Lab Updates

Madison, Kaelin, and Alonie present at RI-SURS.

Aug. 1, 2025. Madison presents "Medial prefrontal cortical ensembles direct behavior in response to competing needs," Alonie presents "Hunger-sensing hypothalamic neurons drive food consumption despite environmental threat," and Kaelin presents "The impacts of pregnancy, maternal experience, and prenatal stress on motivated behavior amidst environmental threat" at the 2025 RI Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium.

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Four students work in the lab for Summer 2025.

May 2025. Madison, Kaelin, and Alonie are awarded RI-INBRE STAR fellowships and Francesca is awarded an independent summer fellowship from the Center for Engaged Learning.

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Six graduates in the Class of 2025.

May 17, 2025. There's a big turnover in the lab as six of our seniors graduate. Congrats to Emma who will begin work as a research assistant in Dr. Lopa Mishra's lab at Northwell Health Labs; Claire and Amelia who will each begin work as medical assistants as they prepare for careers in the health professions; Madeline who will pursue her Master's in Human Physiology at Boston University; Olivia who will pursue her Master's in Neuroscience at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; and Arianna who will begin the accelerated Nursing program at NYU!

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Three presentations at NEURON 2025.

Apr. 26, 2025. The lab makes its annual trek down to QU for the NEURON conference. Olivia and Madison present "Effect of prefrontal cortical fear engram activation on competing needs: hunger and fear," Claire presents her independent study "Motivated behavior in juvenility and across the lifespan," and Emma presents her independent study "The effect of pregnancy and maternity on behavioral needs amidst environmental threat."

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Olivia is selected to present at the Big East Research Symposium.

Mar. 15, 2025. Olivia is selected to represent PC at the Big East Research Symposium. She presents her poster "Effect of prefrontal cortical fear engram activation on competing needs: hunger and fear."

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Lots of new students for Spring 2025.

Jan. 2025. Joe Amoruso, Alonie Ashley, Joshua Devia, Gabriela Domgjoni, Kaelin McCaffrey, and Kelly Walsh all join the lab for the spring semester. The lab has nearly doubled in size!

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Emma, Claire, Olivia, Noah, and Madeline present our first summer's work at RI-SURS.

July 26, 2024. Noah and Madeline present their poster "Quantifying the effect of environmental threat on food consumption in mice," Emma and Claire co-present "The effect of pregnancy and maternity on behavioral motivations amidst environmental threat," and Olivia presents "Understanding competing fear and hunger motivations through correlating neural activity and behavior." Their work this summer has laid the foundation for the lab's future growth.

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A full house for the lab's first summer.

May 2024. Noah, Olivia, and new lab member Madeline McGrath are awarded RI-INBRE STAR fellowships, and Emma and Claire are each awarded independent summer fellowships from the Center for Engaged Learning.

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Congrats to the class of 2024!

May 19, 2024. Maddie is the lab's only senior and therefore the Post lab's first graduate. She'll start work soon as a Neuropsychology Technician at Rhode Island Hospital. Congrats, Maddie!

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Provost's Fellowship awarded.

May 6, 2024. Ryan is awarded the Early Career Scholar Provost's Fellowship from PC Academic Affairs.

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Ethan leads the lab's presentation at NEURON.

Apr. 16, 2024. The entire lab heads down to Quinnipiac for the annual NEURON conference, and Ethan presents our work on the AgRP project.

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​​Maddie and Emma are selected to present at the Big East Research Symposium.

Mar. 16, 2024. Emma and Maddie are selected to represent PC at the Big East Research Symposium and present their poster "Hunger-sensing hypothalamic neurons drive food consumption despite environmental threat."

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RI-INBRE grant awarded.

Mar. 14, 2024. Ryan is awarded a Summer Training and Research (STAR) grant from RI-INBRE. This grant will fund 3 students for each of the following two summers.

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RI Foundation grant awarded.

Mar. 3, 2024. Ryan is awarded a Medical Research Grant from the Rhode Island Foundation.

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The lab grows in its second semester.

Jan. 2024. Olivia Belt, Madison Rohr, and Francesca Schaub all join the lab for the spring semester. This brings our total to seven students as the lab's construction starts to wrap up.

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The lab opens!

September 2023. Emma Morley, Claire Kelly, Ethan Moore, Maddie Rahilly, and Arianna Gordon are the first students to join the lab. They are instrumental in setting up equipment and data analysis pipelines while we wait for the lab's construction to be finished.