Behavioral Neuroscience Graduate Students and Post-Doctoral Researchers

Graduate Students

Postdoctoral Researchers

Graduate Students

Jessica Babb

Graduate Student – Behavioral Neuroscience/Psychology (Campeau/Day lab)
Email: Jessica.Babb@Colorado.EDU
Lab website: http://psych.colorado.edu/~campeaus/

Research Interests: The Campeau/Day lab studies the neuroanatomical basis of stress responsiveness. Specifically, I study how hormones can influence the reaction to both acute and chronic stress in female rats. I am also interested in determining other factors that can influence stress responsiveness in female rodents, such as exercise. Ultimately, my long-term goal is to understand gender differences seen in humans coping with stress, in both healthy and clinical populations.

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Alex Benison

Graduate Student – Behavioral Neuroscience/Psychology (Barth lab)
B.A. Psychology, Biology, Magna Cum Laude, University of Colorado at Boulder
Email: benisona@colorado.edu
Lab website: http://psych.colorado.edu/~dbarth/

Research Interests: Faster than real-time PCR, more powerful than a student's T-test, able to leap tall workbenches in a single bound, look, in that lab! It's a nerd! It's a geek! It's Scienceman! Yes. It's Scienceman, strange visitor from another planet who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Scienceman, who can change the course of scientific reason, pull pipettes with his bare hands, and who, disguised as Alex Benison, mild-mannered graduate student at the University of Colorado, fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice, and scientific discovery. His research is centered on characterizing the secondary sensory areas of the brain, both anatomically, physiologically, and functionally.

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Sara Blaine

Graduate Student – Behavioral Neuroscience/Psychology (Hutchison Lab)
B.A. Psychology, Cornell University
Email: Sara.Blaine@Colorado.EDU
Lab Website: http://psych.colorado.edu/~hutchisonlab/index.html

Research Interests:

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Tim Chapman

Graduate Student – Behavioral Neuroscience/Psychology (Patterson lab)
B.S. Molecular Biology, Florida Tech
Email: timothy.chapman@colorado.edu
Lab website: http://psych.colorado.edu/

Research Interests: I am currently studying the role of the brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and other molecules in the continuous synaptic plasticity that occurs in the hippocampus using extracellular field recordings and small drug manipulation.

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Lauren Chun

Graduate Student – Behavioral Neuroscience/Psychology (Spencer Lab)
B.S. Brain, Behavior, and Cognitive Science, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
Email: Lauren.Chun@Colorado.EDU
Lab Website: http://psych.colorado.edu/~spencerlab/

Research Interests: My research interests include the glucocorticoid negative feedback system, stress adaptation, and the mechanism in which chronic psychological stress can lead to aberrant responses of the HPA axis and glucocorticoid negative feedback system, with a particcular emphasis on sex differences.

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Giuseppe Cortese

Graduate Student – Behavioral Neuroscience/Psychology (Patterson lab)
B.A. Physiology, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Email: giuseppe.cortese@colorado.edu
Lab website: http://psych.colorado.edu

Research Interests: A major focus of our lab is to understand how BDNF-dependent synaptic plasticity is altered due to aging and inflammation. The primary goals of my research are to determine if age and/or inflammation: (1) alters the synaptic recruitment and function of BDNF, (2) impairs BDNF-dependent signaling mechanisms, and (3) modulates long-term depression in the rat hippocampus.

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Amanda Ellis

Graduate Student – Behavioral Neuroscience/Psychology (Maier/Watkins lab)
B.A. Psychology - University of Colorado at Boulder
Email: Amanda.L.Ellis@Colorado.EDU
lab website: http://psych.colorado.edu/

Research Interests: I work with Dr. Linda Watkins and we generally study the role of glia in chronic pain. I am specifically interested in spinal injury and the mechanisms underlying below-level central neuropathic pain.

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Kenneth Kubala

Graduate Student – Behavioral Neuroscience/Psychology (Maier/Watkins lab)
B.S. Psychology, Texas A&M
M.A. Health Psychology, Texas State Technical College
Email: kenneth.kubala@colorado.edu
Lab website: http://psych.colorado.edu/~smaier

Research Interest: My research interests focus on understanding how stressors in developmental periods, such as adolescence, impact individuals responses to late stressors and the mechanisms by which this change occurs.

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Ryan Newsom

Graduate Student – Behavioral Neuroscience/Psychology (Campeau lab)
B.A. Psychology, University of South Carolina
Email: Ryan.Newsom@Colorado.EDU
Lab website: http://psych.colorado.edu

Research Interest: Ryan is interested in the role of the cannabinoid system in buffering against and adapting to stressors, and in stress-related anxiety and depression.

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Alexis Northcutt

Graduate Student – Behavioral Neuroscience/Psychology (Maier/Watkins lab)
B.A. Psychology, University of Colorado at Boulder
Email: Alexis.Northcutt@Colorado.EDU
Lab website: http://psych.colorado.edu/

Research Interests: My research focuses on exploring how glial cells are involved in the rewarding effects of opioids and cocaine. We are concerned both with how inclusion of glial cell activity may actually reveal more about and help us to better understand the cellular mechanisms driving drug reward, and with ultimately exploring potential pharmaceutical interventions that can block and/or reverse rewarding/addictive effects of drugs of abuse.

