Jennifer Steger, Phd Email & Phone Number

Greater Seattle Area

The Nanodropper is an eyedrop bottle adaptor that decreases the volume of oversized eyedrops to reduce cost, waste, and side effects, to ultimately increase access to expensive prescription eye medications.

Greater Seattle Area

Advisors: Dr. Charles Chavkin and Dr. Paul E. M. PhillipsDeveloped a novel social stress model and phenotyped mice subjected to aforementioned stress using a) fast-scan cyclic voltammetry to measure sub-second changes in evoked dopamine release from acute nucleus accumbens brain slices, and b) a suite of behavioral assays including the forced swim test, elevated plus maze, and social interaction.

Boston, Ma

Advisor: Dr. Bradford B. LowellContributed to the design and execution of experiments for several projects utilizing genetic engineering techniques in mice, in conjunction with optogenetics, pharmacogenetics (DREADDs), and rabies mapping, to elucidate discrete neural circuits controlling appetite and feeding behavior. Publications:Garfield AS*, Shah BP*, Burgess CR*, Li MM*, Li C, Steger JS, Madara JC, Campbell JN, Kroeger D, Scammell TE, Tannous BA, Myers MG Jr, Andermann ML, Krashes MJ, Lowell BB. Dynamic GABAergic afferent modulation of AgRP neurons. Nat Neurosci. 2016 Dec;19(12):1628-1635. *Equal contributionGarfield AS*, Li C*, Madara JC*, Shah BP, Webber E, Steger JS, Campbell JN, Gavrilova O, Lee CE, Olson DP, Elmquist JK, Tannous BA, Krashes MJ, Lowell BB. A neural basis for melanocortin-4 receptor-regulated appetite. Nat Neurosci. 2015 Jun;18(6):863-71. *Equal contributionSkills acquired in this position include:-Stereotaxic surgery: intracranial cre-dependent AAV injection, fiber-optic implantation for optogenetics studies.-Behavioral phenotyping: optogenetics and DREADDs feeding studies, real-time place preference.-Histology: transcardial perfusion and brain extraction, tissue preparation and cryosectioning, immunohistochemistry, mounting/slide preparation, fluorescence and confocal microscopy.-Mouse husbandry: breeding, weaning, genotyping (tissue collection, DNA extraction, PCR, gel electrophoresis).

Providence, Ri

Advisor: Dr. Eduardo A. Nillni, Brown University, Dept. of Medicine and Molecular Biology, Cell Biology & BiochemistryInvestigated neuroendocrine and cellular mechanisms underlying obesity pathology.Publications:Toorie AM, Cyr NE, Steger JS, Beckman R, Farah G, Nillni EA. The Nutrient and Energy Sensor Sirt1 Regulates the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) Axis by Altering the Production of the Prohormone Convertase 2 (PC2) Essential in the Maturation of Corticotropin-releasing Hormone (CRH) from Its Prohormone in Male Rats. J Biol Chem. 2016 Mar 11;291(11):5844-59.Cyr NE, Steger JS*, Toorie AM*, Yang JZ, Stuart R, Nillni EA. Central Sirt1 regulates body weight and energy expenditure along with the POMC-derived peptide α-MSH and the processing enzyme CPE production in diet-induced obese male rats. Endocrinology. 2015 Mar;156(3):961-74. *Equal contributionCyr NE, Toorie AM, Steger JS, Sochat MM, Hyner S, Perello M, Stuart R, Nillni EA. Mechanisms by which the orexigen NPY regulates anorexigenic α-MSH and TRH. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2013 Mar 15;304(6):E640-50. Presentations:Steger JS, Cyr NE, Stuart RC, Nillni EA. Inhibition of Hypothalamic Sirt1 in Diet-Induced Obese Rats Significantly Increases Energy Expenditure Through FoxO1 Acetylation and Akt Signaling. 2013. Poster presentation delivered at:-Brown University 2013 Neuroscience Undergraduate Honors Poster Presentations. April, 2013.-ENDO 2013: The Endocrine Society’s 95th Annual Meeting & Expo. San Francisco, CA. June, 2013.Steger JS, Cyr NE, Stuart RC, Nillni EA. Neuronal Mechanisms Underlying the Interaction Between Leptin and Sirt1 in the Hypothalamus. 2012. Poster presentation delivered at:-18th Annual Department of Medicine Research Forum. The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. June, 2012. -Brown University’s Summer Research Symposium. August, 2012.-Rhode Island Hospital's 20th Annual Hospital Research Celebration. October, 2012.

Berkeley, Ca

Advisor: Dr. Richard S. Dodd, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management-Designed and conducted experiments investigating the genetic susceptibility of Tanoak to the pathogen responsible for Sudden Oak Death.-Extracted and purified nuclear and chloroplast DNA from leaf samples collected from six Tanoak populations in Northern California.

Juneau Icefield, Ak

Advisor: Dr. Maynard M. Miller, University of Alaska Southeast-Developed and conducted an independent field research project to explore and characterize the existence of distinct microclimates on the Taku Glacier.-Took advanced University field courses in glaciology, geology, meteorology, hydrology, geophysics, atmospheric sciences, geobotany, lichenometry, surveying, and mapping.

Bachelor Of Science (B.Sc.), Honors In Neuroscience

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Pharmacology

Education record