CNUP: Center for Neuroscience

CNUP Alumni

A | B | C | D | E | G | H | J | K | L | M | N | P | R | S | U | V | W |
Debra Artim, Ph.D.
Graduated: April, 2005
Mentor: Dr. Stephen Meriney
Thesis: Somatostatin-mediated inhibition of calcium currents
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Rebecca Berman, Ph.D.
Graduated: April, 2004
Mentor: Dr. Carol Colby
Thesis: When the brain is split, is space still unified?
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, National Institutes of Health

Joel Brown, Ph.D.
Graduated: August, 2004
Mentor: Dr. Bill Yates
Thesis: The brain's map and compass: Neural substrates of spatial cognition in the rat
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Dartmouth University

Deanne Buffalari, Ph.D.
Graduated: December, 2006
Mentor: Dr. Anthony Grace
Thesis: Noradrenergic modulation of the basolateral amygdala: Alterations by stress exposure
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of South Carolina

Jason Castro, Ph.D.
Graduated: April, 2008
Mentor: Dr. Nathan Urban
Thesis: Dendritic neurotransmitter release and its modulation in accessory olfactory bulb circuits
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Carnegie Mellon University

Nadia Chaudhri, Ph.D.
Graduated: April, 2005
Mentor: Dr. Alan Sved
Thesis: Complex interactions between nicotine and nonpharmacological stimuli reveal a novel role for nicotine in reinforcement
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center, CA

Soyoun Cho, Ph.D.
Graduated: August, 2007
Mentor: Dr. Stephen Meriney
Thesis: Experimental and computational studies of calcium-triggered transmitter release.
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Oregon Health Sciences University

Richard Clarke, Ph.D.
Graduated: August, 2006
Mentor: Dr. Jon Johnson
Thesis: Slow magnesium unblock and inherent voltage dependence of NMDA receptors
Current position:

Annie D. Cohen, Ph.D.
Graduated: December, 2006
Mentor: Dr. Michael Zigmond
Thesis: Role of exercise and GDNF in an animal model of Parkinson's Disease; Implications for neuroprotection
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

April Dukes, Ph.D.
Graduated: April, 2007
Mentor: Dr. Teresa Hastings
Thesis: The role of dopamine oxidation in dopamine-induced toxicity, iniation of endoplasmic reticulum stress, and potentiation of rotenone-induced toxiticy in differentiated PC12 cells.
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Stephen M. Eggan, Ph.D.
Graduated: August, 2007
Mentor: Dr. David Lewis
Thesis: Cannabinoid CB1 receptor: Role in primate prefrontal circuitry and schizophrenia.
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Christopher M. Elitt, Ph.D.
Graduated: December, 2006
Mentor: Dr. Brian Davis
Thesis: Artemin regulates nociceptor responses to thermal and chemical stimuli
Current position: Medical Student, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Aura F. Ene, Ph.D.
Graduated: December, 2003
Mentor: Dr. Karl Kandler
Thesis: Cellular mechanisms underlying glutamatergic calcium responses in developing auditory brainstem neurons.
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Rick Gerkin, Ph.D.
Graduated: April, 2008
Mentor: Dr. Guo-qiang Bi
Thesis: Synaptic Plasticity and Hebbian Cell Assemblies
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Carnegie Mellon University

Alexandra A. Gulacsi, Ph.D.
Graduated: August, 2004
Mentor: Dr. Laura Lillien
Thesis: Regulation of telencephalic interneuron development
Current position:

Adam L. Halberstadt, Ph.D.
Graduated: August, 2006
Mentor: Dr. Carey Balaban
Thesis: Anatomical characterization of serotonergic and nonserotonergic projections from the dorsal raphe nucleus to the vestibular nuclei
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, San Diego

Laura Heiser, Ph.D.
Graduated: December, 2004
Mentor: Dr. Carol Colby
Thesis: Spatial updating in parietal cortex: Accessing visual information beyond the bounds of the classic receptive field
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, UCLA

Greta Ann Herin, Ph.D,
Graduated: December, 2003
Mentor: Dr. Elias Aizenman
Thesis: Studies on the role of the N-terminal domain of NR1 in the redox modulation of NR2A-containing NMDA receptors.
Current position: Assistant Professor, Biology Department, Eastern Mennonite University

Yeung Ho, Ph.D.
Graduated: December, 2006
Mentor: Dr. Donald DeFranco
Thesis: Regulation of protein phosphatases in oxidatively stressed neurons
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Chinese University of Hong Kong, PRC

Michael P. Jankowski, Ph.D.
Graduated: December, 2006
Mentor: Dr. Kathy Albers
Thesis: Neuron survival, axon growth and the transcription factor SRY-Box containing Gene 11 (SOX-11)
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Brian Jian, Ph.D.
Graduated: August, 2004
Mentor: Dr. Bill Yates
Thesis: Vestibular compensation: A spinovestibular mediated process
Current position: Resident, Neurological Surgery Department, University of California at San Francisco

Vivek Khatri, Ph.D.
Graduated: December, 2005
Mentor: Dr. Daniel J. Simons
Thesis: Effects of adaptation in a somatosensory thalamocortical circuit neurobiology
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Hunter College

Gunsoo Kim, Ph.D.
Graduated: December, 2004
Mentor: Dr. Karl Kandler
Thesis: Refinement of inhibitory circuits during development of the mammalian auditory brainstem
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, San Francisco

