 – 2015: M.Sc. in Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge (Thesis Title: “Non-Uniform Excitability of Hippocampal Neurons Affords Weak Predictability of Future Immediate-Early Gene Expression Patterns”)
  • 2018 – Present: Ph.D. in Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge (Thesis Title: “Structural and Functional Characterization of Ontogenetic Cortical Minicolumns”)

Publications

  1. Witharana WKL, Cardiff J, Chawla MK, Xie JY, Alme C, Eckert M, Lapointe V, Demchuk AM, Maurer AP, Trivedi V, Sutherland RJ, Guzowski JF, Barnes CA, McNaughton BL (2016) Nonuniform allocation of hippocampal neurons to place fields across all hippocampal subfields. Hippocampus, 26(10): 1328-44.
  2. Montes-Rodríguez CJ, Lapointe V, Trivedi V, Lu Q, Demchuk AM, McNaughton BL (2013) Postnatal development of Homer1a in the rat hippocampus. Hippocampus, 23(10): 890-902.

Patents

  1. Wong SA, Stinson ZK, Demchuk AM, Caton EA (2017) Methods and compositions for the packaging of nucleic acids into microglial exosomes for the targeted expression of polypeptides in neural cells. United States Patent and Trademark Office Patent Publication No. 9,840,542. Filed on September 8, 2016; issued on December 12, 2017.
  2. Wong SA, Stinson ZK, Demchuk AM, Caton EA (2017) Methods and compositions for the packaging of nucleic acids into microglial exosomes for the targeted expression of polypeptides in neural cells. Canadian Intellectual Property Office Patent No. CA2903933. Filed on September 11, 2015; published on March 3, 2017.

Conference Contributions

  1. Lee C, Takeyasu R, Demchuk AM, Stinson Z, Degrood M, Turton K, Glaister G, Lindgren C*, Calhoun S*, D’souza S*, Mrozowich T, Isaac C, Semmelrock J, Patel T, & Wieden H-J. (2018) Controlling invasive Dreissena spp. populations with protein nanocompartments (PNCs): demonstrating the utility of a customizable BioBrick PNC toolkit. Poster presented* at RiboWest Conference; Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
  2. Dube ST, Eckert MJ, Lapointe V, Demchuk AM*, Mesina L, McNaughton BL (2017) Mapping behaviourally induced Homer1a expression along the septotemporal axis of CA1. Poster presented* at Society for Neuroscience Annual International Meeting; Washington, DC, USA.
  3. Demchuk AM*, Eckert MJ, McNaughton BL (2014) Lack of correlation of immediate-early gene expression patterns in the rat hippocampus during sleep and during the subsequent exploration of a novel environment. Poster presented* at Society for Neuroscience Annual International Meeting; Washington, DC, USA.
  4. Bettenson DJ, Brandon HE, Caton EA, Cowitz B, Demchuk AM*, Glaister, GD, Hakstol R, Kharey SK*, Smith DD, Stinson ZK*, Wong SA, Wieden H-J (2014) Nomadocytes: microglial transport and exosomal delivery of NeuroD1 as a method of targeted functional reprogramming of astroglial scars. Poster and lecture* presented* at the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition; Boston, MA, USA.
  5. Demchuk AM* (2014) Can our brains predict the future? Lecture presented* at Meeting of the Minds; Lethbridge, AB, Canada.
  6. Witharana WK*, Xie JY, Alme C, Cardiff J, Lapointe V, Demchuk A, Sutherland RJ, McNaughton BL (2013) How the hippocampus allocates cells to places: random draw with replacement? Poster presented* at Society for Neuroscience Annual International Meeting; San Diego, CA, USA.
  7. Clark BJ*, Trivedi V, Lapointe V, Demchuk A, McDonald RJ, McNaughton BL (2012) Impact of Alzheimer’s disease co-factor combinations on object-place coding in hippocampal-entorhinal circuitry. Poster presented* at Campus Alberta Neuroscience Symposium; Edmonton, AB, Canada.