WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Lab Technician
• Research Technician With a

Amanda Titus is a research technician with a BS in psychology and biochemistry from SEMO and a MA in psychology from UMSL. She is currently pursuing a PhD in the biomedical sciences core program at SLU Medical School. Her research interest is in neurodegenerative diseases. She enjoys crocheting, playing the violin, and biking.

Job Titles:

• Director, Animal Behavior Core Assistant Director, Animal Behavior Subunit of IDDRC@WUSTL Professor of Psychiatry
• Professor

Carla Yuede, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Psychiatry Department, with joint appointments in Neurology and Neuroscience at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO. She graduated from Missouri State University in 2000 with a BS in Psychology and Biomedical Science, and received her Ph.D in Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Missouri - St. Louis. During graduate school, she began a collaboration with the newly formed Animal Behavior Core (ABC) at Washington University and completed her dissertation research on the long-term behavioral effects of neonatal NMDA receptor antagonism under the guidance of Dr. David Wozniak (Psychiatry) in the lab of Dr. John Olney (Psychiatry). Following graduation, she completed a postdoc studying the effects of stress on Alzheimer's disease pathology with Dr. John Csernansky (Psychiatry). In 2012, she became faculty in the Neurology department at Washington University working with Dr. John Cirrito to develop micro-immunoelectrodes (MIEs) to study rapid kinetics of beta amyloid and other peptides involved in Alzheimer's disease. With the Cirrito lab, the MIE technology has been optimized and expanded to detect several different proteins and peptides, including SARS-CoV-2. In 2017, Carla became Assistant Director of the Animal Behavior Core Laboratory and continued to focus her research on cognitive and behavioral impairments in animal models of neurodegeneration. As Director of the Animal Behavior Core, she is primarily involved in research focused on behavioral phenotyping of adult animals and neuropsychiatric disorders, as well as biological/physiological changes occurring in the brain leading to impairments or improvements in memory function. Carla Yuede, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Psychiatry Department, with joint appointments in Neurology and Neuroscience at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO. She graduated from Missouri State University in 2000 with a BS in Psychology and Biomedical Science, and received her Ph.D in Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Missouri - St. Louis. As Director of the Animal Behavior Core, she is primarily involved in research focused on behavioral phenotyping of adult animals, models of neurodegenerative disorders, and neuropsychiatric disorders, as well as biological/physiological changes occurring in the brain leading to impairments or improvements in memory function.

Job Titles:

• Research Technician

Carlos Sardiña is a research technician who is currently earning degrees in Philosophy and Biological Sciences with a minor in Psychology at the University of Missouri-Columbia - better known as Mizzou. At Mizzou, Carlos is a McNair scholar and a research assistant in Dr. Matthew Will's behavioral neuroscience lab, which primarily studies drug addiction and obesity. His research investigates the role of neuropeptide melanin-concentrating hormone on appetitive behaviors. Outside of the lab, Carlos enjoys evening walks with his wife, family fish fries, and reading (primarily non-fiction). Additionally, he and his wife run a coffee truck in Flint Hill, MO.

Job Titles:

• Research Technician
• Research Staff
• Research Technician from Paris

Cory Cearlock is a research technician from Paris, Illinois. He received his Bachelor's in Psychology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His research interests are primarily focused on neuropsychopharmacology, in particular drugs of abuse such as methamphetamine and cocaine. Before coming to WUSM, he was involved in the Neuropsychopharmacology Lab at UIUC. Outside of the lab, he enjoys spending time with his dog, watching movies, reading, and managing a variety of house plants.

Job Titles:

• Lab Technician
• Research Technician from Los Angeles

Evan Daniels-Day is a research technician from Los Angeles, California. He received his Bachelor's in Psychology from the University of California, Riverside while minoring in Gender and Sexuality Studies. During his time at UCR, he was a Research Assistant in the Social Neuroscience Lab, focusing on social cognition and self-perception, as well as the Personality and Identity lab, focusing on the life narratives of varying groups of individuals. His research interests lie at the complex intersection of gender, sexuality, biology, and development. Outside of work, Evan enjoys spending time with his husband, Lukas, and their two dogs Leia and Lucy. He also enjoys crafts of all varieties, from quilting to knitting.