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Tara Nyhuis

Graduate Student – Behavioral Neuroscience/Psychology (Campeau lab)
B.A. Psychology, University of Colorado at Boulder
Email: Tara.Nyhuis@Colorado.EDU
Lab website: http://psych.colorado.edu/~campeaus

Research Interests: In the Campeau-Day lab we are interested in the neural circuitry, endocrine and autonomic nervous system responses to psychological stressors, such as loud noises and predator odor. We are examining environmental factors that may attenuate an animals' response to both acute and repeated stress, including exercise and environmental enrichment.

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Colin Olivier

Graduate Student – Behavioral Neuroscience/Psychology (Cooper Lab)
B.A. Neuroscience, University of Colorado at Boulder
Email: Colin.Olivier@Colorado.EDU
Lab Website: http://donaldcooper.wordpress.com/

Research Interests:

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Casey O'Neill

Graduate Student – Behavioral Neuroscience/Psychology (Bachtell lab)
B.A. Experimental Psychology, University of South Carolina
Email: Casey.Oneill@Colorado.EDU
Lab website: http://psych.colorado.edu/

Research Interest: I am interested in the study of addiction, particularly the drug-induced neurobiological changes in both the neurochemical actions of the brain and in addictive behavior. Additionally, I am interested in the pharmacological manipulation of the brain and what that means to the overall system.

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Chad Osterlund

Graduate Student – Behavioral Neuroscience/Psychology (Spencer lab)
B.A. Psychology, Metropolitan State College of Denver, 2005
Email: Chad.Osterlund@Colorado.EDU
Lab website: http://psych.colorado.edu/~spenlab

Research Interests: Stress neurobiology, particularly in the neurobiological basis of stress and subsequent adaptations.
Quote: "Abide" THE BIG LEBOWSKI

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Krista Rodgers

Graduate Student – Behavioral Neuroscience/Psychology (Barth lab)
B.A. Psychology, University of Central Oklahoma
M.A. Experimental Psychology, University of Central Oklahoma
Email: krista.rodgers@colorado.edu
Lab website: http://psych.colorado.edu/~dbarth

Research Interests: My current research focuses on the temporal synchronization of neuronal responses and feature analysis. Coincidence detection is a critical for feature analysis in visual and auditory cortex. My research explores somatosensory cortex and its possible role in processing spatial features based on coincidence detection. Other research interests include multisensory integration, epilepsy (chronic and acute seizure models) and oscillatory activity (the cellular events, neural generation, functional significance and cortical network generation underlying oscillatory activity).

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Julia Sobesky

Graduate Student – Behavioral Neuroscience/Psychology (Maier/Watkins lab)
B.S. Biopsychology, University of Michigan
Email: Julia.Sobesky@Colorado.EDU
Lab website: http://psych.colorado.edu/~mwlab

Research Interests: I am interested in the cognitive effects of prolonged neuroinflammatory responses to stress and sickness, particularly during aging or after multiple insults.

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Brittany Thompson

Graduate Student – Behavioral Neuroscience/Psychology (Maier/Watkins lab)
B.S. in Neuroscience at Furman University (Greenville, SC)
Email: brittany.m.thompson@Colorado.EDU
Lab website: http://psych.colorado.edu

Research Interests: My research focuses on the effect of controllable and uncontrollable stress on an organism and brain circuitry. Current research involves the role of serotonin in anxiety.

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Michael Weber

Graduate Student – Behavioral Neuroscience/Psychology (Maier/Watkins lab)
B.S. Psychology, Ohio State University
Email: Michael.Weber@Colorado.EDU

Research Interests:

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Elizabeth Woodruff

Graduate Student – Behavioral Neuroscience/Psychology (Spencer Lab)
B.A. Psychology, University of Colorado Boulder
Email: Elizabeth.Woodruff@Colorado.EDU
Lab Website: http://psych.colorado.edu/~spencerlab/

Research Interests: Liz's research interests include (but are certainly not limited to!) stress physiology, the mechanisms surrounding glucocorticoid regulation and adaptation, and HPA axis negative feedback

Post-Doctoral Fellows

José Amat

Postdoctoral Fellow – Behavioral Neuroscience/Psychology (Maier/Watkins lab)
Ph.D. Neurophysiology, University of Iowa
Email: jose.amat@colorado.edu
Lab website: http://psych.colorado.edu/~smaier

Research Interests: Dr. José Amat graduated from medical school in Venezuela from the Universidad de Oriente, followed by an internship at the University Hospital. Upon completion of his internship, Dr. Amat pursued teaching and research in the Physiology Department of the Universidad de Oriente Medical School. A few years later, he went to the University of Iowa where he obtained his Ph.D. in Neurophysiology, under the mentorship of Dr. Rodolfa Llinas. His dissertation research focused on cerebellar control of the vestibulospinal reflexes of the frog. Dr. Amat then returned to Venezuela and engaged in research and teaching, first at the Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas and later on at the Medical School of the Universidad Central de Venezuela. For the last 15 years Dr. Amat has focused his research mostly on the effects of stress on the release of monoamines in the CNS. He has experience in neurophysiological techniques (extracellular and intracellular recording from the CNS and from peripheral nerves), various techniques for neural tracing, basic in vivo immunological testing, enzyme-linked immunosorbant assays, radioimmunoassays, in vivo microdialysis and high pressure liquid chromatography. Currently he is pursuing the effects of stressor controllability on the activity of serotonergic dorsal raphe nucleus cells, and on the neurocircuitry which mediates these effects.

