VIU Psychology alum Dr. Travis Baker receives $2.5-million grant for research
Little did Dr. Travis Baker know when he first came to Vancouver Island University more than 20 years ago that it would be the start of a successful career in researching new treatments for addiction. Now an Assistant Professor at Rutgers University-Newark’s Centre for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, he recently received a $2.5-million grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to continue his research.
“I will be developing the next generation of brain-based therapies for substance use disorders,” he says. “If it wasn’t for the great mentorship I received from VIU, and the excellent learning experience from the program, I have no idea where I would be today.”
Read on to learn more about Baker’s ground-breaking research, and how VIU inspired his current career in neuroscience.
Why did you choose VIU?
In 1997 I was permanently laid off from a job in the forestry industry in Port Alberni due to the poor economy at the time and then moved to Alberta to work in the oil fields like many of my peers. I knew I eventually wanted to return to the Island to pursue academia. During my time in Alberta, I worked with a career counsellor from Port Alberni (as part of a retraining program offered by the forestry industry), and he helped me find a path to university based on my interests. We both agreed that the Psychology program at VIU was the perfect fit for me, given that it had such a good reputation and covered many topics I wanted to study.
Can you share a highlight or two from your time here?
I really did not know what to expect when I arrived on campus, as I was the first from my family to go to university. But what I immediately found after a few classes was that the professors were amazing, classes were a nice size so it wasn’t too overwhelming for me, and the professors were very approachable outside of class. They were eager to chat and help you excel in your program. The learning experience was awesome, and I found a great cohort of students to work with – another benefit of the small class sizes. Meeting people who were like-minded and shared similar interests made the whole experience fun.
Was there a particular professor or class who had a major impact on you?
There were two professors who really helped guide me to where I am today. The late Dr. Tony Robertson first introduced me to neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience. He was such a pleasant individual and so interesting to learn from. Tony provided me with a clear window into the brain and its functions and encouraged me to learn more from him outside of class. He introduced me to human electrophysiology and taught me to record my first brainwave (or electroencephalography), a technique that is the major focus of my research today, and at the heart of my recent research grant. I am forever grateful for his mentorship, and we kept in touch over the years until his passing. After learning of his passing, I dedicated my recent Nature: Scientific Reports publication to him. This study is one of the first of its kind to combine mobile-EEG and virtual reality to record EEG from people actively walking in a virtual maze to find rewards.
I am also forever grateful to Dr. Elliot Marchant. Without his mentorship, I would never have pursued a career researching drug addiction. He was hired when I was in my second year and he taught courses on neuroscience, drugs and behaviour, and also gave me the opportunity to do actual research. He recognized my passion for research, and I will never forget the day he approached me and asked if I had ever thought about pursuing research in graduate school. My initial response was: “What is graduate school?” He worked with me to actively pursue graduate school. This was all done outside of class, and he was so passionate in seeing me succeed. Without his mentorship in both research and career development, I would not be where I am today.
What have you been up to since graduating from VIU?
After VIU, I completed a Master of Science in Experimental Psychology and a PhD in Cognitive Science at the University of Victoria. I did a post-doc with the University of Montreal’s Department of Psychiatry and at the Montreal Neurological Institute at McGill University (Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, specializing in neuroimaging). Both my PhD and post-doc were supported by a Canadian Institute of Health Research grant, which I am so grateful to have received. After four years of being a post-doc, I was offered an excellent opportunity from Rutgers University in Newark, NJ, where I am today. I am now an Assistant Professor and Principal Investigator of my own lab (Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroimaging and Stimulation). If it wasn’t for the great mentorship I received from VIU, and the excellent learning experience, I have no idea where I would be today.
Tell us about your research and what you hope to accomplish.
With the support of the National Institute on Drug Abuse grant, I am using a cutting-edge, robot-assisted brain-imaging technology called transcranial magnetic stimulation (Ri-TMS) to alter the brain’s response to the use of substances. This could correct processes in the brain that sustain substance-use disorders.
When people make a good choice and get rewarded, the neurotransmitter dopamine is released to help motivate and select that choice in the future. However, drugs of abuse can artificially release large amounts of dopamine, and in turn, can effectively increase the motivational value of drug-related choices. Addiction can thus be thought of as a fundamental problem of reward learning and motivation, such that drugs of abuse can create a motivational reward bias towards choices that lead to substance use while decreasing the motivation for other activities such as going to work or maintaining healthy relationships. We can measure this reward bias in individuals with a substance use disorder by recording a brainwave called the reward positivity.I hope to then use Ri-TMS to flip the brain’s response to substance use and reverse that bias, as measured by the reward positivity.
The overarching goal of this research is to reduce the frequency and severity of neurocognitive deficits among individuals with substance use disorder, and I anticipate that counteracting this reward bias may not only improve goal-directed processes, but may increase substance users’ success in treatment, and maintaining treatment goals.
What advice would you share with VIU students considering a career in research?
You are in a very nurturing learning environment. Be passionate about your studies and find ways to excel in your research direction within and outside of VIU while you are pursuing your degree. Look at the long-term goals of your studies, and always plan ahead with the advice from your mentors, they are there to guide you. VIU provided me with the foundation to achieve excellence in research and academia, so be confident in your studies and degree, and know that there will be more in store for you in the future. There will always be successes and failures in your endeavours, but trust that the foundations you are receiving at VIU will guide you through all of them.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
