Who's who in the lab

Principal Investigator

Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology

Ph.D. in Neuroscience, Oregon Health and Science University 2016

B.A. in Psychology (Neuroscience Concentration), Grinnell College 2009

University of Michigan Faculty Profile  

ORCiD , Google Scholar 

Favorite ion channel or neuromodulator: G Protein-Coupled Inwardly Rectifying K+ Channel (GIRK)

Dream non-science job: Gardener

Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology

Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan 2025

M.S. in Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan 2021

B.S. in Neuroscience, University of Minnesota 2018

Investigating the impact of nicotine on dopaminergic axon signal transmission.

Lauren earned her Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience with a minor in Computer Science at the University of Minnesota, where she began her research in Dr. Matthew D. Johnson's lab investigating Deep Brain Stimulation and Spinal Cord Stimulation therapies. After graduating, she continued her work in the Johnson lab while also completing a year-long internship at Medtronic's Neuromodulation facility on the Applied Physics and Modeling team as an Associate Research & Development Engineer. In the fall of 2019, she began the Biomedical Engineering PhD program at the University of Michigan in the Neural Engineering concentration and started her doctoral research under the advisement of Dr. Tim M. Bruns, where her work focused on peripheral neural interfacing. She built and implemented biophysical models to investigate the intricacies of how sensory neural signals are recorded by microelectrodes, and she used both computational and experimental methods to understand how underlying physiological activity within peripheral nerves influences their output when they are stimulated by neuromodulation devices. She began her work in Dr. Kramer's lab as a recipient of the Biology of Drug Abuse T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship.

ORCiD, Google Scholar

Favorite ion channel or neuromodulator: Small conductance Calcium-activated Potassium channel

Dream non-science job: antique shop owner

PhD Candidate, Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology 

M.S in Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology (Roorkee) 2019

B.S in Microbiology, St. Xavier' College (Kolkata) 2017

Investigating cholinergic regulation of dopamine in healthy and diseases conditions. 

Vinayak began his research during his Master's thesis in Professor Partha Roy's lab at IIT Roorkee, investigating the role of natural compounds as antioxidants in neurodegeneration. He then served as an intern in Dr. Hiyaa Ghosh's lab at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, India where he worked to understand the role of tcf4 in  adult hippocampal neurogenesis. He then went on to work as a Project Assistant in Dr. Bhavani Shankar Sahu's lab at the National Brain Research Centre, India where he explored the role of adaptor proteins in  affecting  dense core vesicle exocytosis before joining University of Michigan and Dr. Paul Kramer's lab as a PhD student. 

Google Scholar 

Favorite ion channel or neuromodulator: α6 subunit of nicotinic receptors (nAChRs)

Dream non-science job: Open a restaurant with cuisine rotations.

PhD Candidate, Neuroscience Graduate Program

A.B. in Neuroscience, Bowdoin College 2023

Investigating the synaptic and intrinsic properties controlling dopamine axon excitability.

Jackie began her research in Dr. Patsy Dickinson's lab at Bowdoin College, completing an honors thesis on the neuromodulatory capacity of the stomatogastric nervous system in different species of crab, and effects of modulators on neuromuscular junction activity. She then worked as a research technician in Dr. Eve Marder's lab at Brandeis University exploring the role of K-ATP channels in the cardiac ganglion and stomatogastric ganglion of Cancer borealis. Jackie is also an alumni of the NGP SIREN-NURO summer program at the University of Michigan.

ORCiD , Google Scholar 

Favorite ion channel or neuromodulator: ATP-sensitive K+ channels

Dream non-science job: Indoor cycling instructor