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Kayla Richardson Completed Qualifying Exam

January 13, 2026
On October 30th, Kayla Richardson (Parnell Lab) successfully defended and passed her oral qualifying exam! The title of her research proposal is, “Transcriptomic investigation of the developing neural plate in an FASD mouse model”. Congratulations Kayla!!

Sara Conley Successfully Defended Her PhD Thesis November 21st

November 21, 2025
On November 21st, Sara Conley successfully defended her PhD Thesis: “Glutamate Delta-1 Receptors Influence Tonic and Synaptic Excitatory Signaling in the Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis”. Mentor: Dr. Zoe McElligott.  Congratulations Dr. Conley!!

Lucas James Successfully Defended His PhD Thesis November 14th

November 14, 2025
On November 14th, Lucas James successfully defended his PhD Thesis: “Leveraging Genetic Models to Guide Therapeutic Development for Neurodevelopmental Disorders”. Mentors: Dr. Ben Philpot and Dr. Mark Zylka.  Congratulations Dr. James!

Preston Siegler Successfully Defended Her PhD Thesis November 6th

November 10, 2025
On November 6th, Preston Sieglers successfully defended her PhD Thesis: “Prenatal Corticosterone Treatment Impacts Hippocampal Development and Adult Behavior: A Focus on Area CA2”. Mentor: Dr. Serena Dudek.  Congratulations Dr. Siegler!!

Ariana Marquez Gonzalez Completed Qualifying Exam

November 5, 2025
On November 3rd, Ariana Marquez Gonzalez (Stein Lab) successfully defended and passed her oral qualifying exam! The title of her research proposal is, “GxF interactions in ASD: identifying genetic variants modulating response to valproic acid in human cortical organoids”. Congratulations Ariana!!

Reagan Bullins Awarded NRSA F31 Predoctoral Fellowship

October 14, 2025
On September 22nd, Reagan Bullins (PhD student in Hantman Lab) was awarded an NRSA F31 predoctoral fellowship from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke entitled “Determining the neuroplasticity role of inhibitory NDNF neurons in motor execution and learning”. Congratulations, Reagan!

Breana Dogan Completed Qualifying Exam

October 9, 2025
On October 7th, Breana Dogan (Baldwin Lab) successfully defended and passed her oral qualifying exam! The title of her research proposal is, “Investigating the role of astrocytic hepaCAM in synaptic organization and neurodevelopmental phenotypes”. Congratulations Breana!!

Katherine Degner Awarded NRSA F31 Predoctoral Fellowship

September 16, 2025
On September 9th, Katherine Degner (PhD student in Won Lab) was awarded an NRSA F31 predoctoral fellowship from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism entitled “Developing Systemic in vivo Massively Parallel Reporter Assay to Elucidate the Genetic Etiology of Problematic Alcohol Use”. Congratulations, Katherine!

Samantha Zarnick Completed Qualifying Exam

September 12, 2025
On September 11th, Samantha Zarnick (Stein Lab) successfully defended and passed her oral qualifying exam! The title of her research proposal is, “Genetic variation influencing chromatin interactions in the developing cortex (part I) and Modeling clozapine response in treatment resistant schizophrenia using cortical organoids (part II)”. Congratulations Sam!!

Katherine Descant Completed Qualifying Exam

September 12, 2025
On September 5th, Katherine Descant (Philpot Lab) successfully defended and passed her oral qualifying exam! The title of her research proposal is, “Phenotyping and gene therapy intervention for IMPG2-associated retinal degeneration”. Congratulations Katherine!!