christianson lab @ bc
people
The JCBC lab: Anthony, Yaya, Ricardo, Sara, Frankie, Ricardo, Alexis, Xenia, Lucas, Alex & John (9/12/22)
John Christianson
Associate Professor
BA-Susquehanna University
PhD-University of New Hampshire
PI
Throughout my career I have been captivated by questions relating to the biological basis of behaviors. My training is rooted in experimental psychology and my lab employs a interdisciplinary approach to studies of emotion, learning and memory. We have a breadth of technology from sophisticated behavioral paradigms to electrophysiology to anatomically specific optogentic tools. My current fascination relates to the cognitive processes provided by the insular cortex. Please see the projects page for more information.
Outside of the lab I enjoy playing guitar and piano. I love hiking and running, especially with my wife and son. I also love portrait and street photography -- and I can talk about camera equipment, lenses etc for hours.
Anthony Djerdjaj
BS, Biology
Boston College
PhD Student
Anthony comes to the lab with a background in the neurobiology underlying metabolic disorders. As our research assistant, he has worked on a number of projects. His work has been primarily focused on the social affective preference test, studying the various brain regions and pathways that contribute to social behavior in rodents.
Alexandra Ng
BS, Neuroscience
Vassar College
PhD student
Alex comes to the lab with a background in the neurobiology of fear. She is investigating serotonergic input to the insular cortex in social, stress and fear paradigms. Makes amazing granola.
Lucas Barretto de Souza
BS, Pharmacy & Biochemistry,
MSc, Physiological Sciences
School of Pharmaceutical Sciences São Paulo State University
Visiting PhD Fellow
Lucas is visiting for the year of 2022 from UNESP in Araraquara, São Paulo, Brazil where he is a PhD student in the lab of Dr. Carlos Crestani. Lucas' experiments focus on hypothalamic neuropeptides and their possible role in modulating insular cortex physiology and behavior.
Undergraduate Researchers
Current JCBC lab undergraduates are supported by the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, the Boston College McNair Scholars Program, the Boston College Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program and the National Institutes of Mental Health.
Alumni:
Graduate
Dr. Allison Foilb (2019, now at McLean Hospital)
Dr. Morgan Rogers (2019, Sr. Consultant Newry Corp.)
Dr. Nicholas Worley (2019, Machine Learning Specialist, Day Zero Diagnostics)
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Postdoc
Dr. Juan Varela (retired!--ok, not really a postdoc)
Dr. Nathaniel Rieger (2021, now at U of Washington)
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Undergraduate
Ben T (not sure!)
Lindsay V (Research Assistant HMS/MGH)
Julia M (not sure!)
Emma F (McLean Hospital Research Assistant)
Rahul A (medical school)
Angela C (not sure!)
Natalie C (medical school)
Steven E (medical school)
Bridget B (still JCBC!)
Evey S (Healthcare Consultant, Boston Consulting Group)
Shanon L (not sure!)
Emily Z (Jesuit Service Year)
Syndey D (just keep swimming)
Tyler L (Research Assistant HMS/MGH)
Greg G (Gradate school, Nursing)
Amelia C (UW-PhD Program in Neuroscience)
Joshua E (Fulbright Scholar, Medical School)
Sophie S (Wheaton-NSF REU)
Kayla F (BIDM-Andermann Lab, PhD candidate Duke Neurobiology)
Gab S (Brown-MD program)
Emily S (med school)
Alejandra B (Binghamton-NSF-REU)
Nicholas P (RA-NYU Medical School)
Christina A (graduate school)
Meghan H (Masters Public Health Emory, U of Minnesota Medical School)
Julia B (MGH-Harvard)
Lucy X (teaching English abroad)
Bates G (NIH)
Ashley R (UPENN-PhD program)
Mary S (JCBC!)
Vikram K (UCLA Medical Schooll)
Morgan M (BU-PhD program)
Vera de Bode (somewhere fancy in NED)
Dora P (New England College of Optometry)
Andrew C (Allen Brain Institute)
Veronica C (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center)
Anne P (BC & NIDA, PhD Candidate at University of Colorado)