Former Trainees

Mentor:  Elaine Sanders-Bush

Research Interest:  Genetic analysis of Htr2c RNA editing in amygdala

Current Position: Senior Advisor in Neuroscience Discovery/Pre-clinical Statistics for Eli Lilly.

Mentor:  Lauren P. Jackson
Research Interest:  Biochemical analysis of vesicle coat proteins-AP4 protein complexes

Current Position: Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at the University of Arizona, Tucson.

Mentor:  Louis Muglia
Research Interest:  The role of transcription factors and axonal growth factors during the development of particular brain circuitry involved in psychiatric disorders including autism, OCD, ADHD and Tourette’s Syndrome

Current Position: Instructor at the University of Kansas.

Mentor:  P. Jeffrey Conn
Research Interest:  Role of Group I metabotropic glutamate receptors in learning and memory

Current Position: Director of Business Development and Senior Scientific Liaison for Bioseb USA.

Mentor:  Erin Calipari
Research Interest:  Genetic analysis motivation and decision making

Current Position: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Vanderbilt University 

Mentor:  Roger ​Colbran
Research Interest:  Alterations in signaling cascades of animal models of Parkinson’s disease

Current Position: Associate Professor, Indiana University,  Purdue University Indianapolis, Primarily Research

Mentor:  Brad Grueter/Erin Calipari
Research Interest:  Role of specific cell types in the nucleus accumbens in information processing

Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Vanderbilt University 

Mentor:  Jeffrey Conn
Research Interest:  Agonist enrichment of spinophilin at the cell surface is a2-AR subtype-selective and involves by subunits of Gi proteins

Current Position: Associate Professor of Medical Education and Administration and the Assistant Dean of Biomedical Career Engagement and Strategic Partnerships at Vanderbilt University.

Mentor:  Karoly Mirnics
​Research Interest:  Investigating the molecular and cellular basis of mental illness

Current Position: Research Assistant Professor at the Pittsburgh Drug Discovery Institute 

Mentor:  Jonathan Haines
Research Interest:  Genetic epidemiology of Alzheimer’s disease, autism and other neurological disorders

Current Position: Associate Director for Computational Genomics, Institute for Computational Biology and a Professor in the Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences at Case Western Reserve University.

Mentor:  Elaine Sanders-Bush
Research Interest:  Understand the neurobiological mechanisms of emotion regulation, with special interest in elucidating the pharmacological and biochemical mechanisms mediating cognitive responses to hallucinogenic drugs

Current Position: Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Mercer University.

Mentor:  Randy Blakely
Research Interest:  Regulation of the serotonin transporter function by protein-protein interactions

Current Position: Scientific Review Analyst at General Dynamics Information Technology. 

Mentor:  Erin Calipari
Research Interest:  Neurobiology of reward and eating disorders

Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar, Vanderbilt University

Mentor:  Richard Shelton
Research Interest:  Genetics of depression and bipolar disorder

Current Position: Jomo works at the U.S. Department of Defense where scientific training is applied in a position officially designated as Intelligence Analyst. 

Mentor:  Jeff Balser
Research Interest:  Differences in pain perception during labor

Current Position: Acute Care Physician and Emergency Medicine Physician at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Mentor:  Danny Winder
Research Interest:  Effects on stress and cocaine on orexin signaling in the extended amygdala

Current Position: Kelly is a National Director- Field Medical Affairs, Neuro Pipeline at Ionis Pharmaceuticals.

Mentor:  Peter Mohler
Research Interest:  Endocytosis at the drosophila NMJ, biogenesis of excitable membranes by ankyrin

​Current Position: Associate Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology & Pharmacology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston.

Mentor:  Danny Winder
Research Interest:  Investigating the role of BNST GluN2D subunit-containing NMDARs in ethanol-induced plasticity and behavior

Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, UMass Chan Medical School

Mentor:  Pat Levitt
Research Interest:  Expression and function of RGS4 in the mouse nervous system

Current Position: Principal Research Scientist at Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis.

