Lab Alumni
Taylor Hobbs, 2019-2020
Taylor made major contributions to two projects related to the regulation of oligodendrocyte process dynamics and synaptic vesicle localization. She presented two posters at SFN 2019 and continued her contributions to a manuscript in progress after graduation. Taylor started an accelerated BSN program in Fall '21.
Kelsey Sobeck, 2021 - 2022
Kelsey initiated a CRISPR/Cas9 screen new to the lab and worked hard to get interesting results from our first set of Crispants. Kelsey also initially worked on a project that crashed when her drug treatment caused fish embryo gut/intestine to implode :-)
Nazmus (Sakib) Khan, 2020-2021
Sakib transformed the lab into the world of mutant analysis. He perservered throught the COVID-19 and all of the associated challenges and completed a very successful capstone research project. In Fall 2021 Sakib entered graduate school at the University of Calgary focusing on cognitive neuroscience.
John Henke, 2018-20
John led studies on the role of neurofilament expression in controlling axon diameter and also contributed to several other projects. He presented his work at ASCB 2018 and SFN 2019. John entered the Physician Assistant Program at the University of Iowa in Fall '21.
Katrina Pfaffenbach, 2019-20
Katrina established new acquisition and analysis methods for the study of pre-myelinating oligodendrocyte process dynamics. She presented her project at SFN 2019 and graduated from WSU in spring '21.
Katie Waller, 2020-21
Katie established and mastered fin clip genotyping and CRISPR/Cas9 lesion detection protocols that were new to the lab. She made important contributions to several projects. Katie graduated from WSU in Spring '21.
Taryn Mallon, 2017-19
Taryn transformed the lab's time-lapse investigations and data analysis of oligodendroctye-axon interactions. She presented her project on pre-myelinating oligodendrocyte-axon interactions at the 2018 ASCB-EMBO conference. Taryn started employment as a clinical lab technician in Madison, WI.
Emily Menges, 2016-19
Emily presented her project on MAG in axon selection and oligodendrocyte-axon interactions at the 2018 ASCB-EMBO conference. Earlier during her undergraduate research tenure, she completed a project on hindbrain patterning. Emily is started a DPT program at the University of Iowa in Fall '19.
Tom Eggers, 2016-18
Tom advanced a collaborative research project on spinal cord injury and axon regeneration. Tom graduated in 2018 and started medical school (MD / MBA) program at Tulane in Fall '20.
Rachael Sawyer, 2017-18
Rachael contributed to a myelination project. She also became a skilled microinjector and helped by testing new plasmids and injecting embryos to make new transgenic lines. Rachael graduated in spring 2018.
Cassie Flachs, 2017-18
Cassie advanced a project on mechanisms of myelin sheath growth and stabilization. Cassie graduated in 2018 and immediately started work as a research lab technician in Dr. Shizen Zhu's lab at the Mayo Clinic.
Hunter Sevenich, 2017-18
Hunter advanced techniques and experiments using primary culture of OPCs from zebrafish embryos. Hunter graduated in 2018 and enters graduate school for Chiropractic at Northwestern Health Sciences in Fall 2018.
Victoria Carpenter (Yocum) 2016-17
Victoria characterized the behavioral changes associated with loss of syt1a in zebrafish larvae.
Samantha Lang (Maas) 2016-17
Sam contributed to lab findings on myelin plasticity and axon-oligodendrocyte interactions.
Allie Trudel, 2015-17
Allie pioneered work on manipulating axon diameter and contributed to numerous additional projects. Allie was one of the original fab-five founding members of the lab. She presented her findings at the 2015 and 2016 Society for Neuroscience conferences.Allie began medical school at the University of North Dakota in Fall '17 and started her medical residence in Grand Junction, CO in summer '21.
Maddy Martell, 2015-17
Maddy spearheaded work on synaptic vesicle localization, myelin sheath pruning, and contributed to numerous other projects. Maddy was one of the original fab-five founding members of the lab. She presented her findings at the 2015 and 2016 Society for Neuroscience conferences. Maddy worked as a research assistant at the Mayo Clinic from 2017-18 and began medical school at the Medical School of Wisconsin (MCW) in Fall '18.
