Current Students
Cecilia C. Horchos '19
A neuroscience major who is interested in entering the field of dentistry. I am investigating how caffeine affects invertebrates in terms of behavior and learning. Using crayfish as the model in my research I am working to look into the mechanistic action caffeine takes in regard to caffeine's action as a phophodiesterase inhibitor and its interaction with adenosine receptors in invertebrates. Theresa Webster '18
Theresa is a Neuroscience major and in the Honors Program. Her thesis project involves a post concussion case study with a focus on aerobic and vestibular eye therapy. Theresa obtained permsission to work directly with a patient in a local physical therapy office and administer the aerobic and vestibular eye therapy to measure its use in treating post concussion patients.
Theresa has been accepted to several medical schools and likely will be attending Temple Medical Schook in Philadelphia.
Christina Mecca '19
Christina is a Neuroscience major and in the Honors Program. Christina began working in the lab in her first year and presented her research at the Society for Neuroscience (SFN) National meeting in San Diego in 2016. She has been focused on the effect of taurine on aggression in crayfish and is now focusing on taurine's effects on the "loser effect" often found. She will be presenting this work this November at the SFN conference in Washington, D.C. She has used behavioral analysis, pharmacology, and electrophsyioogy in her project.Kathleen Heslin '18
Kathleen is a Biology major and in the Honors Program. Her project involves examining taurine and its effect on depression using the zebrafish as a model.Brittany Thomas '19
Brittany is a Neuroscience major and in the Honors Program. Brittany began working in the lab in her first year and presented her research at the Society for Neuroscience (SFN) National meeting in San Diego in 2016. She worked with Christina Mecca the effect of taurine on aggression in crayfish and is now focusing on taurine's effects on the "loser effect" often found. She will be presenting this work this November at the SFN conference in Washington, D.C. She has begun working on her Honors' Project which is to study the effects of cadmium on development of the visual system using the larval zebrafish as her model. This project involves breeding, pharmacology and use of confocal imaging.Ongoing projects at this time
Other students are developing projects on the dopamine effect on goldfish startle response, the mechanism of caffeine on aggression and startle response in crayfish. general influceces of environment of crayfish behaviour,and the use of C. elegans as a model for human disease.