Mentor:  Rich Simerly and Danny Winder
​Research Interest:  Neuronal circuitry underlying withdrawal during abstinence

Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher at U. Mass Chan Medical School 

Mentor:  Michelle Southard-Smith
​Research Interest:  Studying the role of the Sox10 gene in migration and differentiation of neural crest stem cells in the gut

Current Position: Director of the School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt.

Mentor:  Richard Caprioli
Research Interest:  Investigation of protein expression in GBMs by Mass Spectometry.

Current Position: Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

Mentor:  Kevin Ess
Research Interest:  The role of the Tsc1 gene in interneuron development and function

Current Position: Assistant Professor in Clinical Neurology in Vanderbilt’s Department of Pediatrics.

Mentor:  Lauren P. Jackson
Research Interest:  Role of Retromer and Snx/BAR Complexes in Membrane Tubule

Current Position: Clinical Variant Scientist at GeneDx.

Mentor:  Douglas McMahon
Research Interest:  Mediating effects of GRP on circadian rhythms

Current Position: Tate Jordan Thomas Professor and Vice Chair for Basic Research in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavior Neurobiology at the University of Alabama, Birmingham.

Mentor:  Douglas McMahon
Research Interest:  Neural mechanisms of photoperiodic programming of the dorsal raphe serotonin neurons.

Current Position: Assistant Professor of Biology at Middle Tennessee State University University.

Mentor:  P. Jeffrey Conn
Research Interest:  The biology of mGlu receptors, Rett Syndrome and drug discovery.

Current Position: Assistant Professor in the Molecular Pharmacology and Neuroscience Department at Loyola University Chicago Health Sciences.

Mentors: David Sweatt, Roger Colbran

Research Interest: Understanding long-term repression of Hdac2 by an antisense oligonucleotideac2

Current Position: Assistant Professor in the Molecular Pharmacology and Neuroscience Department at Loyola University Chicago Health Sciences

Mentor:  Pat Levitt
Research Interest:  Neural mechanisms of mammalian socio-emotional development

Current Position: Associate Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience at The Florida State University.

Mentor:  Randy Blakely
​Research Interest:  Structure/function studies of the human serotonin transporter

Current Position: Associate Professor in the department of Biomedical Sciences and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Chemistry department at the University of North Dakota’s School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Mentor:  Tricia Thornton-Wells
Research Interest:  Genetic and neuroimaging biomarkers of Alzheimer’s Disease

Current Position: Professor of Neurology in Vanderbilt’s Memory and Alzheimer’s Center.

Mentor:  Randy Blakely
Research Interest:  Regulation of intracellular trafficking of the high-affinity choline transporter

Current Position: Senior Research Statistician at Highmark Health in Pittsburgh.

Mentor: Colleen Niswender

Research Interest: Role of mGluRs in CNS disorders.

Current Position: Associate Medical Writer for Nuclear Global.

Mentor: Carrie Jones

Research Interest: Role of muscarinic and glutamatergic signaling in neuropsychiatric disorders

Current Position: Assistant Professor at Meharry Medical College

Mentor:  Douglas McMahon
Research Interest:  Circadian regulation of mood

Current Position: Lead Director, Policy Innovation and Evaluation at The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 

Mentor: Erin Calapari

Research Interest: The main goal of my research has been to elucidate the genetic mechanisms underlying sex differences in behavioral strategies and learning that may influence differences in several mental health diseases including depression and addiction.

Current Position: Study Director, NorthernBio

Mentor:  Alfred George
Research Interest:  Mechanisms of NaV1.1 dysfunction in inherited epilepsy syndromes

Current Position: Vice President of Biology, Discovery Sciences at Praxis Precision Medicines, Inc.

Mentor:  David Miller
Research Interest:  UNC-24, a stomatin-like protein directs forward locomotion in C. elegans neurons

Current Position: Associate Director, Institutional Giving at Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

Mentor:  Bruce Appel
​Research Interest:  The role of perinuerial glia in motor nerve root organogenesis in zebrafish

Current Position: Professor of Biology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine.

