People

Current Members

Jean-Nicholas Audet
Postdoctoral Fellow
jaudet@rockefeller.edu
Irene Ballagh
Research Associate
iballagh@rockefeller.edu
Kirubel S. Belay
Research Assistant
kbelay@rockefeller.edu
Matt_Biegler Matt Biegler, BS 
Graduate Student
Interested in characterizing developmentally regulated gene expression responsible for vocal learning behavior.
mbiegler@rockefeller.edu| Linkedin
Dominik Biezonski
Grant Proposal Writer
dbiezonski@rockefeller.edu
Lomax Boyd
Postdoctoral Associate
lboyd@rockefeller.edu
Samara Brown
Lab Manager
sbrown02@rockefeller.edu
James Cahill
Postdoctoral Associate
jcahill@rockefeller.edu
Lindsey Cantin headshot Lindsey Cantin, BS
Graduate Student
Interested in the evolution and molecular mechanisms responsible for vocal learning behavior, particularly the epigenetic regulation of genes within the neural song circuit.
lcantin@rockefeller.edu
Ha Na Choe headshot Ha Na Choe, BS
Graduate student
Identifying causal mechanisms of sexual dimorphism in vocal learning behavior and development.  
ha.choe@duke.edu
Melanie Couture
Research Assistant
mcouture@rockefeller.edu
Matthew Davenport
Graduate Fellow
mdavenport@rockefeller.edu
Gregory Gedman headshot Gregory Gedman, BS
Graduate Student
Interested in identifying homologous cell type populations using RNA-seq across vocal learning species, with a special focus on zebra finch and human vocal regions.
ggedman@rockefeller.edu| Linkedin
Caitlin Gilbert
Graduate Fellow
cgilbert@rockefeller.edu
erich Erich D. Jarvis, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
My overall goal is to decipher the molecular mechanisms that construct, modify, and maintain neural circuits for behavioral complex traits, such as spoken language and vocal learning.
ejarvis@rockefeller.edu| Twitter- @erichjarvis | Linkedin | Curriculum Vitae
Anna Keyte
Research Specialist
akeyte@rockefeller.edu
Brigid Maloney
Graduate Fellow
bmaloney@rockefeller.edu
Stephanie Marcus
Graduate Fellow
smarcus@rockefeller.edu
Sadye Paez
Program Director, Neurogenetics of Language
spaez@rockefeller.edu
Gillian Permuy
Animal Technician
gpermuy@rockefeller.edu
Lauren Shalmiyev
Administrative Coordinator
lshanker01@rockefeller.edu
Lotem Tchernichovski
Husbandry Attendant
ltchernich@rockefeller.edu
Cesar Vargas
Graduate Fellow 
cvargas@rockefeller.edu

Current Collaborating Investigators

Former Staff

  • Tony Zimmermann, B.A., M.B.A., Laboratory Manager
  •  Jason Howard, M.S., Research Specialist
  • Tiffany Casey, Administrative Assistant
  • Electra Jarvis
  • James Ward, Bioinformatics Specialist II
  • Holly Wantuch, M.S., Research Technician II
  • Miriam Rivas, Ph.D., Senior Research Associate
  • Candace Hitchcock, M.S., Research Technician II
  • Erina Hara, M.S., Associate in Research
  • Lisa Moore, B.A. (Lab Manager, now Audiologist, Ph.D.)
  • Michael David McElroy, B.A. (Research Technician, now Research Associate with California Dept. of Public Health)
  • Dawn Kernagis (Associate in Research)
  • Deepa Sambandan, M.Sc. (Associate in Research, now a Ph.D. student at NC State)
  • Maurice Anderson (Comparative Medicine Specialist II)
  • Alisa Ray Research Technician II

