Bogumila Sweitek (Millie)

 

Students

millie

About 

I obtained my Bachelor's and Master's degree in Biomedical Engineering from New Jersey Institute Technology. Under the guidance  of Dr. Bryan J. Pfister, NJIT, my Master's thesis focused on the development of a novel pneumatic blast simulator.  After graduation, I joined the lab of Dr. Viji Santhakumar to study traumatic brain injury acquired epilepsy. Upon acceptance into the Doctorate program at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, I wanted to pursue TBI research, focusing on addressing the mechanistic underpinnings following traumatic brain insult in vitro.

         

Education

B.S. Biomedical Engineering, NJIT 2009

M.S. Biomedical Engineering, NJIT 2011

Research interests

          Injuries sustained after an acute traumatic brain injury (TBI), such as a fall or motor vehicle
accident, can lead to long-term neurological and cognitive impairments ranging from headache
to depression and even epilepsy. The molecular cascades that ensue are secondary in nature
but the mechanism initiating these cascades and its effect on neuronal function is unknown. My
research focus has been on examining the role of glial cells on neuronal function after an acute
traumatic insult.

Present research/Project summary

         To date, effective treatments for cognitive and behavioral symptoms of mild traumatic brain
injuries are lacking. However, an anti-inflammatory cytokine, leukemia inhibitory factor, (LIF),
also has been shown to exert as neuroprotective effects after a mild TBI in vivo. The
mechanism(s) underlying its neuroprotective effects has not been elucidated. The goal of this
project is to determine whether LIF has direct and/or indirect effects on neuronal function after
injury and the mechanism(s) underlying these effects.

Contact information 

bs84@njit.edu

 Publications 

  • Afrasiabi, M., Gupta, A., Xu, H., Swietek, B., & Santhakumar, V. (2022) Differential Activity-Dependent Increase in Synaptic Inhibition and Parvalbumin Interneuron Recruitment in Dentate Granule Cells and Semilunar Granule Cells. Journal of Neuroscience, 42(6), 1090- 1103.

  • Korgaonkar, A.A., Li, Y., Sekhar, D., Subramanian, D., Guevarra, J., Swietek, B., Pallottie, A., Singh, S., Kella, K., Elkabes, S. and Santhakumar, V., (2020) Toll-like Receptor 4 signaling in neurons enhances calcium-permeable α-Amino-3-Hydroxy-5-Methyl-4- isoxazolepropionic acid receptor currents and drives post-traumatic epileptogenesis. Annals of neurology, 87(4), pp.497-515.

  • Swietek, B. ,Skotak, M., Chandra, N., and Pfister, B. (2019). Characterization of a controlled shock wave delivered by a pneumatic table-top gas driven shock tube. Review of Scientific Instruments. 90. 075116. 10.1063/1.5099633.

  • Neuberger, E.J., Swietek, B, Corrbua, L, Prasanna, A, Santhakumar, V. (2017) Enhanced dentate neurogenesis after brain injury undermines long-term neurogenic potential and promotes seizure suspectibility. Stem Cell Reports 9(3), 972-984. DOI: doi:  10.1016/j.stemcr.2017.07.015. 

  • Swietek, B, Gupta, A, Proddutur, A, Santhakumar, V. (2016) Immunostaining of Biocytin-filled and processed sections for neurochemical markers. Journal of visualized experiments (118). DOI: 10.3791/54880.

  • Yu J, Proddutur A, Swietek B, Elgammal F, Santhakumar V (2016) Functional reduction in Cannabinoid-Sensitive Heterotypic Inhibition of Dentate Basket Cells in Epilepsy: Impact on Network Rhythms. Cerebral Cortex. DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhv199.

  • Yu J, Swietek B, Proddutur A, Santhakumar V (2016) Dentate cannabinoid-sensitive interneurons undergo unique and selective strengthening of mutual synaptic inhibition in experimental epilepsy. Neurobiology of Disease 89, 23-25. DOI:  10.1016/j.nbd.2016.01.013. 

  • Li Y*, Korgaonkar A*, Swietek B, Wang J, Elgammal FS, Elkabes, S, Santhakumar V. (2015) Toll-like receptor enhancement of non-NMDA synaptic currents increases dentate excitability after brain injury. Neurobiology of Disease. Feb;74:240-53 DOI: 10.1016/j.nbd.2014.11.021* Equal Contribution.

  • Yu J, Swietek B, Proddutur A, Santhakumar V (2015) Dentate total molecular layer interneurons mediate cannabinoid-sensitive inhibition. Hippocampus. 25:884-889. DOI:10.1002/hipo.22419.