Past Lab Members
Nalini Oliver
Biochemistry and Philosophy Major, 2023
Nalini joined the forebrain development group in Spring 2020. She will be working as a research technician in a developmental biology and neuroscience-centric lab at Harvard. Afterwards, she hopes to pursue a PhD that combines both of these disciplines and continue on in research. She is originally from West Linn, Oregon, and hopes to combine her love of education and research into her future career. Outside of the lab, she enjoys hiking, writing, and exploring the east coast.
noliver@smith.edu
Shay Iyer
Computer Science and Biology Major, 2023
Shay joined the computational and forebrain groups in the spring of 2020. She has always loved marine life, developmental biology, computer science, and education, and loved combining all of them by being a part of the Barresi Lab. After two and half years, Shay expanded their training in computational biology by collaborating with labs at the University of Virginia, which is where Shay will be pursuing a Ph.D. in the fall continuing to employ novel computational approaches to developmental genetics.
siyer@smith.edu
Alicia Famiglietti
Lab Technician 2019 – 2023
Alicia was a Laboratory Technician for the Barresi Lab. She graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst where she majored in Biochemistry. She worked on the Bioelectrics team and Student Scientists Outreach program. Alicia is now pursuing a career in the social sciences to help people with mental illness. The Barresi Lab misses her support!
Diamond Lewis
Biology Major, 2022
Diamond joined the Barresi Lab in the Fall of 2019. Diamond worked on the Neurogenesis and Disease Modeling project in the Reelin group, for which she completed and Honors Thesis and revealed unique adult behavioral phenotypes associated with a loss of reelin signaling. Diamond is currently working as a Care Coordinator at the Columbia University Fertility Clinic, where she supports an onco-fertility reproductive endocrinologist. Diamond is in the process of pursing medical school.
diamonddlewis29@gmail.com
Zoe Gardner
Biology Major, 2022
Zoe joined the Barresi Lab as a first year. She is from Chicago, IL. Zoe worked in the Reelin group on the Neurogenesis and Disease Modeling project, and completed an Honors thesis focused on the role of the Reelin receptor ApoER2 on neurogenesis. Zoe is currently working as a research technician in Mustafa Sahin’s Lab at Harvard Children’s hospital, where she is working closely with Dr. Ebrahimi-Fakhari studying AP4-associated Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia. Specifically, she is working to characterize zebrafish mutant models of AP4-HSP. Zoe plans to pursue medical school in the future.
zoekatherinegardner@gmail.com
Jake Schnabl, Ph.D.
PhD Student, UMass Amherst, Graduated 2021
Jake was a University of Massachusetts graduate student who completed his Ph.D. in the Barresi lab focused on forebrain development. Jake made great progress in defining the cell types that interact with pathfinding axons during commissure formation in the zebrafish forebrain. Before this, Jake was a Research Assistant at UMass Worcester and at the University of California Riverside where he also received his B.S. He is currently a senior scientist at Arara Biotherapeutics.
Elora Greiner
Neuroscience Major, 2021
Elora is from southern Minnesota and joined the Barresi lab in the spring of 2020. She completed an honors thesis in bioelectrics as a Beckman Scholar. After graduation, she has pursued research to eventually get an advanced degree. Outside of the lab, Elora enjoys board games, cross stitching, and being involved in her community.
eloracgreiner@gmail.com
Nadia PenkoffLidbeck
Neuroscience Major, 2021
Nadia is a member of the Forebrain Development project and completed an honors thesis studying cranial neural crest cell migration. Nadia loves making art and some of her artwork can be found in the lab.
npenkofflidbeck@smith.edu
Janeth Mora-Martinez
Biology Major, 2021
Janeth joined the Barresi Lab her sophomore year. She worked as a part of the Biolectrics group and completed an Honors Thesis on her research.
janethmora.16@gmail.com
Georgia Krikorian
Anthropology and Biochemistry Major, 2021
Georgia worked on the Neurogenesis and Disease modeling team on the Reelin project. After graduation, she is pursuing a MD-PhD to investigate mechanisms of brain development and neuropsychiatric diseases.
gkrikorian@smith.edu
Dahlia Rodriguez
Neuroscience Major, AC 2021
Dahlia worked with the Meteorin group on the Neurogenesis and Disease Modeling Project. She attends graduate school in the health professions and wants to incorporate research into her career plan. During her free time, she takes her two children for hikes and runs.
drodriguez86@smith.edu
Eleonore Kugener
Neuroscience Major, 2021
Eleanore joined the lab as a sophomore and started out in the Teratogenesis group. She worked on Forebrain Development project.
ekugener@smith.edu
Talia Seshaiah
Statistical and Data Sciences Major, 2021
Talia joined the Barresi lab in Fall 2018, and is part of the computational team and forebrain group. She is interested in pursuing a master’s degree in data science, and wants to work in the fields of computational biology, bioinformatics, and translational research. Outside of lab, she enjoys being outdoors and hiking.
tseshaiah@smith.edu
Samantha Brand
Biology, 2021
Sam initially worked on the Teratogenesis project, and then worked in the Meteorin group on the Neurogenesis and Disease Modeling project.
skbrand@smith.edu
Quinton Celuzza
Biology Major with Chemistry Minor, 2021
Quinton joined the Barresi lab in the fall of 2018. He finished his time at Smith by completing an honors thesis with the Bioelectrics group, looking at the interactions between bioelectric and morphogen signaling. When not in lab, Quinton spends his time knitting and taking care of his plants.
qceluzza@smith.edu
Mackenzie Litz
Biology and Physics Major, 2020
Mackenzie was a member of the forebrain development group and computational team working to understand how forebrain structures are built. When Mackenzie is not in the lab, she can be found playing double bass in the orchestra. Mackenzie is completing a PhD in Computational and Systems Biology at MIT, and plans to pursue a research career focused on the biophysics of morphogenesis.
Grace Nevil
Biochemistry Major, 2020
Grace led the Neurogenesis and Disease Modeling Reelin/Vldr project during her time in the Barresi Lab. She completed her honors thesis in Spring 2020. Grace is currently pursuing Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth.
grace.k.nevil.med@dartmouth.edu.
Madeline Ryan
Biology Major with Neuroscience Minor, 2020
Maddie was the leader of the Neurogenesis and Disease Modeling Meteorin project during her senior year. She played field hockey and lacrosse for Smith College. After graduation, the Barresi lab was luckily able to hang on to Maddie as a research technician through the first semester of remote education during the pandemic. Thanks Maddie for helping our lab keep on keeping on! Maddie joined Tony Tsai’s Lab at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in January of 2021 as a research technician where she studies the role of adhesion molecules in spinal cord patterning and tissue morphogenesis in zebrafish. She intends to pursue a PhD in developmental biology.
madelineryan@wustl.edu
Dominica Cao
Neuroscience and Biology Major, 2020
Dominica worked on the Neurogenesis and Disease Modeling project supporting the Reelin and Meteorin groups. Dominica went on to work as a research technician before heading to Graduate School in the Northeast or Pacific Northwest. Dominica is currently a Research Assistant in Berna Sözen’s new lab at Yale Genetics studying gastrulation, metabolism, and morphogen signaling. She is working mouse and human embryos and stem cells.
caodominica@gmail.com