MARIO PENZO, Ph.D.

mario.penzo@nih.gov

Mario grew up in the Dominican Republic. He received his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (Bronx, NY) in 2011, where he studied the synaptic plasticity in the avian auditory midbrain. He then moved to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (Cold Spring Harbor, NY) were he completed his postdoc looking at the neural circuit mechanisms underlying the formation and retrieval of fear memories. Mario joined the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute of Mental Health in 2015. 

YAN LENG, M.D.

lengy@mail.nih.gov

Yan received her M.D. from Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China. She received a Fellow training at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) in 1998. Later she worked in Dr. De-Maw Chuang’s lab at the National Institute of Mental Health where he studied the effects of lithium and valproate on neurodegenerative diseases. Yan joined the lab in 2016.

JUN MA, Ph.D.

jun.ma@nih.gov

Jun grew up in China. He received his Ph.D. in Neurobiology from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Beijing, China) in 2016, where he used rodent models to study the molecular and neural mechanisms of depression disorder. He then attained a postdoc training in the same lab (which was collaborated with Aviation General Hospital of China Medical University) in 2016, where he completed his project which highlighted Calhm2 governing astrocytic ATP releasing was important to the development of depression-like behaviors. Jun then joined the lab as a postdoctoral fellow in 2018. His postdoctoral work has focused on investigating the involvement of the PVT in the regulation of active avoidance.

JOHN J. "JJ" O'MALLEY, Ph.D.

jj.o'malley@nih.gov

JJ was born and raised in the DMV area but left in 2008 to pursue his bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Philosophy at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA. After graduating, he decided to stay and received his Master’s in Experimental Psychology. He then attended The University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. In the summer of 2020, he received his Ph.D. in Neuroscience where he studied the cellular and circuit mechanisms that generate slow oscillations in the thalamus. JJ joined the lab only a few months later as a postdoctoral fellow. His current research focuses on the circuit and synaptic mechanisms of defensive behaviors.   

RACHEL WALKER, Ph.D.

rachel.walker@nih.gov

Rachel grew up in Valley City, Ohio. She obtained her B.S. in Neuroscience and Psychology from nearby Baldwin Wallace University, where she began research in neuroscience. She went on to receive her Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience from Boston College in 2020. Rachel’s dissertation focused on uncovering the neural mechanisms responsible for aversive prediction error signaling. Joining the Penzo lab a few months later in 2021, Rachel is now focusing on uncovering specific neural circuits involved in fear learning and related defensive behaviors.

Ryan Lingg, Ph.D.

ryan.lingg@nih.gov

Ryan was born in Frederick, MD. He obtained his B.A. in Psychology from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. After working as a caregiver for adults with intellectual disabilities for several years he decided to return to school to work on a graduate degree and focus on research. He obtained his Ph.D. in Psychology with a focus in Behavioral Neuroscience from the University of Iowa in 2022. Ryan’s dissertation focused on neural circuits that modulate hormonal stress responses and how they contributed to memory consolidation. Joining the Penzo lab in August 2022, Ryan is now focused on investigating visually evoked defensive behaviors and the involvement of the PVT in mediating threat detection under conditions of stress