2025-26 Graduate Research Assistant Students
| Student | Contact | Lab Mentor |
Ricardo Alvarez |
803-216-3532 |
Jasnow Lab |
Justin Cox |
803-216-3530 |
Frizzell Lab |
Sydney K. Calamusa |
803-216-3532 |
Reagan Lab |
Alexia Crockett |
803-216-3531 |
Hollis Lab |
Noelle Frambes |
noelle.frambes@uscmed.sc.edu |
Ryan Lab |
Marla Frick |
803-216-3544 |
Fadel/Reagan Lab |
Curran Johnson |
803-216-3531 |
Foster Lab |
Daniel Joyner |
803-216-3531 |
Foster Lab |
Molly Maranto |
mmaranto@uscmed.sc.edu |
Ryan Lab |
Davis Noblitt |
davis.noblitt@uscmed.sc.edu |
Twiss Lab |
Juhi Patel |
juhip@uscmed.sc.edu |
Ryan Lab |
Jennifer Pesa |
803-216-3530 |
Frizzell Lab |
Timothy Philbeck |
philbect@uscmed.sc.edu |
Hollis/Wood Lab |
Maria Piroli |
803-216-3531 |
Pocivavsek Lab |
Ethan Ruinen |
eruinen@uscmed.sc.edu |
Ryan Lab |
Rahil Shah |
803-216-3517 |
Wood Lab |
Diana Tejara-Berrios |
|
Frizzell Lab |
Corbin Witt |
803-216-3555 |
Pocivavsek Lab |
Courtney Wright |
803-216-3555 |
Pocivavsek Lab |
Christian Wohlfeld |
803-216-3517 |
Fadel Lab |
Mahnoor Zahid |
803-216-3532 |
Jasnow Lab |
PPN Student News
- Noelle Frambes (Mike Ryan mentor) won a Trainee Advocacy Committee Poster Competition Award at the American Heart Association Hypertension Scientific Sessions held in Baltimore, MD. The title of her poster was NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitor attenuates hypertension in female mice with SLE.
- Ricardo Aguilar Alvarez (Aaron Jasnow mentor) received a 2025-2026 State Doctoral Scholars Program award from the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB).
- Alexia Crockett (Fiona Hollis mentor) and Tim Philbeck (Susan Wood & Fiona Hollis mentors) received poster presentation awards at the international: Workshop on The Role of the Autonomic Nervous System In Stress Response And Resilience Stress in Erice, Sicily.
- We recognize new PPN Biomedical Sciences graduate students that passed their PhD candidacy in our White Coat Ceremony: Hunter Cox, Corbin Witt, Ricardo Aguilar-Alvarez, Tim Philbeck, Sydney Calamusa, Mahnoor Zahid.
- Courtney Wright (Ana Pocivavsek mentor) received a Trainee Travel Award to the PsychoNeuroImmunology Research Society (PNIRS) meeting in Bordeaux, France (June 2025). Wright was also an award winner at Discover USC2025 in Graduate Student category (one of 24 poster session winners)
- Marla Frick (Jim Fadel mentor) received a travel award to attend and present at the 2025 NEURAL Conference at the University of Alabama Birmingham.
- Alexia Crockett (Fiona Hollis mentor) received a prestigious AAUW American Dissertation Fellowship for 2025-2026. AUW fellowship program is one of the largest and the oldest non-institutional source of graduate funding for women in the United States.
- Taylor Childress (Cora Smiley and Susan Wood mentors) won first place for her Undergraduate poster presentation in the Behavioral Pharmacology Division at the ASPET meeting (American Society for Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics, Portland OR).
- Christian Wohlfeld (Jim Fadel Mentor) received a graduate SPARC award entitled: Pharmacologic modulation of hypothalamic circuitry via peripheral semaglutide administration in rats.
- Sam Walther (Ana Pocivavsek mentor) received a Small Research Grant from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
- Michael Pitre (Joe McQuail mentor) was named a national Goldwater Scholar. Michael is one of two USC Goldwater Scholars and is a BARSC-MD undergraduate student working with Joe McQuail.
- Lexi Blas (Jim Fadel mentor) successfully defended her Masters thesis, entitled "Activation of basal forebrain afferents following systemic inflammation".
- Hannah Brennen (Fiona Hollis Mentor) was selected for a competitive summer program at Johns Hopkins entitled: Maternal and Child Health Careers-Research Initiatives for Student Enhancement-Undergraduate Program (MCHC/RISE UP).
- Courtney Wright (Ana Pocivavsek mentor) received the “Best Overall” presentation at the 2025 Data Blitz of the Advances in Sleep and Circadian Science (ASCS) meeting in Clearwater, Florida in February of 2025!
- Daniel Joyner (Dan Foster mentor) received a Travel Award to present at the ASPET 2025 Annual meeting in April to present “Pharmacological Modulation of Muscarinic M4 Receptors Reduces Striatal Spontaneous Acetylcholine Release with Little to No Effect on Dopamine in Vivo”.
