Doctorate Awarded to Candidate in Biomedical Sciences Program

This summer, doctoral degrees were awarded to several candidates who successfully defended their dissertations resulting from research conducted at Northeast Ohio Medical University with NEOMED faculty mentors as part of the cooperative Kent State University/NEOMED Biomedical Sciences program.

Congratulations to Will Noftz, who on August 24 became Dr. Noftz!

Working with advisor Brett Schofield, Ph.D., a professor of anatomy and neurobiology at Northeast Ohio Medical University as well as a founding member of its Hearing Research Group, Dr. Noftz wrote the dissertation “Cholinergic projections to the inferior collicus.”

Dr. Noftz explains: “The neurochemical acetylcholine has effects on auditory neurons related to memory, learning and attention. My dissertation investigates a known source of acetylcholine for the inferior colliculus – a major auditory hub in the midbrain – and describes how cholinergic axons enter the inferior colliculus; what types of neurons receive acetylcholine; and where those neurons send their own axons.

“I hope that my research will pave the way toward a greater understanding of the circuits that underly our hearing and how neuromodulators such as acetylcholine come to play a role in normal hearing and hearing impairment.”