Mentor:  Jeffrey Conn
​Research Interest:  Mechanisms of mGlu1 positive allosteric modulator antipsychotic efficacy

Current Position: Assistant Professor, Pediatrics at Emory University.

Mentor:  Erin Calipari
​Research Interest: Role of dopamine/glutamate co-release from mesolimbic neurons in reward-seeking behaviors

Current Position: Postdoctoral Research Scholar, Vanderbilt University

Mentor:  James Sutcliffe
Research Interest:  Screen autism probands and parents for evidence of CNV to identify loci that cause or confer susceptibility for autism.

Current Position: Clinical Study Manager at MRIguidance.

Mentor:  Brad Grueter
Research Interest:  Isolation and analysis of serotenoergic synaptic subpopulations.

Current Position: Associate Principal Scientist, IQVIA
Laboratories 

Mentors:  Brian Wadzinski and Ana Carneiro
​Research Interest:  Alpha-4 modulates phosphatases that are important in cell differentiation, proliferation and adhesion

Current Position: Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences at Tennessee State University.

Mentor:  Jeff Neul

Research Interest:  Neurogenetics of Rett’s Syndrome

Current Position: Post Doctoral Research Fellow Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Mentor:  Roger Cone

Research Interest:  Neurogenetics of feeding behavior and energy homeostasis in the zebrafish

Current Position: Group Leader in the Institute of Zoology at the University of Cologne.

Mentor:  Kendal Broadie
Research Interest:  Evaluation of HSP70’s role in neuronal preconditioning

Current Position: Instructional Consultant for Batelle

Mentor:  Sachin Patel
Research Interest:  Substrate-selective inhibition of Cox-2 as a treatment

Current Position: Research Assistant Professor, Radiation
Oncology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Mentor:  Cody Siciliano and Erin Calipari
Research Interest:  Defining the role of compartment specific dopamine dynamics in reinforcement learning

Current Position: Assistant Professor of Neuroscience and Physiology at Illinois State University.

Mentor:  Danny Winder
Research Interest:  Models of drug and non-drug addiction in mice

Current Position: Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Mentor: Christine Konradi

Research Interest: Mitochondrial dysfunction in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

Current Position: Associate Staff Scientist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

Mentor:  Randy Blakely
Research Interest:  Regulation of the dopamine transporter in C. elegans

Current Position: Senior Lecturer in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Georgia.

Mentor:  Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele
​Research Interest:  Development of serotonin transporter knock-in mice based upon variants identified in autism

Current Position: Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology and College of Behavioral and Health Sciences at Middle Tennessee State University.

Mentor:  Todd R. Graham
​Research Interest:  Examining P4-ATPase Deficiency in Drosophilia Nervous System

Current Position: Staff Scientist at Septerna.

Mentor:  Kendal Broadie
​Research Interest:  FMRP-NBEA actin cytoskeleton misregulation in a Fragile X syndrome model

Current Position: Research Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt University.

Mentor:  Maureen Hahn
Research Interest:  Central and autonomic function in A457P norepinephrine transporter knock-in mice

Current Position: Asst. Dir. Scientific Strategy, Vanderbilt
University Medical Center, Nonprofit Research Related

Mentor:  Roger Colbran
​Research Interest:  CaMKII regulation of striatal endocannabinoid plasticity

Current Position: Associate Director of Clinical Development – Neuroscience at Jazz Pharmaceuticals.

Mentor:  Heidi Hamm
Research Interest:  Regulation of protein acetylation by G-proteins

Current Position: Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Physics at Rider University.

Mentor:  Roger Colbran
Research Interest:  Physiological effects of novel ASD-associated mutation in CaMKII

Current Position: Scientific Advisor, Learning and Development at Revance.

