Graduate Students

Razan AlotaibiName: Razan Alotaibi

Program: M.S. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: Karin Schon, Ph.D.

Research Summary: Razan is studying the influence of exercise on cognitive abilities through correlating processed structural MRI data with tasks of spatial navigation and executive function in older humans.

Katharine BabcockName: Katharine Babcock

Program: M.S. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: Ann McKee, M.D.

Research Summary: Katie is investigating potential mechanisms of blood-brain-barrier dysfunction and its relationship to neurodegeneration in Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) using immunohistochemical and immunofluorescent techniques.

St. George

Name: Karen Bottenfield

Program: Ph.D. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: Tara Moore, Ph.D.

Research Summary: Karen recently began her rotation with the Laboratory of Cognitive Neurobiology.

 

Morgan Brady

Name: Morgan Brady

Program: M.S. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: Tarik Haydar, Ph.D.

Research Summary: Morgan is looking at the effects of the Olig2+ gene triplication on spinal cord neurons in mouse models Down Syndrome.

 

Chris Brooks Photo 2018.04.23Name: Chris Brooks

Program: Ph.D. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: Kevin “Kip” Thomas, M.B.A, Ph.D.

Research Summary: Chris is using video annotation software and wearable sensors to quantitatively assess the functional and motor impairments associated with Parkinson’s disease.

chloe yi buName: Yi (Chloe) Bu

Program: M.S. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: First-Year Student

Research Summary: Yi is a first-year student and is currently in laboratory rotations.

 

Name: Jocoll Burgess

Program: M.S. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: Farzad Mortazavi, Ph.D.

Research Summary: Jocoll is studying minicolumns and axonal bundle organization in area 46 layer 5 in young and old monkeys using 3D modeling techniques. She is looking for noticeable anatomical difference between groups and whether cognitive impairment is dependent on anatomical differences.

Samantha CalderazzoName: Samantha Calderazzo

Program: M.S. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: First-Year Student

Research Summary: Samantha is a first-year student and currently in laboratory rotations.

Wayne ChangName: Wayne Chang

Program: Ph.D. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: First-Year Student

Research Summary: Wayne is a first-year student and currently in laboratory rotations.

 

Matthew_Czech_Headshot
Name: Matthew Czech

Program: Ph.D. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: First-Year Student

Research Summary: Matthew is a first-year student and currently in laboratory rotations.

renee devivoName: Renee DeVivo

Program: M.S. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: Ron Killiany, Ph.D.

Research Summary: Renee is analyzing cognitive impairment in the aging brain and how such changes are reflected in the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex utilizing functional MRI.

amr elmansouryName: Amr Elmansoury

Program: M.S. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: First-Year Student

Research Summary: Amr is a first-year student and is currently in laboratory rotations.

 

Guanying He

Name: Guanying He

Program: M.S. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: First-Year Student

Research Summary: Guanying is a first-year student and currently in laboratory rotations.

 

ern

Name: Kathryn Kern

Program: Ph.D. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: Karin Schon, Ph.D.

Research Summary: Katie’s research examines the effects of exercise on the medial temporal lobe memory system in human aging using structural and functional neuroimaging and exercise physiology techniques.

Sophie Kontur

Name: Sophie Kontur

Program: M.S. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: Elizabeth Whitney, Ph.D, MSPT

Research Summary: Sophie is looking at vascular variation in cadavers to see if variation medially- such as in the heart or abdomen- predicts variation distally.

 

Leblang

Name: Chelsey LeBlang

Program: Ph.D. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: Jennifer Luebke, Ph.D.

Research Summary: Chelsey is studying the relationship between stress granule biology, inflammation, and tau pathology in a mouse model of tauopathy.

 

Evelyn Yee Fun LeeName: Evelyn Yee Fun Lee

Program: Ph.D. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: Brian Bacskai, Ph.D.

Research Summary: Evelyn is studying the disruption of slow oscillations in animal models of Alzheimer’s disease using multiphoton imaging and optogenetics.

 

Songjun William Li

Name: Songjun William Li

Program: M.D./Ph.D. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: Ziv Williams, M.D. and Mark Moss, Ph.D.

Research Summary: Will is studying the neural mechanisms underlying social dynamics and social decision making in mice and monkeys using optogenetics and electrophysiological approaches.

 

Lim

Name: Seh Hong (Chris) Lim

Program: Ph.D. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: Jennifer Luebke, Ph.D., and Ki Ann Goosens, Ph.D.

Research Summary: Chris is using optogentics to identify the brain regions that govern the classical conditioning principles (contingency and contiguity) in the fear neural circuitry.

alex loboName: Alexander Lobo

Program: M.S. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: First-Year Student

Research Summary: Alexander is a first-year student and is currently in laboratory rotations.

 

Elizabeth Marco

 

Name: Elizabeth Marco

Program: M.S. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: First-Year Student

Research Summary: Elizabeth is a first-year student and is currently in laboratory rotations.

 

 

Alan Espinal Name: Alan Espinal Martinez

Program: M.S. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: First-Year Student

Research Summary: Alan is a first-year student and currently in laboratory rotations.

 

Anastasia Murati

Name: Anastasia Murati

Program: M.S. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: First-Year Student

Research Summary: Anastasia is a first-year student and currently in laboratory rotations.

 

Nicoletti photo

 

Name: Nick Nicoletti

Program: M.S. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: First-Year Student

Research Summary: Nick is a first-year student and currently in laboratory rotations.

 

yashar

Name: Yashar Rahimpour, MS

Program: Ph.D. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: Ronald Killiany, Ph.D.

Research Summary: Yashar is using structural MRI techniques such as diffusion in conjunction with functional MRI to study the Default Mode Network and its relationship in the healthy brain, aging brain, and cerebrovascular disease models.

 

Ren

Name: Ruiyi Ren

Program: Ph.D. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: Haiyan Gong, M.D., Ph.D.

Research Summary: Ruiyi works to characterize the changes in effective flow area and morphologies in trabecular meshwork when aqueous outflow varies.

David Swain-1
Name: David Swain

Program: M.D./Ph.D. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: Haiyan Gong, M.D., Ph.D.

Research Summary: David aims to investigate the mechanisms of increased resistance in the trabecular outflow pathway of glaucomatous eyes.

Katherine Szostak Name: Katherine Szostak

Program: M.S. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: First-Year Student

Research Summary: Katherine is a first-year student and currently in laboratory rotations.

 

Trecartin

Name: Katelyn Trecartin

Program: M.D./Ph.D. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: Douglas Rosene, Ph.D.

Research Summary: Katelyn is looking at various inflammatory pathways associated with the white matter pathology observed in the normal aging primate brain.

A.Tsolias

Name: Alexandra Tsolias

Program: Ph.D. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: First-Year Student

Research Summary: Alexandra is a first-year student and currently in laboratory rotations.

 

ajay uprety

 

Name: Ajay Uprety

Program: Ph.D. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: Doug Rosene, Ph.D., and Tara Moore, Ph.D.

Research Summary: Ajay’s research interests include the effects of aging on cognition, learning and memory.

 

 

lauren zajac

Name: Lauren Zajac, M.S.

Program: Ph.D. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: Ronald Killiany, Ph.D.

Research Summary: Lauren is using structural and functional MRI to study changes in the human brain that occur in healthy aging and mild cognitive impairment, a prodromal phase of Alzheimer’s disease. She is focusing on changes that occur within systems that support spatial navigation.

Annie Zhang

Name: Zannan Zhang

Program: M.S. in Anatomy and Neurobiology

Advisor: First-Year Student

Research Summary: Zhannan is a first-year student and currently in laboratory rotations.