THE TEAM
Michael McDannald
Principle Investigator
Mike received his in B.A. in Neuroscience from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He did is Ph.D. with Peter Holland at Johns Hopkins and his postdoc with Geoffrey Schoenbaum at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Mike is interested in the behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying threat learning.
Mahsa Moaddab
Senior Research Associate
Mahsa earned her BSc in General Biology at Bu-Ali Sina University. During her Masters she spent two years working in the lab of Prof. Abbas Haghparast at Neuroscience Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. She completed her PhD at the University of Otago with Prof. Colin Brown and Prof. Brian Hyland, investigating the effects of oxytocin on morphine addiction (using Conditioned Place Preference and in vivo extracellular recording). She then moved to the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, where she worked with Assistant Prof. Joanna Dabrowska, studying the contribution of oxytocin system to fear and anxiety-like behavior. Her current research focuses on neural circuits for threat learning.
Emma Russell
Graduate Student
Emma earned a B.A. in Behavioral Science and a B.S. in Chemistry from Columbia College. During her senior year, she completed a research project in collaboration with Dr. Adrienne Oxley that explored the advantages and disadvantages of using ZnSe as novel antennae for luminescent lanthanides. Prior to BC, Emma worked in the Center for Cocaine and Opioid Addiction at the Medical University of South Carolina as a research specialist. Emma is examining the function of ventral pallidum circuits in fear generalization.
Sophia Smyth
Graduate Student
Sophia earned a B.S. in Psychology with a focus in Neuroscience from The University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is a first year student in the McDannald Lab starting fall 2024. At UNL, Sophia worked in a Behavioral Neuropharmacology lab where she studied how the interoceptive stimulus effects of Ketamine control anticipatory goal tracking behavior. Sophia is examining how the forebrain and brainstem cooperate to generate threat prediction.
Nicholas Gordon
Graduate Student
Nick earned a B.A. in Economics and a B.S. in Neuroscience from Boston College. He joined the McDannald Lab as an undergraduate in 2021, completing a senior thesis. As a senior, he completed a thesis under Dr. Michael McDannald investigating optogenetic stimulation of ventral tegmental area dopamine neurons and their role in reward learning. Rejoining the lab as a graduate student, Nick is interested in using computational, optogenetic, and electrophysiological tools to study fear learning and avoidance.
Liliuokalani Counsman
Research Technician
Lili joined the McDannald lab in the fall of 2023 after earning her bachelors degree from Salem State University. Currently she is investigating roles for the ventrolateral periaqueductal gray in threat prediction and fear discrimination.
Aleah DuBois
Research Technician
Aleah joined the McDannald lab in the spring of 2024 after earning her bachelor’s degree from Boston College. During her time at BC, she worked as an Undergraduate Research Assistant in the McDannald lab, helping to investigate roles of adversity and various brain regions in reward learning. Currently, she is investigating roles for A8 dopamine neurons in threat responding, using transgenic Th-cre rats and optogenetics.
Aleah DuBois
Research Technician
Aleah joined the McDannald lab in the spring of 2024 after earning her bachelor’s degree from Boston College. During her time at BC, she worked as an Undergraduate Research Assistant in the McDannald lab, helping to investigate roles of adversity and various brain regions in reward learning. Currently, she is investigating roles for A8 dopamine neurons in threat responding, using transgenic Th-cre rats and optogenetics.
Aleah DuBois
Research Technician
Aleah joined the McDannald lab in the spring of 2024 after earning her bachelor’s degree from Boston College. During her time at BC, she worked as an Undergraduate Research Assistant in the McDannald lab, helping to investigate roles of adversity and various brain regions in reward learning. Currently, she is investigating roles for A8 dopamine neurons in threat responding, using transgenic Th-cre rats and optogenetics.
Aleah DuBois
Research Technician
Aleah joined the McDannald lab in the spring of 2024 after earning her bachelor’s degree from Boston College. During her time at BC, she worked as an Undergraduate Research Assistant in the McDannald lab, helping to investigate roles of adversity and various brain regions in reward learning. Currently, she is investigating roles for A8 dopamine neurons in threat responding, using transgenic Th-cre rats and optogenetics.