Confession: I am not a neuroscientist! But I am very excited to be supporting the Zwart lab as a research technician, by taking care of our growing zebrafish colony in the new aquarium setting at the SOI. I completed my undergraduate degree in Marine Biology at the University of Portsmouth, before moving on to the University of Aberdeen for my Master’s in Applied Marine and Fisheries Ecology. I completed my PhD at the University of Plymouth, which focused on distinguishing eustress from distress in grey seals by using molecular stress markers and linking these to markers of tissue damage and whole-animal fitness measures. I have recently finished a postdoctoral role, a collaboration between Abertay University and the University of St Andrews, again working with grey seals, concerning the impact of persistent organic pollutants on adipose tissue function. I am very lucky to live in Anstruther with Tom and our feline matriarch, Tinker.

I received my bachelor’s in neuroscience and biology in the United States at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. During my undergraduate studies, I worked in the lab of Dr. Ryan Wong investigating the effects of gene expression on variation in stress coping styles in zebrafish. After receiving my bachelor’s, I decided to come to St Andrews to join the Zwart lab as a part of a cotutelle PhD program between here and the University of Bonn. My project will investigate the descending control of behavior in Drosophila larvae.

I graduated in General and Applied Biology at the University of Naples “Federico II”. Thanks to my bachelor thesis project, I had my first experience with the zebrafish model organism, studying prenatal stress. Then, I pursued a master’s degree in Molecular Biology at the same University. During the Master program, I experienced a one year exchange at the University of Cadiz, Spain. I based my master studies at Zoological Station of Naples, in the Locascio lab, focusing on BDNF zebrafish mutants and their locomotion behaviour. Then, I decided to expand my research field to neuroscience moving to Scotland for my PhD in the Zwart lab. I live in beautiful St Andrews, by the sea which I love.

I received my Bachelor in Pharmacology from the University of Leeds and stayed to pursue a PhD in Neuroscience in the Deuchars lab under the supervision of Dr Susan Deuchars. My PhD focused on the contribution of voltage-gated potassium channels to excitability in the spinal cord. At Leeds I further expanded my research towards the peripheral nervous system in Nikita Gamper’s lab, with a focus on decoding somatosensory information in peripheral nerves. I joined the Zwart lab to investigate how sensory information and motor drive are integrated to produce behaviour. I live with Sîan in picturesque Falkland.

After my BCs in Biological Science at the University of Sannio, I pursued a Master’s in Neuroscience between the University of Trieste and SISSA, in Italy. My interests for motor circuits brought me first in St Andrews for my master’s internship, which was carried out as exchange student in Dr Wenchang Li’s lab. I am now very excited to be back for my PhD! My project is co-supervised by Dr Maarten Zwart and Dr Wenchang Li, and will involve both zebrafish and frog tadpoles. Besides neuroscience, I like listening to rock music, reading classical books and walking by the sea.

I received my Bachelor in Neuroscience at King’s College London. Later I moved to the Netherlands for my postgraduate studies at the Vrije Universiteit (VU), Amsterdam. During my masters I did an internship at the Centre for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research (CNCR) in Matthijs Verhage’s labas well as at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (NIN, KNAW) in Chris de Zeeuw’s lab. Here I worked on the role of the cerebellum in motor learning and memory processes. I’ve joined the Zwart lab for my PhD to further explore this system. When I’m not behind a microscope, I’ll be discovering the eastern shores.

Before undertaking this PhD, I completed a BSc (Hons) Biochemistry just across town- at the University of St. Andrews’ School of Biology.  As part of my final year research project, I worked in Dr Terry Smith’s lab to biochemically characterise a putative enzyme of pharmacological interest from the parasite, Trypanosoma brucei. My project, which is supervised by Dr Stefan Pulver in addition to Maarten, aims to investigate the extent to which the brain controls how movements are performed, using the fruit fly as a model organism. I will also be working with Cairn Research as part of my EASTBIO Industrial CASE Studentship. In addition to my studies, I enjoy listening to music, painting on large canvases, and walking along our local shores.

I am currently undertaking my BSc (Hons) in Neuroscience right here at the University of St Andrews. During my 1st year I worked as a research assistant for PhD candidate Nick Maragkos at Dr Stefan Pulver’s lab, studying the effects of modulating environmental temperature on the pathophysiology of Drosophila ALS models. Later, I performed data analysis for Stefan and Maarten’s research looking into L-dopa-induced reconfiguration of Drosophila larval tunnelling behaviour. Soon I became an undergraduate researcher at both labs. Currently at the end of my 2nd year, I am co-supervised by Maarten and Stefan researching a new potential model organism in motor systems, Tribolium castaneum, characterising various larval motor programs and locomotor behaviours. When not in the lab, I like playing video games, drawing, goalkeeping and drumming to rock/metal music, but never all 4 at once!.

After my undergraduate degree in bioengineering at the University of Wageningen, I moved to the UK for my graduate studies at the University of Cambridge with Daniel St Johnston, Gurdon Institute. I started working on motor systems during my PhD in Matthias Landgraf’s lab in the department of Zoology, followed by postdocs with Albert Cardona and Misha Ahrens, both at the HHMI Janelia Research Campus. I’m currently at the School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, in beautiful Scotland. I live with Sonja, Freya, and Otto in St Andrews.

Hörnberg H, Wollerton-van Horck F, Maurus D, Zwart M, Svoboda H, Harris WA, Holt CE. RNA-binding protein Hermes/RBPMS inversely affects synapse density and axon arbor formation in retinal ganglion cells in vivo. J Neurosci. 2013 Jun 19;33(25):10384-95. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5858-12.2013.

Pulver SR, Cognigni P, Denholm B, Fabre C, Gu WX, Linneweber G, Prieto-Godino L, Urbancic V, Zwart M, Miguel-Aliaga I. Why flies? Inexpensive public engagement exercises to explain the value of basic biomedical research on Drosophila melanogaster. Adv Physiol Educ. 2011 Dec;35(4):384-92. doi:10.1152/advan.00045.2011.

Barraud P, Seferiadis AA, Tyson LD, Zwart MF, Szabo-Rogers HL, Ruhrberg C, Liu KJ, Baker CV. Neural crest origin of olfactory ensheathing glia. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Dec 7;107(49):21040-5. doi:10.1073/pnas.1012248107.

Doerflinger H, Benton R, Torres IL, Zwart MF, St Johnston D. Drosophila anterior-posterior polarity requires actin-dependent PAR-1 recruitment to the oocyte posterior. Curr Biol. 2006 Jun 6;16(11):1090-5. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2006.04.001.