Former Graduate Students

Phoenix Quinlan

E-mail:  pquinlan@umass.edu

Dissertation May 2024: "The Role of Multisensory Integration for Navigation in the Nudibranch Berghia stephanieae"

Phoenix came to UMass from The Ohio State University, where she developed an interest in developmental neuroscience and evolution. She continued this evo-devo theme into her graduate work. She worked on the visual and olfactory behaviors of Berghia and made some interesting discoveries of what these little slugs can do. In fact, she showed that those little eyes allow the slug to navigate to objects in the distance. Phoenix was featured as an Early Career Researcher in J.E.B.

Arianna N. Tamvacakis

E-mail: tamvacakis@gmail.com
ResearchGate
Teaching portfolio
Orchid ID: 0000-0002-8245-3067
Georgia State University Dissertation defended 5/10/17: "Investigating Serotonin Receptor Expression in Single Homologous Neurons Underlying Independently Evolved and Species-Specific Behaviors"
Arianna is currently on the job market

Joshua L. Lillvis

lillvisj@janelia.hhmi.org
Josh is now an Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University

Josh was a post-doc at the Janelia Farm Research Campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Georgia State University  Dissertation 08/08/12: "A comparative analysis of the neural basis for dorsal-ventral swimming in the Nudipleura" 

Josh identified a neuron named C2 in several species.  Among other things, he found that Pleurobranchaea are pain to work with because sometimes they choose not to swim.  Philosophers are currently studying this to determine the neural basis of persnicketyness. Josh has rarely been photographed, leading some to question his existence. Josh won a Capranica Prize from the International Society for Neuroethology for his paper: Lillvis JL and Katz PS (2013) Parallel Evolution of Serotonergic Neuromodulation Underlies Independent Evolution of Rhythmic Motor Behavior.  Journal of Neuroscience. 33(6):2709-17. PMID: 23392697 doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4196-12.2013 http://www.jneurosci.org/content/33/6/2709

James M. Newcomb

jnewcomb@nec.edu 

Jim is now a Professor at New England College
Lab web page

Georgia State University  Dissertation 12/42006: "Homologous neurons and their locomotor functions in Nudibranch molluscs"

For his Ph.D. dissertation, Jim identified the serotonergic dorsal swim interneurons in several species and looked at their properties and roles in swimming behaviors.  Jim hasn't changed a bit since he was a student. He loves hanging out with his favorite women in New Hampshire. But he doesn't dance as much as he used to.  

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.

Kelsi Watkins

klwatki5@asu.edu

MS Thesis Aug. 2022:  "Chemosensory Receptors in Berghia stephanieae: Bioinformatics and Localization"

https://doi-org.silk.library.umass.edu/10.7275/31053258
https://scholarworks-umass-edu.silk.library.umass.edu/masters_theses_2/1235 

Kelsi started as an undergraduate and stayed on for an MS.  She is now a PhD student at Arizona State University

Ani Maroyan

amaroyan98@gmail.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ani-maroyan/

MS Thesis August 2021: The Time Course and Neuroanatomy of Rhinophore Regeneration in the Nudibranch Berghia stephanieae
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2/1119/

Ani graduated in the  2021.  She received her BS in May 2020, majoring in both Biology and Psychology on the Neuroscience track and was a member of the Commonwealth Honors College.  She is currently working as a clinical research specialist in Orthopedic Surgery at Boston Children's Hospital. She might have also starred in the Queen's Gambit.

Thi Bui

thibui@umass.edu
MS Thesis Dec 2020: Studies on High-Throughput Single-Neuron RNA Sequencing and Circadian Rhythms in the Nudibranch, Berghia stephanieae
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2/1006/ 

Thi was a UMass undergraduate, majoring in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. She is from Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. Thi has been involved in promoting STEM research and she's worked on plants (different kind of stem). She found out that sea slugs are just as smart as plants. Thi graduated from the Honors College in December 2018. She did her honors thesis on circadian activity in Berghia. She defended her MS Thesis in December 2020, "Studies on high-throughput single-neuron RNA sequencing and circadian rhythms in the nudibranch, Berghia stephanieae." She is now a research technician with Ankur Jain at the Whitehead Institute at MIT.

2014-2015

Aashta Vashist

E-mail: avashist1@student.gsu.edu

Aashta was a public health student doing her masters degree in biostatistics. Aashta comes from Panjab University, Chandigarh, India, where she received a Bachelors of Dental Surgery. She was very disappointed to learn that the teeth of sea slugs are really tiny. 

Şeydanur Tıkır

E-mail: seydatkr@gmail.com

MS Thesis 2016: A comparative analysis of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and cholinergic neurons in nudipleura molluscs.

http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/biology_theses/73/

Seyda came to us from Istanbul Turkey.  Her bioinformatics background was perfect for our research.  But now, she's  a PhD student at Albert Einstein Medical School in the Bronx. Never one to take the easy path, Seyda said that the reason she moved is for the challenge of living in the Bronx; Atlanta was just too easy. She had to escape a coup attempt in Turkey to make it to her thesis defense.

2016-2017
Amirah Hurst
https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirah-hurst-56100b51/
Amirah graduated GSU as a neuroscience major and now is an MS student in the Biology department. She single-handedly launched the lab in a new research direction by figuring out how to grow nudibranchs in the lab leading to a Brains and Behavior Seed grant and an NSF proposal. She took the comparative invertebrate embryology course at Friday Harbor lab. The picture shows her dressed as a veliger larva. After the lab moved to UMass, she moved to Anne Murphy's lab. 

Christina Lynn

MS thesis 2003: The effect of oral 5-HTP administration on 5-HTP and 5-HT immunoreactivity in monoaminergic brain regions of rats.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-lynn-19818736/
https://www.healthgrades.com/physician/dr-christina-lynn-xf9gv   

Christina was an early student in the lab. She went on to medical school and is now a practicing psychiatrist.