Current Lab

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. 

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.

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
PhD 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 then completed an accelerated MS degree, reconstructing neurons. He is now leading the connectomics effort on the fully segmented dataset. 

Emma Johnson

MS Student

egjohnson@umass.edu 

Emma started as an undergraduate in her senior year following an internship at the MBL in Woods Hole. She then did a Semester in Biological Discovery at the MBL. She is working on neurogenesis.

Lauren Wagner 

Aquarium specialist 

lnwagner@umass.edu

Lauren keeps our saltwater tanks running. She raises the Berghia we need and the Exaiptasia that the Berghia need. She also has a side gig at Amherst college.