Neuroscience grad student earns prestigious fellowship award

Alexandra Petrucci, a UI neuroscience graduate student, has received a predoctoral research fellowship award from the American Epilepsy Society (AES).

Petrucci, who works in the Iowa Neuroscience Institute lab of Gordon Buchanan, MD, PhD, was one of four students nationally to receive this award. She will use the funding to support her epilepsy research investigating post-ictal generalized EEG suppression network and receptor mechanisms.

The AES predoctoral fellowships are awarded annually to support predoctoral students pursuing dissertation research with an epilepsy-relevant theme and working under the guidance of a mentor with expertise in epilepsy research. The fellowship award offers up to $30,000 for stipend and travel support to the AES Annual Meeting for one year, as well as a one-year AES membership.

The American Epilepsy Society is one of the largest non-governmental funders for those starting their careers in epilepsy research, and has an explicit, long-term commitment to developing talented researchers who will advance the understanding and treatment of epilepsy over the next generation.