People (& Fish)

Principal Investigator: Tamily Weissman

Tamily Weissman is a Professor of Biology at Lewis & Clark College.  She earned her undergraduate degree from Pomona College and her Ph.D. from Columbia University's Neurobiology & Behavior Program.  As a graduate student in Arnold Kriegstein's lab at Columbia, Weissman studied neuronal proliferation and calcium dynamics in the embryonic rodent cerebral cortex.  She then trained as a postdoctoral fellow in Jeff Lichtman's lab, where she helped to develop the Brainbow strategy for mapping neural circuits in the mouse brain.  In her research lab at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, Weissman has applied  Brainbow and other fluorescence strategies to zebrafish, to study how neurons develop and degenerate in the living nervous system.

Model organism: Danio rerio

We maintain a healthy colony of zebrafish (Danio rerio) in our laboratory.  Zebrafish are a powerful model organism for studying neural development and disease -- for two major reasons.  First, they are transparent during the period of brain development, thus ideal for imaging the living, growing brain.  Second, it is relatively straightforward to express and manipulate genes in zebrafish.  We express fluorescent proteins in zebrafish and use specialized imaging techniques to visualize the brain as it forms.

Current students (2024-2025):

Willow Irving, Lewis & Clark Senior (Class of ‘25)

Willow joined the lab in 2024 and is working on a senior honors thesis research project. She uses in vivo Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching (FRAP) in zebrafish to study how alpha-synuclein protein aggregates in response to specific human disease point mutations.

Sadie Meredith-Andrews, Lewis & Clark Junior (Class of ‘26)

Sadie joined the lab in 2024 and is using in vivo Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching (FRAP) in zebrafish to study how combined phosphorylation at multiple residues influences alpha-synuclein protein aggregation.

Lily Schainker, Lewis & Clark Senior (Class of ‘25)

Lily joined the lab in 2023 and is working on a senior honors thesis research project. She uses in vivo Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching (FRAP) in zebrafish to study how combined phosphorylation at multiple residues influences alpha-synuclein protein aggregation. She is also measuring protein mobility at different developmental timepoints to investigate the progression of alpha-synuclein aggregation over time.

Previous lab members (where are they now?)

Nicole Brockway - Nicole was our fearless lab manager and the microscopy technician from 2015 until 2024. She is now working in the Sponsored Research Office at Lewis & Clark College.

Aaliya Mehnaz Ahmed - Aaliya was a summer research student in 2024 and is currently a student at Lewis & Clark.

Claire Zawadzki, ‘25 - Claire was a summer research student in 2023 and is currently a student at Lewis & Clark.

Anna-Marie Ahn, ‘24 - Anna-Marie worked in the lab from 2022 to 2024. She is now in a graduate program in International Affairs at the University of Chicago.

Brandon Apresa, ‘24 - Brandon wrote a Biology senior thesis and worked in the lab from 2023-2024. He is now a research technician at UCSF.

Brendan Creeks, ‘24 - Brendan wrote a BCMB senior thesis and worked in the lab from 2023-2024.

Celeste Jongeneelen, ‘23 - Celeste wrote a Biology senior thesis and worked in the lab from 2022-2023, then worked as a research technician at OHSU.

Gila Winfield, ‘23 - Gila wrote a BCMB senior thesis and worked in the lab from 2020-2023 and is now in an MD/PhD program at Cleveland Clinic.

Roland Berg, ‘22 - Roland wrote a Biology senior thesis and worked in the lab from 2021-2022.

Max Frisbie ‘22 - Max worked in the lab from 2020-2021.

Cady Kurtz-Miott, ‘22 - Cady worked in the lab from 2019-2020 and is now working in Clinical Research at UCSF.

Julia Litz ‘22 - Julia worked in the lab from 2021-2022 and is now a research technician at OHSU.

Lalo Murillo ‘22 - Lalo was a summer research student in 2021, who went on to become a high school science teacher.

Saheli Singh, ‘22 - Saheli wrote a Biology senior thesis and worked in the lab from 2019-2022. She is now in a PhD program at UCSF.

