Waterhouse Lab Alumni

Fellows

Kara Agster, Ph.D.
(2007 - 2010)
Project: Methylphenidate, sus­tained atten­tion and sen­sory sig­nal processing. 
NIH Post-doctoral Fellow

Melanie (Alexander) Starr, Ph.D.
(2007 - 2010)
Project: Effects of MDMA (ecstasy) on sensory signal processing in waking rats.

Bridget Willoughby, Ph.D. 
(2007 - 2009)
Project: Multi-site measurement of norepinephrine release and reuptake in brain noradrenergic terminal fields following nucleus locus coeruleus stimulation.

Carlos Meijas-Aponte, Ph.D. 
(2006 - 2007)
Project: Nor­ep­i­neph­rine, dopamine neu­rons and cocaine relapse.

Candice Drouin, Ph.D.
(2001 - 2005)
Project: Cocaine actions in sen­sory cortex.

Chukwuma Okere, Ph.D.
(2000 - 2006)
Project: Stress-related acti­va­tion of the dor­sal raphe nucleus.

Loretta Walker-Williams, Ph.D. 
(2000 - 2003)
Project: Methylphenidate actions in sen­sory thal­a­m­o­cor­ti­cal cir­cuits.

John Rutter, Ph.D. 
(1994 - 1998)
Project: Cocaine mod­u­la­tion of sen­sory thal­a­m­o­cor­ti­cal cir­cuit func­tion.

Errol Gould, Ph.D. 
(1994 - 1996)
Project:  Impact of chronic cocaine on sensory signal transmission through thalamocortical circuits.

Craig Webb, Ph.D. 
(1991 - 1993)
Project:  Impact of locus coeruleus output on membrane responsiveness of sensory cortical neurons.

Ivo Bekavac, M.D. 
(1991 - 1994)
Project:  Influences of cocaine on somatosensory cortical neuronal responsiveness.

Judith McLean, Ph.D.
(1989 - 1991)
Project: Nor­ep­i­neph­rine effects on recep­tive field prop­er­ties of cat stri­ate cor­ti­cal neurons.

Carlos A. Jimenez-Rivera, Ph.D.
(1986 - 1989)
Project: Elec­tro­phys­i­o­log­i­cal actions of cocaine in cen­tral nora­dren­er­gic cir­cuits.

Sheryl S. Smith, Ph.D.
(1986 - 1987)
Project: Neuromodulatory actions of sex steroids in extrahypothalamic brain circuits.

Francis M. Sessler, Ph.D. 
(1985 - 1989)
Project: Sec­ond mes­sen­ger mech­a­nisms under­ly­ing nora­dren­er­gic mod­u­la­tion of GABAer­gic synap­tic trans­mis­sion.

Donald McEachron, Ph.D.
(1983 - 1984)
Project: Amphetamine influences on 2-DG uptake in mammalian brain.

Jung-Tung Cheng, Ph.D.
(1983 - 1985)
Project: Norepinephrine effects on lateral hypothalamic neuronal activity.

Students

Luke Mitchell, MS
(2014 - 2016)

Eric Prouty, M.D., Ph.D. student
(2013 - 2018)
Thesis: Functional organization of the dorsal raphe projection to rat cortical and thalamic terminal fields. 

Matthew Thomas, MMS
(2012 - present)
Co-mentor with Jed Shumsky, Ph.D.
Project: NeuroAIDS viral coat protein, gp120, effects in a rat model of flexible attention.

Carolyn Lamperski, MMS
(2011 - 2012)
Project: Organization of brainstem monoaminergic and cholinergic projections to rat prefrontal cortex sub-regions.  

Joeseph Vengalil, MMS
(2011 - 2012)
Co-mentor with Jed Shumsky, Ph.D.
Thesis: Noradrenergic alpha 2A receptor mediated actions of methylphenidate on sustained attention.

Chris Gutoskey, MS candidate
(2011 - present)
Thesis: Development of an animal model of gp120-induced cognitive decline in aged rats. 

Rachel Navarra, Ph.D.
(2010-2016)
Thesis: Impact of salience and psychostimulant drugs on sensory signal processing in the rat dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus.
NIH Pre-doctoral Fellow and PhRMA Foundation Fellow

Daniel Chandler, Ph.D.
(2009 - 2013)
Thesis: Functional organization of the locus coeruleus projection to the rat prefrontal cortex.  

Gerard Zitnik, Ph.D. 
(2009 - 2013)
Thesis: Stressor, CRF and opioid regulation of locus coeruleus output and sensory signal processing in noradrenergic terminal fields.