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Ruth Barrientos

Postdoctoral Fellow – Behavioral Neuroscience/Psychology (Maier/Watkins and Rudy lab)
B.S. Psychology, George Mason University
M.A. Cognitive Neuroscience, The George Washington University
Ph.D. Cognitive Neuroscience, The George Washington University
Email: rbarr@psych.colorado.edu
Website: http://psych.colorado.edu/~rbarr
Lab website: http://psych.colorado.edu/~smaier

Research Interests: I'm interested in the effects of neuroinflammatory responses on hippocampal-dependent learning and memory processes. Most neuroinflammatory-mediated impairments.

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John P. Christianson

Postdoctoral Fellow – Behavioral Neuroscience (Maier/Watkins lab)
B.A. Psychology, Susquehanna University
M.S. Psychology, University of New Hampshire
Ph.D. Psychology, University of New Hampshire
Email: John.Christianson@Colorado.EDU
Website: http://psych.colorado.edu/~johnp
Lab website: http://psych.colorado.edu/~mwlab

Research Interests: Environmental stressors can have potent consequences on human and animal behavior. Indeed, stress can decrease motivation, alter emotions, interfere with cognitive processes and reduce resistance to disease. Under some circumstances stress is a trigger for mood disorders, including major depression and post traumatic stress disorder. My primary interest is to investigate how behavioral (such as environmental and perceived aspects of stress) and biological responses to stress interact to produce lasting changes in an organism. To do this I utilize procedures that expose animals to stress and permit the observation of stress-effects on learning, memory, and anxiety combined serotonin and glia in post-stress anxiety responses.

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Matthew G. Frank

Postdoctoral Fellow – Behavioral Neuroscience (Maier/Watkins lab)
B.A. Psychology, University of Nebraska at Omaha
M.A. Psychobiology, University of Nebraska at Omaha
Ph.D. Pathology and Microbiology, University of Nebraska Medical College
Email: matt.frank@colorado.edu
Lab website: http://psych.colorado.edu/~mwlab

Research Interests: I examine how microglia phenotype and function change with age and the role of microglia in age-related potentiated immune responses in the CNS.

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Lisa Loram

Postdoctoral Fellow - Behavioral Neuroscience/Psychology (Maier/Watkins lab)
Ph.D. Physiology, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Email: lisa.loram@colorado.edu
Lab website: http://psych.colorado.edu/~mwlab

Research Interests: Neuropathic pain remains intractable despite treatment with currently available therapeutic agents. The activation of microglia and astrocytes (glial cells) plays a crucial role in chronic pain states, including neuropathic pain, by chronically inducing the release of neuroexcitatory substances such as pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. I am interested in identifying novel pharmacotherapies that can effectively attenuate neuropathic pain and possibly "reset" these chronically activated glial cells to their basal, non-reactive state.

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Cher Masini

Postdoctoral Fellow – Behavioral Neuroscience/Psychology (Campeau/Day lab)
B.A. Psychology, Sociology, and Anthropology, West Virginia University
Ph.D. Psychology, University of Georgia
Email: masinic@psych.colorado.edu
Lab website: http://psych.colorado.edu/~campeaus

Research Interests: In the Campeau-Day laboratory, I have developed an innate naturalist model of psychological stress in rats using ferret skin/fur odor. We have examined neuroanatomical, behavioral and endocrine effects of this stressor in a variety of situations. We have found that ferret odor is a very potent unconditioned stimulus and responses to this stressor do not rapidly habituate. We are currently examining the autonomic and sensitized responses to this stressor.

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Julie Wieseler

Postdoctoral Fellow – Behavioral Neuroscience/Psychology (Maier/Watkins lab)
Ph.D Psychology, University of Nebraska
Email: wieseler@colorado.edu
Lab website: http://psych.colorado.edu/~mwlab

Research Interests: My research interests are focused on the communication between the peripheral immune system and the central nervous system. Very specifically, I am studying how signals from peripheral immune cells, either in circulation or resident near the spinal cord, communicate with spinal cord glia, thereby altering tactile or thermal sensitivity. I analyze these cells after rapid isolation of immune cells and/or spinal cord microglia and then measure protein expression via immunohistochemistry, ELISAs and/or Western Blots, and gene expression via Real-time PCR.

For questions about our program, please contact Alyson Daly.