Undergraduate Students Research Alongside Professors
Scientists have long known that women who consume alcohol during pregnancy greatly increase their risk of having babies with physical or cognitive delays. They also know that the damage can be observed in the cerebellum, the region of the brain that controls balance and motor function.
However, as she studied brain development, Dr. Rebecca Landsberg, a Saint Rose biology professor, noticed that researchers focusing on fetal alcohol syndrome seemed to look at the cerebellum without considering the lesser-known system it relies on.
A developmental neurobiologist who earned her Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Landsberg has studied the precerebellar system for 14 years. Since her arrival at Saint Rose six years ago, she has investigated how the system is damaged in individuals with fetal alcohol syndrome. Now, scores of her students have benefited from her work.
Read more about it here, or watch a video of Landsberg in the lab with one of her student researchers here.
