Damian Coomes, 2010 CCHS graduate, has been awarded a Helen Hardin Fellowship to do research at the University of Memphis Psychology Department this summer. He was one of ten honrs program students to get his research proposal funded. He will be working in the neuropsychology lab doing research connected to Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Specifically, he is wiorking under the direction of Dr. Charles Blaha and will be studying neurotransmitter pathways in the brains of mice which correlates to the same nerve pathways in humans. He will be testing whether the chemical glutamate can be enhanced or blocked in the nerve synapses. This may lead to better understanding and treatmeent of Autism in humans.

Damian has completed two years of study at Memphis with a 4.0 average. He is in the honrs program in psychology specializing in Behavioral Neuroscience.