Current Lab

Paul moved to UMass in 2017 after spending 20 years at Georgia State University. Since moving to UMass, he has shifted the focus of the lab from studying the swim circuits of nudibranchs to examining more deeply the structure and function of the entire nervous system of Berghia. In addition to science, Paul's passions include improv and outdoor activities, like hiking, biking, and skiing.

Alycia Fabry
Lab Manager
IONs Administrative Assistant

alycia.fabry@umass.edu

Alycia keeps things running in the lab and for the Initiative on Neurosciences. She grew up in the Valley and has a passion for animals and furniture restoration.

Lauren Wagner
Part-time  animal care assistant

Harshada Sant
Post-doctoral Associate
hsant@umass.edu
Harshada started working in our lab remotely from India because she could not fly here due to the pandemic. She did her graduate work with Sanjay Sane at the National Centre for Biological Science in Bangalore, where she compared the neural basis of antennal mechanoreception in many insect species. Now, she is leading the connectome project in collaboration with Jeff Lichtman's lab at Harvard and studying neurogenesis.

Jorge Perez Moreno
Post-doctoral Associate
jperezmoreno@umass.edu
Jorge received his PhD from Florida Atlantic University and did postdoctoral work at Colorado State University working on transcriptional control of molting and limb-regeneration in crustaceans. He brings expertise in phylogenomics and gene regulation. He is now examining olfactory receptors in Berghia. 

Colleen Lawless
Post-doctoral Associate
colleen.lawless@ucdconnect.ie
Colleen joined us from Dublin Ireland, where she worked on the olfactory capabilities of sharks. She wants to work on an even more fearsome predator - the terrifying sea slug, Berghia. 

Vikash Verma

Post-doctoral Associate
vverma@umass.edu
Vikash joined our lab from a post in Tom Maresca's lab at UMass, where he used genome-editing tools to study mechanisms underlying cell division. He brings expertise in molecular mechanisms that we hope to apply to Berghia. 

Kate Otter
PhD Student
kotter@umass.edu 

Kate joined the lab from Colorado State University where she was a Math and Biology double major. She is from both Alaska and Hawaii because she likes latecomers. She loves animals and wants to understand their wants. She was awarded a prestigious NSF predoctoral fellowship. She is a Math Mavin, combining computational and experimental approaches to study Berghia's approach and avoidance decisions. 

Alexzander Cook
MS Student
alexzanderco@umass.edu 

Alex started as an undergraduate in the lab during the pandemic and successfully defended his Honor Thesis in which he reconstructed glial cells from 3D electron micrographs. He is now doing an accelerated MS degree, where his is reconstructing neurons. 

Atif Abedeen
Computer Science MS Student
aabedeen@umass.edu
Personal web site

Atif joined the lab in the summer of 2024 to create machine learning algorithms that will help identify cell types in electron micrographs. He has since discovered that he really loves neuroscience. He is working on the connectome project to implement various forms of machine learning to segment neurons and glial cells.