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Department of Pharmacology and Physiology
Drexel University College of Medicine
Current Lab Members
Jacqueline Barker, PhD
Principal Investigator
she/her/hers
Jacqui earned her BA in Psychology at Ohio Wesleyan University. She completed her PhD in Neuroscience at Yale University, in the lab of Jane Taylor before moving to the Medical University of South Carolina to complete her postdoctoral training with Judson Chandler. Jacqui started her lab in the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology at Drexel University College of Medicine in the fall of 2017.
jmb893@drexel.edu
Kathleen Bryant
PhD Candidate, Neuroscience
she/her/hers
Katie is completing her PhD with the Neuroscience PhD Program at the Drexel University College of Medicine. Her work in the lab focuses on ventral hippocampal circuits in the regulation of behavioral flexibility.
kgb57@drexel.edu
Lauren Buck (Plyler), MS
Lab Manager
she/her/hers
Lauren completed her Master's in Neuroscience in 2018 where she developed expertise in the use of mouse models to investigate neural function.
lap352@drexel.edu
Christina Curran-Alfaro, MS
PhD Candidate, Neuroscience
she/her/hers
Christina completed her Masters in 2020 in biology with a concentration in neurobiology at Rutgers-Camden where her work explored circuitry involved in spatial memory utilizing a teleost model. In the Barker lab, she is expanding her work to investigate changes in behavioral response associated with low-dose ethanol exposure.
Laura Giacometti, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar
she/her/hers
Laura completed her PhD with Dr. Ramesh Raghupathi in 2018, where her dissertation focused on sex differences in long term behavioral alterations following adolescent mild traumatic brain injury. She is building on her expertise in sex differences to investigate sex-specific effects of chronic ethanol exposure on astrocyte activity and its role in regulating reward seeking and depression-related behaviors.
llk34@drexel.edu
Toni-Shae Ledgister
MS Student, Interdisciplinary Health Sciences
Toni-Shae is a 2nd-year graduate student in the Interdisciplinary Health Science Master’s Program at DUCOM. Toni completed a Bachelor of Science degree from Florida State University in Pre-Sports Medicine. Toni aspires to be a practicing physician and is building on extensive clinical experience by conducting work in the preclinical laboratory setting.
Mark Namba, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar
Mark completed his PhD in Neuroscience under the mentorship of Drs. Janet Neisewander and Foster Olive at Arizona State University, where his primary focus was unraveling neuroimmune mechanisms of motivated behavior and the impact of HIV on cue-induced drug seeking. As a postdoctoral researcher in the lab, Mark will be building upon his expertise in behavioral pharmacology and addiction neurobiology to examine the role of glutamatergic and neuroimmune mechanisms in cocaine craving using translational rodent models of comorbid HIV and cocaine use disorders.
mdn54@drexel.edu
Mitch Nothem, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar
Mitch completed his PhD with Dr. James Barrett in 2020, where his dissertation focused on the effects of peripheral nerve injury and gabapentin on cortical pain processing. His postdoctoral work will focus on the interaction between chronic pain and substance use disorders.
man83@drexel.edu
Delaney Place
PhD Student, Pharmacology and Physiology
Delaney completed her Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a minor in Spanish at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2020. She conducted postbaccalaureate research in the lab of Dr. Aron Lichtman focusing on neurocognitive and behavioral processes within the endocannabinoid system. Currently, she is pursuing a PhD in Pharmacology and Physiology with specific interests in neuropharmacology.
Christine Side
Research Assistant
Christine completed her BS in Biochemistry and BA in Psychology at Rowan University. She aspires to get her Ph.D in Neuroscience and is interested in research involving the neural substrates of substance use disorder.
cms838@drexel.edu
Qiaowei Xie, MS
PhD Candidate, Pharmacology and Physiology
Qiaowei has returned to the lab to complete her PhD in Pharmacology and Physiology. Her research focus is neural circuit dysregulation in preclinical models of HIV.
qx33@drexel.edu
Interns and Undergraduate Researchers
Former Lab Members
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