Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor, School of Life Sciences
Arizona State University
Education:
Ph.D., Neuroscience, Georgia State University
B.A., Psychology, University of Puget Sound
Christian joined the lab in August of 2021 as the lab's first PhD student. He is interested in how unipolar brush cells in the dorsal cochlear nucleus impact auditory processing at multiple different levels, from ion channels to in vivo auditory responses. He got his undergraduate degree from Belmont University in Neuroscience, and worked as a lab technician in Dr. Mark Bear's lab at MIT studying ocular dominance plasticity and amblyopia in mice. Outside of the lab, Christian enjoys swimming, hiking, and going to Arizona State sporting events.
Harsh joined the lab in 2022 as a Neuroscience PhD student after a short stint in bay area industry studying neurodegenerative disease modeling using iPSC derived brain organoids. As an undergraduate, he studied medicine in India. He received a masters in neuroscience from Loyola University Chicago studying neuron-glia communication via exosomes in the rodent retina. Although electrophysiological recordings scared him, he faced his fears and joined the lab. Now he scares us with his exciting whole-cell patch clamp data. He studies the role of NMDA receptors in the development and plasticity in the mouse cerebellum. He enjoys watching and playing soccer, trying new foods not prepared by him and running his experiments at night.
Kennedy joined the Balmer lab in May 2024 after graduating from ASU with a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences. As an undergrad, she volunteered in Dr. Cheryl Conrad’s lab studying the effects of chronic stress, gonadal hormones, and middle age on cognition and mood dysregulation behaviors in rats. Outside of the lab, she loves rock climbing, painting, and trying to convince her roommates to let her get pet rats.
Shawn joined the lab as a volunteer in the summer of 2023 before graduating from ASU in the fall. During his time volunteering in the lab as an undergrad he focused on building a system to test the ability of mice to detect tones in noise. He is now a part time lab technician assisting with in vivo electrophysiology experiments. Outside of the lab he is also a scribe for an orthopedic surgeon and hopes to matriculate into medical school in 2025. His favorite things to do are workout with friends, drink too much coffee, and go to comedy shows.
Barrett Honors Scholar and Undergraduate Volunteer 2021-2022
Current MS student in Entrepreneurship at the Foster School of Business Administration, University of Washington
Molecular and Cellular Biology MS Student 2021-2023
Current Research Technologist at Mayo Clinic
Research Technician 2022-2024
Current Neuroscience PhD Student at Emory University
Undergraduate Volunteer 2021-2024
Current Medical Student at UCSF
Undergraduate Volunteer 2022-2024
Research Technician, Graduate Student, Post-doc
Positions are available for motivated individuals interested in auditory neuroscience, cellular and synaptic physiology, and systems neuroscience. Please contact timothy.balmer@asu.edu with your CV/resume and why you'd like to join the lab.
Click here for information about the Neuroscience Graduate Program at ASU