- Courtney Wright (Ana Pocivavsek mentor) received a $850 Sleep and Circadian Science Scholar Award from the Sleep Research Society! This will support her travel to the Advances in Sleep and Circadian Science (ASCS) 2025 meeting in Clearwater Beach, Florida.
- Sam Walther (Magellan scholar in Ana Pocivavsek’s lab) was awarded a “Small Research Grant from the Sleep Research Society Foundation.
- First Place, Biomedical Sciences A Sam Walther (Ana Pocivavsek mentor): Sleep Quality Across Adolescence in Rats
- Second Place, Biomedical Sciences B Margo Wheeler (Dan Foster mentor): The Effects of Acute Restraint Stress and M4 PAM Treatment on Stereotyped Behaviors
- Second Place, Biomedical Sciences C Nicholas Dolan (Norma Frizzell mentor): Investigating the Effect of Dimethyl Fumarate on Neurofilament Integrity
- First Place, Biomedical Sciences D Hannah Brennen (Fiona Hollis mentor): Effects of gestational stress on postpartum hippocampal mitochondrial protein expression
- First Place, Biomedical Sciences CC Arshaam Kordamiri (Fiona Hollis mentor): Long-term effects of gestational stress on postpartum cardiovascular health in female rats
- Second Place (tie), Biomedical Sciences CC Charles Grant (Ana Pocivavsek mentor): Brain-specific elevations of kynurenic acid reduce sleep duration in rats
- Second Place (tie), Biomedical Sciences DD Elise Quartaro (Joe McQuail mentor): Differential Effects of Chronic Stress on Working Memory Performance and Locus Coeruleus Neurons in Aging Rats
- First Place, Biomedical Sciences EE Taylor Childress (Susan Wood, Cora Smiley Mentors): Establishing a novel model of vicarious social stress-induced opioid preference in female rats
- Second Place, Biomedical Sciences EE Audrey Mahoney and Leah Stone (Joe McQuail mentor): Reverse Translation of Dual-Task Methods from Human Research to Rodents for Alzheimer’s Disease and Aging
- First Place, Biomedical Sciences FF Sarah Chugh (Susan Wood mentor): Neuropeptide S Receptor Antagonism Heightens Stress-Related Hypervigilance in Female Rats
- Brennan Ottone (Aaron Jasnow mentor) received a Mini-Magellan and a Magellan Galen Award entitled Higher-Order Conditioning and Fear Learning: Identifying Neural Substrates Through ARC Expression.
- Jiya Patel (David Mott mentor) received a Mini-Magellan Award for Investigating the Relationship between Oral Health and Neurodegeneration.
- Caroline Witzel (Larry Reagan Mentor) received a Capstone Scholars Magellan Apprentice award.
- Elise Quartaro (Joe McQuail mentor) was awarded a Mini-Magellan Award entitled The role of the locus coeruleus in working memory during stress and aging.
- Sienna Miller (Joe McQuail mentor) was awarded a Magellan Galen Award entitled Ketogenic Diet effect on OXPHOS protein levels and its association with learning and memory.
- Hannah Brennen (Fiona Hollis mentor) was awarded a Magellan Scholar Research Grant entitled The Impact of Gestational Stress on Hippocampal Mitochondrial Protein Expression in the Postpartum Rodent Brain.
- Taylor Childress and Sarah Chugh (Susan Wood I& Cora Smiley mentors) was awarded a Magellan Scholar Research Grant entitled Identifying a novel pharmacological target for stress-related dysfunction in females.
- Audrey Mahoney and Leah Stone (Joe McQuail mentor) were awarded a Magellan Scholar Research Grant entitled An Investigation into Dual-Task Deficits in Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease.
- Hayden Withers (Claudia Grilo mentor) was awarded a Magellan Scholar Research Grant entitled Effect of ginseng on obesity and neurogenesis.
- Anna Nesmelova (Norma Frizzell mentor) was awarded a Magellan Scholar Research Grant entitled Lysine Uratylation Under Oxidative Conditions as a Biomarker for Neutrophil Activity in Neurological Disease.
- Michael Pitre (Joe McQuail mentor) was awarded a Magellan Scholar Research Grant entitled From Aging to Alzheimer’s: Unraveling the Role of D-serine Metabolism in Memory Loss.
- Madison Wilber (David Mott mentor) received a Magellan Scholars award entitled "Postnatal Development of Perisomatic Inhibition in the Basolateral Amygdala".
- Sai Nallu (Claudia Grillo mentor) received a Magellan Scholars award entitled Effect of Ginseng on Obesity, Depression, and Neuroinflammation.
- Sarah Chugh (Susan Wood Mentor) received a Magellan Mini-Grant entitled The Effects of Social Stress in Pregnant Females on Maternal Behaviors.
- Hayden Withers (Claudia Grillo mentor) received a Magellan Mini-Grant entitled Effect of Ginseng on obesity and neurogenesis.
- Nick Dolan (Norma Frizzell, Gerardo Piroli mentors) received a Magellan Mini-Grant entitled Investigating the Effect of Dimethyl Fumarate on Neurofilament Integrity.