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July 2025: Asia and Skylar join the lab for the summer through the ARCHES program
July 2025: Asia and Skylar join the lab for the summer through the ARCHES program
They worked with two post-docs in the lab, Rita and Valerie, to complete a summer research project.
Congratulations on great presentations!
July 2025: Valerie presents her poster and is discussion leader at the Healthy Aging Symposium.
July 2025: Valerie presents her poster and is discussion leader at the Healthy Aging Symposium.
July 2025: Hassan starts his summer rotation in the lab and patches his first PPN neuron!
July 2025: Hassan starts his summer rotation in the lab and patches his first PPN neuron!
June 2025: Megan Beaver presents her poster at the Dopamine Subpopulations Conference and Rebekah Evans and Kenea Udobi present posters at the Parkinson's disease Gordon Research Conference.
June 2025: Megan Beaver presents her poster at the Dopamine Subpopulations Conference and Rebekah Evans and Kenea Udobi present posters at the Parkinson's disease Gordon Research Conference.
May 2025: Congratulations to Joel for graduating with his Master's degree and winning first place poster prize!
May 2025: Congratulations to Joel for graduating with his Master's degree and winning first place poster prize!
May 2025: Michel Fallah gets her PhD hood at the Georgetown graduation ceremony!
May 2025: Michel Fallah gets her PhD hood at the Georgetown graduation ceremony!
May 2025: Valerie presents her poster at the Center for Neural Injury and Plasticity Symposium
May 2025: Valerie presents her poster at the Center for Neural Injury and Plasticity Symposium
Congratulations to Valerie on winning first place post-doc poster prize!
April 2025: We take a lab outing to celebrate Megan's paper!
April 2025: We take a lab outing to celebrate Megan's paper!
April 2025: Olivia presents her research at Undergraduate Research day
April 2025: Olivia presents her research at Undergraduate Research day
March 2025: The lab stands up for science
March 2025: The lab stands up for science
February 2025: New paper published in the Journal of Neuroscience!
February 2025: New paper published in the Journal of Neuroscience!
Beaver ML, Evans RC. (2025) Muscarinic receptor activation preferentially inhibits rebound in vulnerable dopaminergic neurons. J Neurosci 25 February 2025, e1443242025 https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1443-24.2025
January 2025: Michel Fallah defends her dissertation!
January 2025: Michel Fallah defends her dissertation!
Huge Congratulations to Dr. Michel Fallah who successfully defended her dissertation!
January 2025: Rebekah is interviewed by Youth4Neuro
January 2025: Rebekah is interviewed by Youth4Neuro
https://open.spotify.com/episode/27MzlcEmw6cts4Z91aYGzH?si=AI1mJQpgRPuUilTnkrIn2A
November 2024: New paper published in eLife!
November 2024: New paper published in eLife!
Fallah M, Udobi KC, Swiatek AE, Scott CB, Evans RC. (2024) Inhibitory basal ganglia nuclei differentially innervate pedunculopontine nucleus subpopulations and evoke opposite motor and valence behaviors. eLife, https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.102308.1
https://elifesciences.org/reviewed-preprints/102308
November 2024: Read Rebekah's interview for PassionforScience
November 2024: Read Rebekah's interview for PassionforScience
October 2024: The lab presents posters and talks at graduate student research day
October 2024: The lab presents posters and talks at graduate student research day
Megan presented a talk and Briana and Lindsey presented posters.
Congratulations to Lindsey for winning the 2nd place poster prize!
October 2024: The lab presents posters at the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting
October 2024: The lab presents posters at the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting
October 2024: The lab presents posters at the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting
October 2024: The lab presents posters at the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting
PSTR016.12 Board: C89 Saturday 10/5/24 1-5pm
Dr. Kenea Udobi – Detailing the time course of Parkinson’s disease cholinopathy: insights from a novel mouse model
PSTR173.04 Board: H40 Monday 10/7/24 8am-12pm
Dr. Valerie Lewitus – Sex-specific effects of aerobic exercise on motor performance and basal ganglia neural properties
PSTR173.23 Board: I19 Monday 10/7/24 8am-12pm
Michel Fallah – SNr and GPe inhibition of anatomically and genetically defined PPN subpopulations.
LBA005.010 Board: LBA91 Monday 10/7/24 8am-12pm
Briana Bernstein– The superior colliculus sends divergent excitatory and inhibitory inputs to the rostral and caudal PPN
September 2024: New faces in the lab
September 2024: New faces in the lab
This Fall, we have 3 new people in the lab!