Former Postdoctoral Fellows

  • Mukta Chakraborty, Ph.D.
  • Jonathan Chabout, Ph.D.
  • Chun-Chun Chen, Ph.D.
  • Ganesh Ganapathy, Ph.D. (now Data Scientist at Apple, Inc.)
  • Ricardo Rossello, Ph.D. (now Assistant Professor, University of Puerto Rico)
  • Ioan Opris, Ph.D. (now Sr Res Assoc Wake Forest Univ Phys/Pharm Dept Winston Salem, NC)
  • Liisa Tremere, Ph.D. (now Research Assistant Professor at Dept. Brain & Cognitive Sciences in Rochester University)
  • Raphael Pinaud, Ph.D. (now Assistant Professor at Dept. Brain & Cognitive Sciences in Rochester University)
  • Petra Roulhac, Ph.D. (now Lead Scientist/Project Director, Catalent Pharma Pharmaceutical Company, NC)
  • Osceola Whitney, Ph.D. (now Editor for American Journal Experts)
  • Victoria Anne Smith, Ph.D. (now Senior (Assistant) Professor at U. St Andrews)
  • Kazuhiro Wada, Ph.D. (now Associate Professor, Division of Integrated Life Science, Faculty of Advanced Life Science, Hokkaido University, Japan)
  • Tom V. Smulders, Ph.D. (now Assistant Professor at U. Newcastle)
  • Lubica Niederova-Kubikova, Ph.D. (now Assistant Professor, Faculty of Institute of Animal Biochemistry and Genetics, Slovakia)
  • Carl Dowds, Ph.D. (now Cooperate Bioinformatician)

Former Graduate Students

  • Joshua Jones Macopson, BS, Graduate Student
  • Jing Yu, Ph.D. (now Corporate Researcher)
  • Adriana Ragoni Jorge Ferreira, M.S. (now Science Administrator in Brazil)
  • Aya Sasaki, M.S. (now Associate in Research, McGill University, Canada)
  • Gesa Feenders, Ph.D. (now Research Associate faculty position, Oldenberg University, Germany)
  • Miriam Liedvogel, Ph.D. (now Group Leader, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Germany)
  • Haruhito Horita, Ph.D. (now Medical student, Hirosaki University School of Medicine, Japan)
  • Joshua Robinson, Ph.D. (now Research Engineer, Signal Innovations Group. NC.)
  • Gustavo Arriaga, Ph.D. (now Executive Director, Fab Lab El Paso, TX.)
  • Rui Wang, Ph.D. (now Founder/CEO of Prosperous Biopharm, Beijing, China)
  • Erina Hara, Ph.D. (now Research Specialist, HHMI, Janelia Research Campus)
  • Andreas Pfenning, Ph.D. (now Postdoctoral Associate with Prof. Manolis Kellis)
  • Diana Friedeberg, M.S. (now Subdirector, Galeria Casa Diana, Mexico)
  • Gurkan Yardimci, B.S., Graduate Student
  • Margaret Couvillon (now postdoc, University of Arizona)

Former Undergraduate Students

  • Nisarg Dabhi
  • Danielle Scarano – daniellelscarano@gmail.com
  • Irene Lee – irene.h.lee@duke.edu
  • Evan Kountouris – egk6@duke.edu
    Freddy Huang – chien.hsiang.huang@duke.edu
    Ginikanwa Onyekaba – ginikanwa.onyekaba@duke.edu
    Venkat Subramaniam – venkat.subramaniam@duke.edu
  • Ji-Eun Choi
  • Preet Patel
  • Sheel Patel
  • Nihir Patel
  • Cathy Zhou (Work Study Student)
  • Nicole Nelson (Work Study Student)
  • Jennifer Soehngen (Work Study Student)
  • Suzanne Baumwell, B.A., (Undergraduate Student & Technician, now MD, Resident, Beth Israel Medical Center and Harvard Medical School.)
  • Kam Sam Leon (Undergraduate Student, Columbia University, now Graduate Student, University of Washington)
  • Kendra Legendre (Undergraduate Student, Stetson University)
  • Melva Pinn (Undergraduate Student, now MD, Practicing Physician)
  • Emma Fridel, BS (now Fullbright Scholar, teaching in Taiwan)
  • Rui Dai, BS (now MSTP MD/PhD student, Duke University School of Medicine, NC)
  • Eric Zhou, BS (now MD student, Tulane University, LA)
  • Michael Silva, MD (now Intern, Anesthesiology, Washington University School of Medicine, MI)
  • Ana Panduro-Buck, MD (now Physician, Laconia Clinic, Laconia, NH)
  • Connie Siang-Bakshi, M.S. (now Designer, Pacific Rim 9)

Former Collaborating Investigators

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