MBB Theses, Class of 2015


Sarah Abrams, Human Evolutionary Biology, How exercise mediates the relationship between psychological and physiological stress responses (advisor Susan Lipson, Human Evolutionary Biology/FAS)

Michael Ho-Young Ahn, Neurobiology, The role of vomeronasal receptors Vmn2r65 and Vmn2r88 in pheromone detection (advisor Catherine Dulac, Molecular and Cellular Biology/FAS)

Annie Arrighi-Allisan, Neurobiology, Optogenetic manipulation of hippocampal place cells causes impairment of stereotyped tracking behavior (advisor Venkatesh Murthy, Molecular and Cellular Biology/FAS)

Julia Kathleen Cataldo, Neurobiology, The development and neural bases of happy and angry face processing: A study in NIRS and eye tracking (advisor Charles Nelson, HMS and GSE)

Laura Cheng, Neurobiology, Differences in the default mode network between clinical high risk individuals for schizophrenia and healthy controls (advisor Larry Seidman, HMS)

Sebastian Cruz, Neurobiology, Predictor power of alpha wave activity on learning-dependent memory consolidation (advisor Robert Stickgold, HMS)

Ann Finkel, Human Evolutionary Biology, “It’s not fair that James gets all of them:” A cross-cultural comparison on the development of third-party intervention (advisors Felix Warneken, Psychology/FAS & Katherine McAuliffe, Yale)

Anne Garofalo, Neurobiology, Mindfulness meditation as a potential intervention to improve future self-continuity (advisor Sara Lazar, HMS)

Elrayna Gelyana, Neurobiology, Microglial responses to environmental enrichment in Alzheimer’s Disease models (advisor Dennis Selkoe, HMS)

Christopher Gordon, Neurobiology, Microglia-specific contribution to Rett Syndrome behavioral phenotypes (advisors Beth Stevens, HMS & Dorothy Schafer, HMS)

Chelsea Grant, Neurobiology, the role of RORA in retinal development and age-related macular degeneration pathophysics (advisor Neena Haider, HMS)

Viviana Hanley, Philosophy, In search of not-self: An analysis of David Hume’s account of the psychological origin and nature of the idea of the self (advisor Alison Simmons, Philosophy/FAS)

Christina Herbosa, Neurobiology, Investigating difference in neural activity of children with and without attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (advisor Margaret Sheridan, HMS)

Seo Yeon Kim, Psychology, Failure to deplete? Re-examining executive function depletion (advisors Jesse Snedeker, Psychology/FAS & Tanya Levari, Psychology/FAS)

Shannen Kim, Neurobiology, Inducible chronic overexpression of transcription factor Kruppel-like factor 9 (Klf-9O as a model for neurodegeneration (advisor Amar Sahay, HMS)

Kenia Lucey, Neurobiology, Analyzing the behavior and neuronal circuits associated with learning and memory related to aggression in Drosophila melanogaster (advisors Edward Kravitz, HMS & Ryan Draft, Neurobiology/FAS)

Grade Mahoney, History and Science, From Benzedrine to Adderall: A history of stimulant medication in post-war America (advisor Jenna Tonn, History of Science/FAS)

Bianca Nfonoyim, Neurobiology, Microglia mediate synapse loss in early stage Alzheimer’s Disease via the complement cascade (advisor Beth Stevens, HMS)

Melisa Noriega, Neurobiology, A comparison of the nest-building behavior of Peromyscus polionotus and Peromyscus maniculatus as a mechanism of thermoregulation (advisor Hopi Hoekstra, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology/FAS)

Angela Oh, Neurobiology, The effect of auditory reactivation on emotional memory consolidation during sleep (advisor Bob Stickgold, HMS)

Patrick Schiller, Human Evolutionary Biology, Oral microbiome analysis of wild Pan troglodytes Schweinfurthii and a matched Homo sapiens sample (advisor Richard Wrangham, Human Evolutionary Biology/FAS)

Kevin Sikah, Neurobiology, Optogenetic stimulation of auditory corticofugal projections modulates activity in the auditory midbrain (advisor Daniel Polley, HMS)

Bernadette Wharton, Neurobiology, Using functional connectivity to understand memory system communication during off-line learning (advisors Edwin Robertson, HMS and Ryan Draft, Neurobiology/FAS)

Malte Zopfs, Neurobiology, Localizing subtypes of impulsivity to subregions of the striatum (advisor Joshua Buckholtz, Psychology/FAS)