Joel Walker Jr. joins us for the year as a Neuroscience Master's Student.
Celine Ertekin and Margaret "Greta" Sten both join us as rotating IPN students.
August 2024: Another new pre-print is up on BioRxiv!
August 2024: Another new pre-print is up on BioRxiv!
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.08.05.606694v1
Huge congratulations to MD/PhD candidate Michel Fallah for leading this project and to post-doc Dr. Kenea Udobi, previous undergraduate Aleksandra "Ola" Swiatek, and previous master's student Chelsea Scott!
July 2024: Our new pre-print is up on BioRxiv!
July 2024: Our new pre-print is up on BioRxiv!
Muscarinic receptor activation preferentially inhibits rebound in vulnerable dopaminergic neurons.
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.07.30.605819v1
Huge congratulations to PhD candidate Megan Beaver for leading this project and submitting her first first-author manuscript!
July 2024: Lindsey Russ is awarded the HHMI Gilliam Fellowship!
July 2024: Lindsey Russ is awarded the HHMI Gilliam Fellowship!
July 2024: The lab attended the 3rd annual Healthy Aging Symposium at Georgetown University!
July 2024: The lab attended the 3rd annual Healthy Aging Symposium at Georgetown University!
Valeria presented her first poster and Valerie presented a talk.
July 2024: Giorgi Shautidze starts his rotation in the lab.
July 2024: Giorgi Shautidze starts his rotation in the lab.
He patched his first cell!
June 2024: The lab went on a bowling outing to say goodbye to Chelsea and to celebrate some good grant news!
June 2024: The lab went on a bowling outing to say goodbye to Chelsea and to celebrate some good grant news!
June 2024: The lab attended the annual BRAIN Initiative meeting!
June 2024: The lab attended the annual BRAIN Initiative meeting!
Lindsey, Kenea, and Michel presented posters.
May 2024: Congratulations to Chelsea Scott for presenting her final poster and for earning her Master's in Integrative Neuroscience degree!
May 2024: Congratulations to Chelsea Scott for presenting her final poster and for earning her Master's in Integrative Neuroscience degree!
Next she is heading to medical school at the University of Virginia!
April 2024: Congratulations to Briana Bernstein for passing her Oral Qualifying Exam!
April 2024: Congratulations to Briana Bernstein for passing her Oral Qualifying Exam!
April 2024: Congratulations to Pallavi Bommareddy for presenting her poster at Undergraduate Research Day!
April 2024: Congratulations to Pallavi Bommareddy for presenting her poster at Undergraduate Research Day!
April 2024: Congratulations to Lindsey Russ for passing her Oral Qualifying Exam!
April 2024: Congratulations to Lindsey Russ for passing her Oral Qualifying Exam!
April 2024: Lab trip to the front lawn of Georgetown to view the eclipse.
April 2024: Lab trip to the front lawn of Georgetown to view the eclipse.
April 2024: Congratulations to Dr. Valerie Lewitus for submitting a grant application this month!
April 2024: Congratulations to Dr. Valerie Lewitus for submitting a grant application this month!
March 2024: Michel presents her poster at the basal ganglia GRC, and a selected talk at the GRS!
March 2024: Michel presents her poster at the basal ganglia GRC, and a selected talk at the GRS!
February 2024: Our new paper comparing dendritic calcium in neurons vulnerable to neurodegeneration in Parkinson's Disease is published in the European Journal of Neuroscience.
February 2024: Our new paper comparing dendritic calcium in neurons vulnerable to neurodegeneration in Parkinson's Disease is published in the European Journal of Neuroscience.
Chen RY, Evans RC. (2024) Comparing tonic and phasic dendritic calcium in cholinergic pedunculopontine neurons and dopaminergic substantia nigra neurons. Eur J Neurosci. 2024 Feb 21. doi: 10.1111/ejn.16281. PMID: 38383047.
Congratulations to Dr. Rita Yu-Tzu Chen for leading this project and on the publication of her first first-author paper.
February 2024: Dr. Rita Yu-Tzu Chen helps us bring in good luck for the year by decorating the lab door for the lunar new year!
February 2024: Dr. Rita Yu-Tzu Chen helps us bring in good luck for the year by decorating the lab door for the lunar new year!
Valeria Aleman contributed her artistic skills and drew the dragon!
December 2023: Congratulations to Megan Beaver and Lindsey Russ for submitting graduate fellowship grants this month!
December 2023: Congratulations to Megan Beaver and Lindsey Russ for submitting graduate fellowship grants this month!
