Meet Maddy Junkins, a PhD candidate in the Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program! Her review “Towards understanding the neural origins of hibernation” was recently published in the Journal of Experimental Biology. In this article, Junkins tackles the relatively underexplored role of the nervous system in hibernation. She drew from papers documenting various aspects of hibernation in several species — some being over 100 years old.
“This emphasized for me how much is known about what happens to the body during hibernation, while comparatively little is known about how these changes are coordinated.” Junkins said.
Through synthesizing these findings, Junkins gained the perspective that the nervous system plays an active, essential role in facilitating and supporting hibernation. Junkins concluded that the hypothalamus enters a quiescent state that suppresses the urge to thermoregulate, eat and drink. The review also suggests that the extremely slow heart and breathing rates observed during torpor are permitted by the altering of cardiovascular and pulmonary reflexes originating from the brainstem.
“We summarized what is known about how the hypothalamus and brainstem can promote and support the extreme physiological state of hibernation,” Junkins said.
This foundation was used to highlight the most promising areas for future research with modern neuroscience tools such as optogenetics and in vivo calcium imaging.
I was drawn to this community because it produces research of the highest caliber within a positive environment.
Maddy Junkins
Junkins’ research journey began at Wesleyan University, where she studied song processing in birds. She proceeded to work as a research assistant at New York University, before landing in the Yale Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program for her PhD.
Her current research is focused on the neural control of water balance in hibernation. According to Junkins, the highlight of her Yale experience has been working with her mentors, Elena Gracheva, PhD and Slav Bagriantsev, PhD, as well as the members of the Sensory Physiology labs.
“It is a pleasure to be a part of such a supportive and collaborative team!” Junkins said.
Junkins plans to pursue a career in academia, potentially diving further into her study of the hypothalamus’ role in maintaining homeostasis.