Scott Steele, 2015-2017
Scott pioneered work on F-actin in axon varicosities and also contributed to the discovery that axons and oligodendrocytes form preferential interactions at axon varicosities. He also acquired captured the first sheath initiation on a GFP-labeled axon on our spinning disk! He presented his findings at the 2016 Society for Neuroscience conference. Scott completed a MS at Brock University (Ontario) in Fall '18 and is now began working in the private sector. in 2021.
Erin Dankert (Eggum), 2016-17
Erin made key discoveries on myelin plasticity. She presented her findings at the 2017 Society for Developmental Biology conference in summer 2017. Erin is currently working as a research assistant at the Mayo Clinic. She began a dual degree program in Medicine and Master of Health Care Administration at Des Moines University in Summer '18.
Heather Nelson, 2015-17
Heather initiated the myelin plasticity project in the lab and adapted the spinal cord injury approach to study adaptive myelination. She presented her findings at the 2016 Society for Neuroscience and 2017 Society for Developmental Biology conferences. After graduation Heather worked as a medical scribe and research technician at the Univerity of Minnesota, and returned to the lab as research analyst/technician from 2019-21. Heather began medical school at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities in Fall '21.
Bailey Duxbury, 2015-2017
Bailey perfected time-lapse microscopy on our spinning disk confocal and made the initial discovery that oligodendrocytes preferentially interact with axon varicosities. Bailey was one of the original fab-five founding members of the lab. Bailey completed a MS degree from Michigan Tech in 2020, worked for the WI DNR, and started work for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency in Summer '21.
A.J. Treichel, 2015-17
A.J. developed the zebrafish neuron-oligodendrocyte co-culture system and contributed to numerous projects. He presented his findings at the 2015 and 2016 Society for Neuroscience conferences as well as the 2017 Society for Developmental Biology conference. A.J. was one of the original fab-five founding members of the lab. A.J. worked as a research assistant at the Mayo Clinic from 2017 - 2020 and began Ph.D. studies at the Stowers Institute in Fall '20.
Nick Becker, 2015-16
Nick cloned, injected, and successfully overexpressed intermediate filament genes from zebrafish cDNA. Nick pioneeered PCR and gateway cloning techniques and protocols in the lab. Nick worked in health care from 2016-19 and entered the Physician Assistant program at Augsburg University in Fall '19.
Corey Mikorski, 2016
Corey identified morphogens that participate in development of pitx2C+ neurons in the larval zebrafish midbrain. This research was a successful extension of pilot studies initiated in the Experimental Embryology course.
Heather Torkelson, 2016
Heather identified morphogens that participate in development of sox10+ glial cells in the larval zebrafish spinal cord. This research was a successful extension of pilot studies initiated in the Experimental Embryology course. Heather enrolled in graduate school (St. Mary's, MN) for a Masters in Public Health.
Mariah Robran, 2016
Mariah identified morphogens that participate in development of phox2B+ neurons in the larval zebrafish hindbrain. This research was a successful extension of pilot studies initiated in the Experimental Embryology course.
Cyril Thompson, 2015-2016
Cyril performed time-lapse microscopy and showed great persistence with quantitative image analysis. Cyril made some foundational discoveries on axon ensheathent sites during myelination.
Mandie Kaiser, 2015-2016
Mandie was one of the original five research students that joined the lab in January 2015. Mandie worked on two different projects during her tenure in the lab and presented her findings at the 2015 Society for Neuroscience meeting in Chicago, IL. Mandie began Pharmacy school at the University of Minnesota in Fall '18.
Malory Owens, 2015-2016
Malory worked on axon guidance project in the zebrafish spinal cord in a collaborative project with Dr. John Henley at the Mayo Clinic. Her work identified signal transduction mechanisms involved in commissural axon guidance. Malory entered dental school at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities in Fall '18.