November 2023: Chelsea Scott, Megan Beaver, and Rita Chen present posters at the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting.
November 2023: Chelsea Scott, Megan Beaver, and Rita Chen present posters at the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting.
October 2023: Congratulations to Briana Bernstein for submitting a graduate fellowship grant this month!
October 2023: Congratulations to Briana Bernstein for submitting a graduate fellowship grant this month!
October 2023: Briana Bernstein, Lindsey Russ, and Michel Fallah present their work at at MCGSO graduate student research day!
October 2023: Briana Bernstein, Lindsey Russ, and Michel Fallah present their work at at MCGSO graduate student research day!
Congratulations to Michel for first place oral presentation and Lindsey for third place poster prize!
September 2023: Lab bubble tea outing to welcome our new lab members, celebrate grants awarded, and our first paper submission.
September 2023: Lab bubble tea outing to welcome our new lab members, celebrate grants awarded, and our first paper submission.
September 2023: Valerie Lewitus joins the lab as a post-doc and Valeria "Val" Aleman joins the lab as a technician.
September 2023: Valerie Lewitus joins the lab as a post-doc and Valeria "Val" Aleman joins the lab as a technician.
We are happy to have them here!
Valerie patches her first cell in the lab!
August 2023: The lab's first pre-print is now available on BioRxiv.
August 2023: The lab's first pre-print is now available on BioRxiv.
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.28.555184v1
Comparing tonic and phasic calcium in the dendrites of vulnerable midbrain neurons.
Chen and Evans, 2023 BioRxiv
August 2023: Megan Beaver presents her poster at the Catecholamines GRC and GRS
August 2023: Megan Beaver presents her poster at the Catecholamines GRC and GRS
July 2023: Chelsea Scott and Rita Yu-Tzu Chen present posters at the annual Healthy Aging Symposium at Georgetown
July 2023: Chelsea Scott and Rita Yu-Tzu Chen present posters at the annual Healthy Aging Symposium at Georgetown
June 2023: Dr. Kenea Udobi joins the lab as a new post-doc!
June 2023: Dr. Kenea Udobi joins the lab as a new post-doc!
We're excited to have him here!
June 2023: Lindsey Russ and Briana Bernstein come back from their other rotations to join the lab!
June 2023: Lindsey Russ and Briana Bernstein come back from their other rotations to join the lab!
They both patched beautiful neurons yesterday!
June 2023: Our cross-departmental collaborative paper is out in the Journal Neuroinformatics.
June 2023: Our cross-departmental collaborative paper is out in the Journal Neuroinformatics.
Check out this really nice computational project from Dr. Dan Chapman.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12021-023-09633-7
June 2023: Rebekah Evans Receives a Parkinson's Foundation Stanley Fahn Junior Faculty Award.
June 2023: Rebekah Evans Receives a Parkinson's Foundation Stanley Fahn Junior Faculty Award.
This grant funds us to use electrophysiology and fiber photometry to assess circuitry changes in a mouse model of cholinergic cell loss.
June 2023: Dr. Rita Chen presents her first poster at the International Basal Ganglia Society (IBAGS) Conference.
June 2023: Dr. Rita Chen presents her first poster at the International Basal Ganglia Society (IBAGS) Conference.
May 2023: The Evans lab has been awarded a seed grant from the Brain Research Foundation to use activity-tagging tools to investigate the midbrain neurons that are active during exercise.
May 2023: The Evans lab has been awarded a seed grant from the Brain Research Foundation to use activity-tagging tools to investigate the midbrain neurons that are active during exercise.
May 2023: Celebrating a paper accepted in Neuroinformatics. Congratulations to Dan Chapman (lead author), Mark Burns, and Stefano Vicini! Excited to have our first collaborative efforts at Georgetown published!
May 2023: Celebrating a paper accepted in Neuroinformatics. Congratulations to Dan Chapman (lead author), Mark Burns, and Stefano Vicini! Excited to have our first collaborative efforts at Georgetown published!
May 2023: Lab hike with our new lab shirts to say goodbye to Miguel, Christian, and Ola.
May 2023: Lab hike with our new lab shirts to say goodbye to Miguel, Christian, and Ola.
May 2023: Congratulations to Christian for successfully presenting his master's research poster and for graduating with his Master's degree!
May 2023: Congratulations to Christian for successfully presenting his master's research poster and for graduating with his Master's degree!
April 2023: The Evans lab has been awarded a grant from the Michael J Fox Foundation to study the effects of cholinergic cell loss in the midbrain on Parkinson's-related symptoms and circuits.
April 2023: The Evans lab has been awarded a grant from the Michael J Fox Foundation to study the effects of cholinergic cell loss in the midbrain on Parkinson's-related symptoms and circuits.
We're excited to work on this project!
April 2023: Congratulations to Aleksandra (Ola) Swiatek for winning an award for poster excellence at undergraduate research day and two weeks later successfully defending her honor's thesis!
April 2023: Congratulations to Aleksandra (Ola) Swiatek for winning an award for poster excellence at undergraduate research day and two weeks later successfully defending her honor's thesis!
March 2023: Congratulations to Michel for getting the Notice of Award for her NRSA F30 grant from NINDS!!
March 2023: Congratulations to Michel for getting the Notice of Award for her NRSA F30 grant from NINDS!!
February 2023: Cake to send Lindsey off to her next rotation!
February 2023: Cake to send Lindsey off to her next rotation!
January 2023: The lab turns 2 years old!
January 2023: The lab turns 2 years old!
January 2021
January 2023
January 2023:
January 2023:
Pauline joins us for a Spring rotation.
Pauline joins us for a Spring rotation.
Pallavi joins the lab as an undergraduate researcher.
Pallavi joins the lab as an undergraduate researcher.
January 2023: Congratulations to Megan for passing her Oral Qualifying Exam!
January 2023: Congratulations to Megan for passing her Oral Qualifying Exam!
The first Evans lab poster presentations at the Society for Neuroscience annual conference.
The first Evans lab poster presentations at the Society for Neuroscience annual conference.
Chelsea Scott presented her poster on exercise and PPN at the main SfN meeting and at the TPDA awardees poster session.
Michel Fallah presented her poster on the basal ganglia connectivity with the PPN at the main SfN meeting.
Megan Beaver presented her poster on the muscarinic modulation of dopaminergic neurons at the main SfN meeting.
Aleksandra Swiatek presented her poster on in vivo optogenetic stimulation of PPN inputs at the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN) poster session.
November 2022: The lab attends the annual Society for Neuroscience annual conference in San Diego.
November 2022: The lab attends the annual Society for Neuroscience annual conference in San Diego.
November 2022: The lab dresses like Rebekah Evans for her birthday.
November 2022: The lab dresses like Rebekah Evans for her birthday.
October 2022: Celebrating Ola's 21st birthday!
October 2022: Celebrating Ola's 21st birthday!
October 2022: Briana and Alex presented their rotation projects as posters at Graduate Student Research Day.
October 2022: Briana and Alex presented their rotation projects as posters at Graduate Student Research Day.
Megan and Michel presented their research as talks.
Megan and Michel presented their research as talks.
Alex's poster won the 3rd place poster prize!
October 2022:
October 2022:
lab time!
September 2022:
September 2022:
Lindsey Russ joins us for a fall rotation.
Lindsey Russ joins us for a fall rotation.
She patched her first cell!
September 2022:
September 2022:
Congratulations to Chelsea Scott for being awarded a Trainee Professional Development Award (TPDA) to travel to SfN in San Diego this year!
Congratulations to Chelsea Scott for being awarded a Trainee Professional Development Award (TPDA) to travel to SfN in San Diego this year!
August 2022:
August 2022:
Christian Konja joins the lab as a masters student!
Christian Konja joins the lab as a masters student!
August 2022:
August 2022:
Cake to say goodbye to Briana who is moving on to her next lab rotation.
Cake to say goodbye to Briana who is moving on to her next lab rotation.
August 2022:
August 2022:
Lab outing to Thomas Sweet to celebrate recent grants and publications and to say goodbye to Alex who finished his rotation.
Lab outing to Thomas Sweet to celebrate recent grants and publications and to say goodbye to Alex who finished his rotation.
July 2022:
July 2022:
Chelsea and Miguel presented posters at the first Healthy Aging Symposium at Georgetown University.
Chelsea and Miguel presented posters at the first Healthy Aging Symposium at Georgetown University.
July 2022:
July 2022:
The first review paper from the Evans lab is published in Neurobiology of Disease.
The first review paper from the Evans lab is published in Neurobiology of Disease.
Evans RC. (2022) Dendritic involvement in inhibition and disinhibition of vulnerable dopaminergic neurons in healthy and pathological conditions. Neurobiology of Disease. 9 July 2022.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35820645/
July 2022:
July 2022:
Congratulations to Megan Beaver for being awarded slot on the Pharmacology/Physiology T32 grant!
Congratulations to Megan Beaver for being awarded slot on the Pharmacology/Physiology T32 grant!
July 2022:
July 2022:
Congratulations to Michel Fallah for passing her Oral Qualifying Exam!
Congratulations to Michel Fallah for passing her Oral Qualifying Exam!
June 2022:
June 2022:
Alex Sukharev and Briana Bernstein join us for summer rotations
Alex Sukharev and Briana Bernstein join us for summer rotations
Alex patched his first PPN cell!
June 2022:
June 2022:
Michel Fallah was selected for a Trainee Highlight Award and will be presenting a talk and Aleksandra (Ola) Swiatek will be presenting a poster at the BRAIN Initiative meeting June 21st-22nd.
Michel Fallah was selected for a Trainee Highlight Award and will be presenting a talk and Aleksandra (Ola) Swiatek will be presenting a poster at the BRAIN Initiative meeting June 21st-22nd.
Registration for the virtual BRAIN meeting is free and can be found here:
May 2022:
May 2022:
Congratulations Miguel Ezeiza Ortega for graduating with his Masters Degree!
Congratulations Miguel Ezeiza Ortega for graduating with his Masters Degree!
April 2022:
April 2022:
Congratulations to Aleksandra (Ola) for giving a great oral presentation at Undergraduate Research Day and winning first place best poster!
Congratulations to Aleksandra (Ola) for giving a great oral presentation at Undergraduate Research Day and winning first place best poster!
March 2022:
March 2022:
Miguel's grant supplement was funded!
Miguel's grant supplement was funded!
Aleksandra was awarded a PD Foundation summer fellowship!
Aleksandra was awarded a PD Foundation summer fellowship!
Rita patched her first cell in the lab!
Rita patched her first cell in the lab!
February 2022:
February 2022:
Dr. Rita Chen joins the lab as our first post-doc.
Dr. Rita Chen joins the lab as our first post-doc.
We're excited to have her here!
Megan Beaver comes back from rotations to join the lab for her Ph.D.
Megan Beaver comes back from rotations to join the lab for her Ph.D.
She's already patching cells on the new electrophysiology setup!
January 2022: The lab is one year old!
January 2022: The lab is one year old!
Our second electrophysiology rig and the two photon microscope are set up and almost ready to use!
December 2021: Congratulations to Miguel Ezeiza Ortega and Aleksandra Swiatek for submitting grant applications this month!
December 2021: Congratulations to Miguel Ezeiza Ortega and Aleksandra Swiatek for submitting grant applications this month!
October 2021: Congratulations to Michel Fallah for winning the first place poster prize for her poster at the Medical Center Graduate Student Organization (MCGSO) Research Day!
October 2021: Congratulations to Michel Fallah for winning the first place poster prize for her poster at the Medical Center Graduate Student Organization (MCGSO) Research Day!
September 2021: The Evans lab is awarded a research grant from the American Parkinson's Disease Association!
September 2021: The Evans lab is awarded a research grant from the American Parkinson's Disease Association!
August 2021: Zac Colon joins us for a fall rotation and Miguel Ezeiza Ortega joins the lab as a Master's student.
August 2021: Zac Colon joins us for a fall rotation and Miguel Ezeiza Ortega joins the lab as a Master's student.
July 2021: Michel Fallah and Megan Beaver join us as summer rotation students.
July 2021: Michel Fallah and Megan Beaver join us as summer rotation students.
They are both patching beautiful cells!
June 2021: Megan Croom leaves for grad school.
June 2021: Megan Croom leaves for grad school.
We had our first lab outing to say good bye. We'll miss her!
June 2021: Chelsea Scott joins the lab!
June 2021: Chelsea Scott joins the lab!
May 2021: Experiments are really going now. Getting beautiful cells on the rig and we did our first in vivo optogenetic experiments this week.
May 2021: Experiments are really going now. Getting beautiful cells on the rig and we did our first in vivo optogenetic experiments this week.
April 2021: We're all set up and ready to collect data!
April 2021: We're all set up and ready to collect data!
Rebekah Evans is giving a virtual talk on March 24th at noon EST.
Rebekah Evans is giving a virtual talk on March 24th at noon EST.
March 2021: Ola Swiatek and Marisa Kiley join the lab! (Virtually)
March 2021: Ola Swiatek and Marisa Kiley join the lab! (Virtually)
February 2021: Megan Croom joins the lab!
February 2021: Megan Croom joins the lab!
January 2021: Equipment is arriving, we're getting set up.
January 2021: Equipment is arriving, we're getting set up.
The Evans Lab is starting January 2021!
The Evans Lab is starting January 2021!
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