Luan Doster, ‘21 - Luan wrote a Biology senior thesis and worked in the lab from 2019-2021.

Joy Pajarla, ‘21 - Joy wrote a Physics senior thesis and worked in the lab from 2018-2021. She is now in a Physics PhD program at Yale.

Dylan Benitez, ‘20 - Dylan worked in the lab in 2019 and is now living in the Seattle area.

Talia Lichtenberg, ‘20 - Talia wrote a BCMB senior thesis and worked in the lab from 2017-2020. Talia is now in the MD/PhD program at Yale.

Isaac Boardman, '19 - Isaac wrote a BCMB senior thesis, and worked in the lab from 2016 to 2019. He went on in Biostatistics at Tulane.

Nhi Ho, ‘19 - Nhi wrote a BCMB senior thesis and worked in the lab from 2018-2019. Nhi is now in the PhD program at University of Washington.

Baergen Schultz, ‘19 - Baergen worked in the lab from 2017-2018. She is now a genetic counselor.

Maggie Carey, ‘19 - Maggie worked in the lab from 2016-2018. She is now in a Physician’s Assistant (PA) program.

Max Southam, 19 - Max worked in the lab in 2018.

Zoe Cook, ‘18 - Zoe wrote a Biology senior thesis and worked in the lab from 2017-2018 as an undergraduate, and then from 2018-2021 as a technician. She is now in a PhD program at Stanford.

and Keenan Ashby, Alia Newman-Boulle, Eddie Telez, Jessica Vargas-Avalos, Adi Elinoff!

Jonathan Torres, '18 - Jonathan worked in the lab from 2013 (as a high school student!) until 2018, when he graduated from Lewis & Clark. Jonathan went on to work for the Clackamas County Health Department and is now doing a master’s degree in infectious disease.

Helen Ippolito, '18 - Helen was in the lab from 2016 to 2018, went on to a Master’s in Public Administration, and is now working in Public Policy in Washington State.

Mehtab Sal, '17 - Mehtab wrote a Biochemistry & Molecular Biology thesis on alpha-synuclein aggregation. She completed her MD at Oregon Health & Science University. 

Mako Gedi, '17 - Mako was in the lab from 201# to 2017, working on a project that studies dividing neural progenitor cells in the zebrafish hindbrain.

Teresa Stackhouse, '16 - Teresa was in the lab from 2013 to 2016, and completed a senior thesis in Biology.  She completed her PhD in Neuroscience at Oregon Health & Science University in 2024.

Sylvia Nkombo Nkoula, '16 - Sylvia worked in the lab from 2015 to 2016, went on to earn a PhD in Paris, start a science education non-profit in Republic of the Congo, and now works in science communication in Paris.

AJ Slepian - ‘16 - AJ was in the lab in 2015. She is now a Program Manager at Illumina.

Maritte O'Gallagher, '15 - Maritte was in the lab from 201# until 2015, working on a project that studies dividing neural progenitor cells in the zebrafish hindbrain.  Maritte is now working at UCSF.

Ian Matthews, '15

Derek Warner-Reyes, '15

Audrey Smith, '15

Kyla Hamling, '14 - Kyla was in the lab from 2012-2014, and she completed a senior thesis in 2014.  She completed her PhD at NYU in 2024.

Leah Weston, '14 - Leah was in the lab from 2012-2014, and she completed a senior thesis in 2014.  She then went on to complete an MD/MPh at Johns Hopkins University.

Ian Lake, '14 -- Completed his MAT , high school science teacher at Sherwood High School

Lena Anoshochenko, '13

Zachary Tobias, '12 - Zac was the lab manager and microscopy technician from 2012-2015.  He completed his PhD at Harvard in 2024.

Logan Higgins, '12 -- Went on to a PhD program at MIT

Krissy Lyon, '12 -- Krissy helped to set up some of lab techniques before she graduated in 2012. She completed her PhD at Harvard, and is now a postdoc in Nicola Allen’s lab at the Salk Institute in San Diego.

Previous High School Students:

Yusuf Ashfaq, Beaverton Health & Science High School

Katie Welgan, St. Mary's Academy (High School)