People
Adam Douglass
Principal Investigator
After doing my graduate training in cell biology at UCSF, I switched fields and became a neuroscientist during my postdoc at Harvard University. I've spent time developing techniques to image single molecules in living cells; using optogenetics to manipulate the brain; and creating new types of fluorescent indicators of neuronal activity. My lab uses these and many other tools to understand how networks of modulatory neurons operate within complex circuits to shape behavior.
Emily Dunn
PH.D. Candidate| Molecular Biology| em.dunn@utah.edu
Emily is originally from Washington. She went to both Washington State University and Eastern Washington University for her undergraduate degree, where she studied General Biology and Zoology. During her time as an undergraduate, she worked in the lab of Dr. Joanna Joyner-Matos on freshwater clams, Musculium spp, and their role in indicating the overall health of bodies of freshwater in Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge in Washington. After graduating, she worked as a laboratory technician for Dr. Aaron Putzke at Whitworth University for two years. During her time, she worked on the gene Fer kinase and looked at how it is required for proper hematopoiesis and vasculature organization in developing zebrafish, Danio rerio. Since joining the Douglas lab in 2019, her project has focused on the contribution of oxytocinergic (OXT) neurons to defensive behavior elicited by nociceptive stimuli. Her project seeks to identify the subpopulation of OXT neurons that are selectively activated by noxious stimuli and determine how the co-transmission of glutamate and oxytocin affects their ability to control defensive behaviors. One fun fact about Emily is that she has tarantulas as pets. Outside the lab, she enjoys drawing, playing video games, spending time with loved ones, and hiking.
Erianna Basgall-de la rosa
Ph.D. candidate | neurobiology | u1317693@utah.edu
Erianna is originally from Western Kansas. She received a B.S. in Biochemistry from Kansas State University in 2020. During her undergraduate career, she worked in the Finnigan lab within the department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics. She used yeast as a model system to study CRISPR proteins, anti-CRISPR proteins, and CRISPR gene drives. She is currently using patch-clamp to study the role of oxytocin and glutamate co-transmission in the initiation of a motor response to pain. Things that make Erianna a “well-ish” rounded person: walking/hiking with her dog, baking/cooking, and playing video games.
Maddie Swall
Graduate Researcher | neurobiology | maddie.swall@neuro.utah.edu
Maddie is originally from Kansas City and received her B.S. in Biology from Colorado State University where she researched novel genes involved in crustacean molting. After graduating in 2019 she was a technician for two years at the Stowers Institute in KCMO (mentored by Tatjana Piotrowski) where she was live imaging different innate immune cell populations within zebrafish larvae. Maddie joined the lab in Spring 2022 and is interested in identifying the molecular identity of spinal projection neurons within the zebrafish hindbrain, which are important for controlling locomotor behavior. In her free time, Maddie enjoys hiking/climbing, going to museums and concerts, listening to true crime podcasts, yoga, and jigsaw puzzles.
Allie white
Graduate Researcher | neuroscience | allie.white@neuro.utah.edu
Allie is from Colorado originally and is excited to be back in the mountain west after spending four years in Vermont during her time as an undergraduate. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from Middlebury College in 2021. While at Middlebury, she studied learning and memory using an acute stress model in Drosophila. Allie’s research now focuses on the role that dopamine plays in modulating sensorimotor behaviors in Zebrafish. Outside of lab, you can typically find Allie exploring the Wasatch mountains either on her mountain bike or her skis. She also enjoys playing guitar, cooking, and doing crosswords.
Sarah Brockway
Graduate Researcher | neuroscience | sarah.brockway@utah.edu
Sarah is originally from Southern California where she got her BS in Molecular Biology from California State University, Long Beach in 2019. She more recently lived in Pocatello, Idaho where she got her MS in Biology from Idaho State University. Her master’s thesis research involved using in vitro electrophysiology to characterize epilepsy mutations in a voltage-gated sodium channel of the brain. Now as a Neuroscience PhD student in the Douglass lab, she is excited to determine the roles that serotonin and dopamine play in spinal motor control. In her free time, she enjoys reading things unrelated to science, exercising, spending time with friends, and enjoying her rich and complex inner life.
Jovin Jacobs
Post-Doctoral Research Associate | u6050665@utah.edu
Jovin originally hails from Jamaica. He completed his PhD in 2023 in Megan Carey’s lab at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown in Lisbon, Portugal. During his time as a graduate student, he studied locomotor learning in mice. Now, as a part of the Douglass lab, Jovin is working on a project examining the influence of neuromodulators on behavior. He is fearlessly learning how to work with a new model organism and has made his first foray into the world of molecular biology. When Jovin isn’t in lab (typically from the hours of 8 pm to 11 am), he enjoys sipping on a good Guinness, exploring SLC night life, coming up with new coding schemes for analysis, and spending time with friends.
Past Members