Mentor:  Randy Blakely
Research Interest:  Functional and behavioral characterization of novel neuropsychiatric disease

Current Position: Asst. Prof. of Neuro and Pharmacology
University Of Iowa

Mentor:  Roger Colbran
Research Interest:  The role of CaMKII in autism spectrum disorder

Current Position: Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences at Meharry Medical College.

Mentor:  Alfred George
Research Interest:  The influence of alternative splicing of voltage gated sodium channels on susceptibility to anticonvulsant drugs

Current Position: Research Assistant Professor of Pharmacology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Mentor:  Ronald Emeson
Research Interest:  Determine the molecular bases of mRNA editing-dependent changes in serotonin receptor 2c-subtype gene expression

Current Position: Assistant Professor of Biomedical Sciences at Missouri State University.

Mentor:  P. Jeffrey Conn
Research Interest:  In vitro pharmacological characterization of modulators for muscarinic acetylcholine transporters

Current Position: Associate Director, Licensing Colorado University Anschutz, Nonprofit Research Related 

Mentor:  Randy Blakely
​Research Interest:  Development of serotonin transporter knock-in mice based upon variants identified in autism

Current Position: Suzanne Crosby Murphy Professor of Developmental Neuropsychiatry at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

Mentor: Danny Winder

Research Interest: I’m interested in understanding the interaction between NMDA receptors and corticotropin releasing factor within the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis in alcohol use disorders. Specifically, I’m examining whether a signal injection of ketamine can be protective against anxiety and depression during withdrawl in animals with a history of alcohol use disorders.

Current Position: Thought Leader Liaison, UCB

Mentor: Ege Kavalali

Research Interest: Role of mitochondria in modulating synaptic transmission

Current Position: Grant remains in training in the Kavalali lab. 

Mentor: Jeff Conn

Research Interest:  Psychotic symptoms of schizophrenia are associated with hyperactive dopaminergic signaling in striatal and mesocortical pathways. Currently available treatments for schizophrenia are often effective in ameliorating psychotic symptoms but induce adverse parkinsonian-like effects that limit their long-term utility. Given the shortcomings of current antipsychotics, novel therapeutic approaches are needed that exhibit clinical efficacy with reduced adverse effect liability. Activation of the muscarinic M4 receptor has previously been demonstrated to have antipsychotic-like efficacy in several preclinical models. Recently the Conn laboratory reported that these antipsychotic effects are mediated through a novel wherein activation of M4 receptors reduces dopamine release through a CB2 cannabinoid-dependent mechanism. We present new data suggesting that metabotropic glutamate 1 receptor (mGlu1) plays a critical role in mediating these M4-dependent dopaminergic effects. A key role for mGlu1 in regulating DA release could provide important new insights into mechanisms by which loss of mGlu1 signaling could contribute to symptoms observed in schizophrenia patients. Interestingly, substantial preclinical and clinical evidence has implicated mGlu1 in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (nsSNPs) of GRM1 (the gene that encodes mGlu1) are enriched in schizophrenic populations. Through use of both ex vivo and in vivo fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV), application of a mGlu1 positive allosteric modulator (PAM) reduces striatal DA release and possesses antipsychotic-like efficacy in rodent models of schizophrenia, suggesting that mGlu1 selective compounds may alleviate the positive symptoms of schizophrenia. Through an integrated approach of electrophysiological and behavioral studies, Samantha hopes to determine the mechanism whereby mGluR activation alters striatal dopamine (DA) signaling and ultimately exerts antipsychotic-like effects. Developing an understanding of these mechanisms will provide insights into signaling pathways with the potential to mediate antipsychotic efficacy and will assist a drug discovery efforts aimed at developing novel treatments for schizophrenia.

Current Position: Medical Comm. Strategy, Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc.

Mentor: Jingqiong (Katty) Kang and Vivian Gama

Research Interest: Role of genetic variation in modulating GABAergic synaptic transmission in epilepsy

Current Position: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Vanderbilt University