Shevon Nicholson, MS
(2009 - 2012)
Thesis: Psychostimulant drugs, vigilance and noradrenergic function in aging.

Justin Berkowitz, MMS
(2009 - 2010)
Co-mentor with Jed Shumsky, Ph.D.
Project: Catecholamine receptor mediated effects of methylphenidate on sustained attention in rodents. 

Whitney Goering, MMS
(2009 - 2010)
Co-mentor with Jed Shumsky, Ph.D.
Project: Catecholamine receptors and rodent sustained attention. 

Aaron Beck, MMS
(2008 - 2009)
Co-mentor with Jed Shumsky, Ph.D.
Thesis: Catecholamine receptors and rodent sustained attention.

Michael Park, MMS
(2007 - 2008)
Co-mentor with Jed Shumsky, Ph.D.
Thesis: Catecholamine receptors and rodent sustained attention.

Richard Chu, Ph.D. 
(2006 - 2013)
Thesis: Subject specific effects of methylphenidate in rodent models of attention.   

Ryan King, MMS
(2006 - 2007)
Co-mentor with Jed Shumsky, PhD
Project: Effects of acute methylphenidate on female rodent performance in a sustained attention task. 

Rani Vasudeva, Ph.D.
(2005 - 2011)
The­sis: The role of nitric oxide synthase neurons in dorsal raphe nucleus stress circuitry.

Greg Smith, MMS 
(2005 - 2006)
Project: Actions of chronic methylphenidate on rodent performance in a sustained attention task.

Eric Wagner, MMS 
(2005)
Project: Plasma lev­els of MDA and MDMA (Ecstasy) after acute MDMA admin­is­tra­tion in rat.

Joshua Danley, MMS
(2004 - 2005)
Project: Actions of acute methylphenidate on rodent per­for­mence in a sus­tained atten­tion task.

Dorothy Wang, MMS
(2004 - 2005)
The­sis: Effects of methylphenidate on sig­nal pro­cess­ing in the trigem­i­nal somatosen­sory thalamo-cortical cir­cuits of the anes­thetized rat.

Melanie (Alexander) Starr, Ph.D.
(2003 - 2007)
Thesis: Impact of MDMA (Ecstasy) on serotonin release and sensory information processing in vibrissa-related regions of the rat thalamus. 
NIH Pre-doctoral Fellow 

David Devilbiss, Ph.D.
(1996 - 2002)
The­sis: The impact of the locus coeruleus effer­ent path­way on thal­a­mic and cor­ti­cal sen­sory neu­ron response prop­er­ties in the awake rat.
Donald B. Lindsley Prize nominee, Society for Neuroscience

Daniel Fleischer, M.S. student
(1994 - 1998)
Thesis: Actions of norepinephrine on morphologically and electrophysiologically identified layer II/III neurons of rat somatosensory cortex.

Kimberly Simpson, Ph.D. (1992 - 1998)
The­sis: The anatom­i­cal and neu­ro­chem­i­cal orga­ni­za­tion of rat locus coeruleus with respect to galanin and the ascend­ing trigem­i­nal somatosen­sory path­way.

Michael Kirifides, Ph.D.
(1990 - 1999)
The­sis: The anatom­i­cal and neu­ro­chem­i­cal orga­ni­za­tion of rat dor­sal raphe nucleus with respect to the trigem­i­nal somatosen­sory path­way.

Dan Altman, M.S.
(1989 - 1991)
Thesis: Distribution of locus coeruleus neurons that project to rat principalis nucleus of V, VB thalamus and barrel field cortex.

Weimin Liu, Ph.D.
(1988 - 1994)
Thesis: In vitro and in vivo actions of serotonin on synaptic transmission in physiologically and morphologically identified neurons in layer II/III in rat somatosensory cortex.

Eva Mah, M.A.H.P.
(1988 - 1989)

Eileen Conti, M.A.H.P.
(1988 - 1989)

Robert Mouradian, M.D. Ph.D.
(1987 - 1996)
Thesis: Physiology and pharmacology of noradrenergic gating actions in rat somatosensory cortical neurons.

Robert Mouradian, M.S.
(1987 - 1988)
Thesis: Noradrenergic enhancement of somatosensory cortical neuronal responses to putative excitatory neurotransmitters: an in vitro study.

Andrew Michael, M.D., Ph.D. candidate
(1982 - 1987)
Thesis: Electrophysiological actions of amphetamine in central noradrenergic circuits.