Job Titles:

• Professor of Genetics and Psychiatry at WUSTL

Joe is a Professor of Genetics and Psychiatry at WUSTL. He is broadly interested in how a single genome creates the cellular diversity that is discovered in the brain, and how perturbations of specific cell types in the brain may lead to disorders of the nervous system, as well as alterations of normal behavior. His lab approaches these questions using the tools of mouse transgenics and conditional knockouts, but guides the studies using information gleaned from human genetics studies

Job Titles:

• Scientific Advisor, Animal Behavior Core Instructor of Medicine

Joshua Dearborn is a behavioral neuroscientist with training in molecular biology. His research interests revolve around the neurobiology and etiology of neurodevelopmental disorders. He has a strong background in the application of rodent models in behavioral assays to investigate the neurobiological mechanisms related to behavioral disruptions observed in psychiatric disorders. He is interested in determining the underlying mechanisms leading to both central and peripheral defects associated with lysosomal storage diseases (LSDs) and using that information to develop effective therapies for this class of disease. He is inspired by the lack of clear understanding of the molecular- and circuit-level neuropathology mediating the symptoms of neurodevelopmental disorders such as infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (INCL).

Job Titles:

• Research Technician
• Research Technician from Summit

Kaitlyn Hersch is a research technician from Summit, New Jersey. She received her Bachelor's in Environmental Biology and Spanish (with a hint of Linguistics) from Washington University in St. Louis. Her undergraduate research focused on the effects of climate change on the evolution of mating traits in North American dragonflies. After graduating, Kaitlyn spent a year in Madrid, Spain teaching English to middle and high school students and practicing her Spanish. Outside of the lab, Kaitlyn enjoys reading, horseback riding, painting, and spending time with friends.

Job Titles:

• Research Technician
• Senior Research Technician

Kate Reardon is a research technician and graduated from Emory University with a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology. In 2019, she joined Dr. John Cirrito's lab in the WUSM Department of Neurology. Using the microdialysis technique, her research focused on examining the cellular pathways that regulate amyloid-β and tau metabolism in Alzheimer's disease. In 2020, she also joined the Animal Behavior Subunit as a research technician. When she's not sciencing, Kate enjoys spending time outside, listening to music, and pretending she can play guitar as well as Slash.

Job Titles:

• Research Assistant
• Research Assistant from O'Fallon
• Senior Research Technician

Katie McCullough is a research assistant from O'Fallon, MO. She graduated from Drake University in Biochemistry. Her undergrad research focused on genetic elements of swine flu. When she started in the lab, she discovered her love of neuroscience and animal behavior. Outside the lab, she has 2 dogs (Shiloh and Astro) and a tortoise (Francis). She loves reading and subscribe to all thing's true crime. Her fears: Heights and spiders.

Job Titles:

• Research Technician

Raylynn Swift is a research technician in the lab supporting mouse behavioral research. She graduated from the University of Missouri-St. Louis in 2020 with a Master's degree in psychology with an emphasis in behavioral neuroscience. At home, she has two rat roommates and is working on expanding her houseplant collection.

Job Titles:

• Supervisor
• Lab Supervisor

Sara B. Conyers is the lab supervisor and has worked in the ABC Lab since 2006. She received a BA in Psychology and minored in Biology and a MA in Behavioral Neuroscience all at the University of Missouri - Saint Louis. Outside of work, Sara is a volunteer coach for her daughter's CYC volleyball team for the past six seasons. She is also part of the dog walking volunteer team at the Best Buddy Pet Center in Maryland Heights. Sara is an enthusiastic runner for charity. In 2022, her Falmouth Road Race Team, Boston House, raised over $150,000 for Children with Cancer. Sara loves playing tennis and sand volleyball with her team of motherly misfits; (ironically named) "Setsy And I Know IT!".

Job Titles:

• Associate Professor
• Principal Investigator
• Assistant Director, Animal Behavior Core Director, Animal Behavior Subunit of IDDRC@WUSTL Associate Professor of Psychiatry

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry. I received my Ph.D. in Psychology with a Behavioral Neuroscience emphasis from the University of Missouri - St. Louis and completed my thesis work on the neurotoxic and behavioral consequences of clinically-relevant early postnatal anesthesia exposure as a graduate researcher in the Department of Psychiatry at WUSTL. In 2012, I joined the lab of Dr. Joseph Dougherty in the Department of Genetics at WUSM as a postdoc to study autism behavioral genetics. I joined the WUSTL Department of Psychiatry faculty in 2017. My current research centers on the impact of genetic and environmental liabilities for intellectual and developmental disorders (IDD) on neural circuit function. Within the Intellectual and Developmental Disorders Research Center at WUSTL, I serve as Co-Director of both the Model Systems Core and the Animal Behavior Subunit, which provides rodent model behavioral characterization and analysis to IDD Investigators. In addition, I am Assistant Director of the Animal Behavior Core at WUSTL. Susan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry. Her research focuses on the impact of genetic and environmental liabilities for intellectual and developmental disorders (IDD) on neural circuit function. In her roles as Assistant Director of the ABC and Director of the Animal Behavior Subunit of the IDDRC@WUSTL, she heads the team that provides rodent model behavioral characterization and analysis to IDD Investigators.