J. Darwin King, Jr., Ph.D.
Graduated: December, 2007
Mentor: Dr. Stephen Meriney
Thesis: Action potential gating of calcium channels and transmitter release.
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Niccole J. Larsen, Ph.D.
Graduated: December, 2007
Mentor: Dr. Teresa Hastings
Thesis: Mechanisms of dopaminergic neurotoxin-induced blood brain barrier disruption.
Current position: Instructor, University of Pittsburgh

Hanmi Lee, Ph.D.
Graduated: August, 2007
Mentor: Dr. Karl Kandler
Thesis: Role of GABA/glycine depolarization and hyperpolarization in neonatal circuit development
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University

SooHyun Lee, Ph.D.
Graduated: December, 2007
Mentor: Dr. Daniel Simons
Thesis: Motor cortex regulation of thalamic-cortical activity in the somatosensory system.
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, New York University School of Medicine

David Levinthal, Ph.D.
Graduated: August, 2004
Mentor: Dr. Don DeFranco
Thesis: Mechanisms promoting ERK-dependent neuronal oxidative stress
Current position: Medical Resident, University of Michigan School of Medicine

Chen Li, Ph.D.
Graduated: December, 2007
Mentor: Dr. John Horn
Thesis: Cellular specialization of synaptic integration in a mammalian sympathetic ganglion.
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Stony Brook University, New York

Zhenyu Liu, Ph.D.
Graduated: December, 2007
Mentor: Dr. Michael Cascio
Thesis: GlyBP: A structural model of the extracellular domain of human A1 glycine receptor.
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Los Angeles

Yue Luo, Ph.D.
Graduated: August, 2006
Mentor: Dr. Donald DeFranco
Thesis: Divergent roles for the ERK1/2 signaling pathway in neuronal oxidative stress
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Greenwood Genetic Center, Greenwood, SC

Jamie G. Maldonado-Aviles, Ph.D.
Graduated: April, 2008
Mentor: Dr. David Lewis
Thesis: Altered markers of tonic inhibition in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of subjects with schizophrenia
Current position: Postdoctoral Associate, Yale University

Cyrus McCandless, Ph.D.
Graduated: April, 2007
Mentor: Dr. Carey Balaban
Thesis: Responses of parabrachial nucleus neurons to whole-body macaque.
Current position:

David McMahon, Ph.D.
Graduated: December, 2005
Mentor: Dr. Carl Olson
Thesis: Effects of stimulus repetition on behavior and single neurons in inferotemporal cortex
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Elisha Merriam, Ph.D.
Graduated: December, 2005
Mentor: Dr. Carol Colby
Thesis: Spatial updating in human cortex
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, New York University

David Moorman, Ph.D.
Graduated: August, 2005
Mentor: Dr. Carl Olson
Thesis: Representation of object-centered space by neurons of the supplementary eye field
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of South Carolina

David Nauen, Ph.D.
Graduated: April, 2008
Mentor: Dr. Guo-qiang Bi
Thesis: Investigating Mechanisms of Activity-Dependent Plasticity at Individual Synaptic Contacts
Current position: Medical student, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Sumon K. Pal, Ph.D.
Graduated: August, 2004
Mentor: Dr. Elias Aizenman
Thesis: Potassium channel mediated neuronal apoptosis
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University

Mark Parrish, Ph.D.
Graduated: December, 2003
Mentor: Dr. Paula Monaghan-Nichols
Thesis: An investigation in the roles of Spalt homologues during murine development.
Current position:

John Pattillo, Ph.D.
Graduated: December, 2002
Mentor: Dr. Stephen Meriney
Thesis: The relationship between calcium influx and neurotransmitter release: The role of active zone organization studied with Monte Carlo simulations
Current position: Assistant Professor, Biology Department, Macon State College

Matthew Roesch, Ph.D.
Graduated: August, 2004
Mentor: Dr. Carl Olson
Thesis: Neural activity related to anticipated reward: Does it represent value or reflect motivation?
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Maryland

Michael J. Sabatini, Ph.D.
Graduated: August, 2006
Mentor: Dr. Karoly Mirnics
Thesis: Behavioral and Gene Expression Changes Following Early Social Bond Disruption in the Rhesus Monkey
Current position: Medical Student, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Veeral S. Shah, Ph.D.
Graduated: April, 2006
Mentor: Dr. Cynthia Lance-Jones
Thesis: The role of Hoxd10 in the development of the motoneurons in the posterior spinal cord
Current position: Medical Student, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Amy Sinor, Ph.D.
Graduated: April, 2004
Mentor: Dr. Laura Lillien
Thesis: Akt regulation of progenitors and stem cells during cortical development.
Current position:

Ruth Anne Stetler, Ph.D.
Graduated: December, 2005
Mentor: Dr. Don DeFranco
Thesis: Crosstalk between the mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway and protease pathways in a model of glutamate-induced oxidative stress
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Stefan Ursu, Ph.D.
Graduated: August, 2004
Mentor: Dr. Cameron Carter
Thesis: Behavioral control, outcome representation and the human OFC: Basic fMRI findings and relevance for psychopathology
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Davis

Sriram Venneti, Ph.D.
Graduated: August, 2006
Mentor: Dr. Clayton Wiley
Thesis: Role for the peripheral benzodiazepine receptor in neuroinflammation of neurodegenerative disorders
Current position: Resident: Anatomic pathology and Neuropathology, University of Pennsylvania

Shuying Wang, Ph.D.
Graduated: April, 2007
Mentor: Dr. Kathryn Albers
Thesis: Molecular mechanisms of aging in the peripheral nociceptive system.
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine