Colorado State University - Fort Collins, CO

Sebastian Pace is a fifth-year Ph.D. student in Brent Myers’ Lab. Before Colorado State University, Sebastian completed his B.S. and M.S. at the University of Texas at El Paso. During his M.S. he worked in Karine Fénelon’s Lab to investigate the neural circuitry underlying attention disorders. Upon joining Brent Myers’ Lab as a research associate and then doctorate student, he began to focus on the physiological and behavioral outcomes of stress and the neural basis for these adaptions. This research has utilized techniques such as optogenetics, intersectional genetics, implantable telemetry, behavior, endocrine assays, and histology.

Oregon Health & Science Institute - Portland, OR

Dr. Courtney Bouchet recently received her PhD in neuroscience from the Vollum Institute at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon with Dr. Susan Ingram. Overall, she is interested in understanding neural adaptations that occur in response to physiological challenges such as exercise, inflammation, and stress. Her dissertation research focused on adaptations in the cannabinoid system induced by persistent, peripheral inflammation. As a Colorado native, Courtney is excited to be back on the Front Range!

University of Colorado - Boulder,

Dillon McGovern is a fifth year Behavioral Neuroscience candidate at CU Boulder working in Dr. David Root’s lab. His research interrogates how genetically distinct glutamatergic cell types within the brain’s reward center, the ventral tegmental area (VTA), regulate diverse motivated behaviors such as drug and natural reward seeking behaviors and stress resilience. This work has culminated in multiple first author manuscripts in the Journal of Neuroscience, Molecular Psychiatry, and Neuropharmacology, as well as a successfully funded NIH F31 fellowship. Dillon will defend his thesis this spring for his work elucidating the role of VTA glutamate to epithalamus circuitry in mediating behavioral stress deficits in male and female mice.

Colorado State University - Fort Collins, CO

Rachel Doser is a recent graduate from the Biomedical Sciences PhD program at Colorado State University. She will present her final findings from her PhD work done under the advisement of Dr. Fred Hoerndli.