2023 Graduates
Adrianna J. Milton
August 2023
Adrianna Milton received a PhD in Neurosciences under the mentorship of Dr. Jerry Silver.
Thesis: "Recovery of forearm and fine digit function after chronic spinal cord injury by simultaneous blockade of inhibitory matrix CSPG production and the receptor PTPσ"
Dan Jindal
May 2023
Dan Jindal received a PhD in Neurosciences under the mentorship of Dr. Heather Broihier.
Thesis: "A new model for synapse pruning uncovers a role for MEGF10/Jedi-1/Draper in activity-dependent refinement during a critical period"
Preethy S. Sridharan
April 2023
Preethy S. Sridharan received a PhD in Neurosciences under the mentorship of Dr. Andrew Pieper.
Thesis: "Acute inhibition of aberrant mitochondrial fission after traumatic brain injury confers lasting neuroprotection into late adulthood."
Past Graduates
Heath Robinson
January 2022
Heath Robinson received a PhD in Neurosciences under the mentorship of Dr. Lin Mei.
Thesis: “Neuregulin 1 and ErbB4 kinase actively regulate sharp wave ripples and memory in the hippocampus”
Meagan Kitt
May 2022
Meagan Kitt received a PhD in Neurosciences under the mentorship of Dr. Evan Deneris.
Thesis: "An Adult-Specific Transcriptional Program for the Survival of Serotonergic Connectivity"
Alicia Vagnozzi
May 2022
Alicia Vagnozzi received a PhD in Neurosciences under the mentorship of Dr. Pola Philippidou.
Thesis: "A combinatorial cadherin code drives respiratory circuit assembly"
Aaron Talsma
July 2022
Aaron Talsma received a PhD in Neurosciences under the mentorship of Dr. Richard Zigmond.
Thesis: "Dissecting the Roles of Macrophage Subpopulations Responding to Peripheral Nerve Injury in Conditioning-Lesion Enhanced Regeneration"
Xinrui Zhang
July 2022
Xinrui Zhang received a PhD in Neurosciences under the mentorship of Dr. Evan Deneris.
Thesis: "Reorganization of Postmitotic Neuronal Chromatin Accessibility for Maturation of Serotonergic Identity"
Anthony R. Sloan
October 2022
Anthony Sloan received a PhD in Neurosciences under the mentorship of Dr. Andrew Sloan.
Thesis: "Glioma stem cells activate platelets by plasma-independent thrombin production to promote GBM Tumorigenesis"
Kelsey Herrmann
November 2021
Kelsey Herrmann received a PhD in Neurosciences under the mentorship of Dr. Heather Broihier.
Thesis: “Divergent signaling requirements of dSARM in injury-induced axon degeneration and developmental glial phagocytosis”
Hongsheng Wang
April 2020
Hongsheng Wang received a PhD in Neurosciences under the mentorship of Dr. Lin Mei.
Thesis: “A spinal circuit for thermal pain regulated by ErbB4”
Zhaoqi Dong
July 2020
Zhaoqi Dong received a PhD in Neurosciences under the mentorship of Dr. Lin Mei.
Thesis: "Synaptic, Circuitry and Behavioral Deficits Induced by Autism Spectrum Disorder Associated Cullin3 Mutations"
Brad Casali
August 2020
Brad Casali received a PhD in Neurosciences under the mentorship of Dr. Gary Landreth
Thesis: “Disease-modifying effects of microglia depletion and nuclear-receptor deletion in myeloid cells in Alzheimer’s disease”
Taylor Jay
May 2019
Taylor Jay received a PhD in Neurosciences under the mentorship of Dr. Gary Landreth and Dr. Bruce Lamb.
Thesis: "The TREM2 receptor directs microglial activity in Alzheimer’s disease and neurodevelopment"
Edward DongBo Cui
May 2019
Edward Cui received a PhD in Neurosciences under the mentorship of Dr. Ben Strowbridge.
Thesis: “Muscarinic Cholinergic Modulation of Neuronal Excitability and Dynamics via Ether-À-Go-Go-Related Gene Potassium Channel in Rodent Neocortical Pyramidal Cells”
Lauren Donovan
August 2019
Lauren Donovan received a PhD in Neurosciences under the mentorship of Dr. Evan Deneris.
Thesis: “Continuously Active Transcriptional Programs are Required to Build Expansive Serotonergic Axon Architectures”
Kendall Hoover
November 2019
Kendall Hoover received a PhD in Neurosciences under the mentorship of Dr. Heather Broihier.
Thesis: “The calcium channel subunit α2δ-3 promotes activity-dependent, autocrine BMP signaling to organize presynaptic terminals”
Jane Lindborg
February 2018
Jane Lindborg received a PhD in Neurosciences under the mentorship of Dr. Richard Zigmond.
Thesis: "A Novel Role for Neutrophils in Wallerian Degeneration after a Peripheral Nerve Injury"
Kaitlin Carlson
May 2018
Kaitlin Carlson received a PhD in Neurosciences under the mentorship of Dr. Dan Wesson.
Thesis: “State-dependent control of neural activity”
Aphroditi (Didi) Mamaligas
May 2018
Aphroditi Mamaligas received a PhD in Neurosciences under the mentorship of Dr. Chris Ford.
Thesis: “Cholinergic interneuron mediated activation of G-protein coupled receptors in the dorsal striatum”
Amanda Tran
May 2018
Amanda Tran received a PhD in Neurosciences under the mentorship of Dr. Jerry Silver.
Thesis: “Modulation of Receptor Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase Sigma Enhances Protease Activity to Relieve Chondroitin Sulfate Proteoglycan Inhibition of Peripheral Axons and Oligodendrocytes”
Colleen McLaughlin
November 2018
Colleen McLaughlin received a PhD in Neurosciences under the mentorship of Dr. Heather Broihier.
Thesis: “Neurodevelopmental Functions for a Toll Receptor-Directed Immune Signaling Pathway”