Spencer Bowles

PhD Candidate, Neuroscience

Spencer studies the role of cholinergic signaling in endogenous and VNS-enhanced motor learning . . .

Sean Hansen

PhD Candidate, Bio Engineering

Sean is developing new optical imaging technology for high-resolution fluorescent imaging . . .

Anthony Chavez

Technical Expertise

Anthony is our mouse guru who keeps our colonies in order, and helps keep us in order too!

Rongchen Huang, MS

PhD Candidate, Neuroscience

Rongchen is a doctoral candidate exploring the effects of Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) . . .

Elise Carter

Undergraduate Researcher

Elise is as BS/MS Bioengineering student developing software to automate analysis of kinematic data obtained from Vagus nerve stimulation . . .

Sean Vieau

Professional Research Assistant

Sean studied psychology and biology at MSU Denver, and is now working primarily on our voltage imaging miniscope project. . .

Kimberly Gagnon

PhD Candidate, Neuroscience

Kim is exploring the effect of behaviorally relevant and temporally precise neuromodulator release . . .

Katie Casey

Undergraduate Researcher

Katie is exploring cholinergic modulation of disinhibitory circuits in the motor cortex, specifically during .. . .

Madison Hendrix

Undergraduate Researcher

Madison is going into her final semester as a biology major at CU Denver. She is exploring . . .

Dailey Nettles, Phd

Dailey Nettles obtained her Ph.D. jointly in the labs of Dr. Cristin Welle & Dr. Ethan Hughes, where she studied the role of myelin in motor cortex circuit function. She used both chronically implanted NeuroNexus and acutely implanted Neuropixel extracellular recording arrays in mice throughout demyelination and remyelination to study single-cell activity changes. She found that myelin loss causes neuronal hyperexcitability that recovers with partial remyelination. Dailey is now a post-doc at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Xiaoyu Peng, Phd

Xiaoyu Peng obtained her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania and did short postdoc trainings in Princeton University and MIT. Her project involved the use of in vivo calcium imaging and optical electrophysiology to investigate the change of neural ensembles in motor cortex during learning and diseases.

W. Ryan Williamson, PhD

Ryan Williamson developed the closed-loop automated reaching apparatus (CLARA) that the lab uses as the core of our behavioral experiments. Luckily for us, Ryan didn't move far, and now directs the IDEA Core facility here at CU. We get to work with Ryan all the time!

Kayden Washington

Kayden joined the lab for two summers during his time as an undergraduate at Northwestern and contributed data on vagus nerve connectivity and on conditioned place preference training. He's now in a postbac at the NIH. 

Jordan Hickman, MS

Jordan spent several years in the lab developing our chronic VNS surgical protocol and behavioral use of VNS during skilled motor reach learning. He's now in CU Medical Scientist Training Program and a member of the Denman Lab in the Neuroscience Program.

Dane Donegan, MS

Completed his Masters in Modern Human Anatomy in the BIOElectrics Lab, setting up optogenetics to study cholinergic systems in motor learning. Dane is currently a PhD candidate at ETH Zurich, working on motor systems and neuromodulation.

Benjamin Temple

Before coming to the BioElectrics Lab, Ben received a BA in Philosophy from Yale and worked in clinical psychiatry research at the Denver VA. He worked on vagal nerve stimulation-related projects in the lab. Ben is currently a PhD candidate at University of California, San Diego studying motor systems in the spinal cord.

Jasmine Singh, MS

Jasmine led the lab's human tissue program looking at the brain's response to implanted DBS electrodes, along with CLARITY tissue clearing for implants in mouse cortex.