RNA pathways to cognition

Monsheel received her Pharmacy degree, MSc in Neuroscience and Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of London (U.K.). Her postdoctoral training in Molecular Neuropathology was at the University of Oxford, followed by postdoctoral training in Neuropharmacology at Vanderbilt University. Her major research interest is to unravel the molecular pathophysiology of major psychiatric disorders, and in doing so, identify novel targets for drug development and biomarkers for improved diagnostic tools.

Tristram Buck is a student in the IBPS Ph.D. program at Loyola University Chicago. Tristram received his Bachelors of Science degrees in Psychology and Neuroscience at Syracuse University. He completed his post-baccalaureate training at NIDA in Dr. Eliot Gardner’s Neuropsychopharmacology lab. His current research focuses on elucidating gene expression pathways disrupted by environmental stress that lead to deficits in cognition and reward. Tris recently received a travel award from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) for his work entitled 'Prenatal Stress Alters Transcription of NMDA Receptors in the Frontal Cortex and Hippocampus'. Tris is writing up a first author paper for publication based on this research in the Sodhi lab.

Michael graduated from St. George's Medical School at the University of London in 2023. Michael is performing behavioral pharmacology research with the Sodhi lab until he begins his residency training in neurology.

Elaina is currently a second-year medical student at Stritch School of Medicine. She received her bachelor's degree from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in Psychology-Behavioral Neuroscience and Molecular and Cellular Biology. Elaina is working in the Sodhi Laboratory on a project focused on the impact of RNA editing on the pathophysiology of stress. Elaina plans to specialize in psychiatry after medical school.

Kristeen graduated with a BS in Biochemistry at Loyola University Chicago. She performed molecular docking analyses in a project focused on drug discovery, and co-authored two papers with the Miller and Sodhi labs. She is now a medical student at Loyola Stritch School of Medicine and performing drug discovery research with the Sodhi Lab.

Ade is a pre-med undergraduate student in the Neuroscience Program at Loyola University. Ade is collaborating with the Sodhi Laboratory in a project investigating the molecular basis of learning and memory. Ade has co-authored two papers with the Miller and Sodhi labs thus far. Ade's goal is to become a physician-scientist.

Rumyr is a pre-med undergraduate student majoring in Biology at Loyola University. Rumyr is collaborating with the Sodhi Laboratory in a project investigating the effects of stress on neuronal morphology of the hippocampus in mice. Rumyr's goal is to study medicine after graduating.

Cameron is an undergraduate student majoring in Molecular Biology at Loyola University. Cameron is joining the Sodhi Laboratory to investigate the neurobiology of stress and psychiatric illness.

Brian received his Ph.D. at UIUC and completed postdoctoral training at Cornell University. Brian's research focus is behavioral analyses of rodents. Brian published one first author paper in the Journal of Affective Disorders during his training at the Sodhi Laboratory.

Lauren is skilled in RNA Biology and conducted postdoctoral studies of the effects of stress on RNA editing and microRNA biogenesis. Lauren completed her Ph.D. at the University of Cincinnati in the laboratory of Keith Jones. After leaving the Sodhi lab, Lauren joined the University of North Carolina, where she is Assistant Professor of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry.

Greg received his doctoral training at the University of Oxford Department of Psychiatry and completed postdoctoral training in the Sodhi Lab. Greg is interested in investigating the molecular basis of cognitive dysfunction in the human brain. Greg has published 2 first author papers (Journal of Affective Disorders, Schizophrenia Research) and has two papers in preparation. He is currently a member of the faculty of Pharmacology at the University of Bradford, U.K.

Evelyn's postdoctoral training was in assay development for high throughput drug screening and in the analysis of RNA editing in animal models of psychiatric illness, from which she achieved a first author publication with more in preparation. Evelyn is now working for Takeda Pharmaceuticals in Clinical Research.

Angel completed both her BS in Psychology and Neuroscience and her PhD at Loyola University Chicago, IL. Her research on the molecular mechanisms of depression and suicide resulted in a first author publication in Molecular Psychiatry in 2015. Angel is currently in a leadership role at Community Therapy Services.

Ania completed an MSc in Molecular Biology at the International Max Planck Research school in Goettingen, Germany and her PhD at King's College London, UK. Anna studied RNA editing and its role in learned helplessness while in the Sodhi Laboratory. Ania currently works at Costello Medical in Cambridge (UK) as Head of Literature Reviews and Synthesis.

Alison completed her B.A. in Psychology and Neuroscience at Miami University in Oxford OH. Alison worked with the Sodhi lab before joining the Graduate Program in Neuroscience at UIC in the Fall of 2023.

Krista joined the Sodhi laboratory in 2019 and is conducting analyses of the long term effects of stress on behavior and gene expression. Her skills include tests of spatial memory and behaviors correlating with anxiety. Krista has co-authored 1 paper with the Sodhi Laboratory in the Journal of Affective Disorders. Krista has transitioned to a role at the VA, focusing on traumatic brain injury.

Shivesh joined the Sodhi Laboratory in 2017 and contributed molecular studies of PTSD, focusing on the hippocampus in a rat model of PTSD. Shivesh is currently a Ph.D. student in the graduate program in Pharmacology at University of Pennsylvania.

Madiha contributed to several research projects in the Sodhi Laboratory in 2015. Madiha is completed her PharmD at the UIC College of Pharmacy. After working as a Clinical Project Manager & Lead PharmD Preceptor at MedLogix Communications, LLC. she has transitioned to Senior Associate Scientific Director at the Lockwood Group.

Michelle joined the Sodhi lab in January 2012 and earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Sciences. She studied the expression of ADAR enzymes in psychiatric disorders in the Sodhi lab. She is co-author on two papers in preparation and won a Society for Neuroscience Travel Award for her research in 2013. She is currently a manager in marketing for Pacific Biosciences in California.

Jack joined the lab in the summer of 2010 and graduated from Gettysburg College in May 2011 with a BS in Biology and a minor in Chemistry. He continued research in the Sodhi Lab as a Research Specialist in 2011-12, before joining Medical School at UMASS. Jack wrote two first author publications as a result of his research and he is currently completing his residency in Internal Medicine at NYU.

Daniel graduated from UAB with a BS in Psychology. He has conducted a variety of genetic and transcriptional experiments in postmortem human tissue and drug-treated animals in the Sodhi Lab. He completed a Master's degree in Library Information Science and is currently working as Journal Manager for the journal Anesthesia and Analgesia.

Kimberly trained as a Research Assistant in the Sodhi Lab. Her experiments included gene expression analyses of the GABAergic system in the thalamus and anterior cingulate cortex in postmortem subjects with schizophrenia. Kimberly's work resulted in one co-authored paper, and several posters at scientific conferences, including the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting. After completing her Ph.D. at UAB, Kimberly accepted a position as a clinical assistant professor at Samford University.

Micah graduated from UAB with a MS in Genetics. He conducted a variety of genetic and transcriptional experiments in postmortem human tissue and drug-treated animals in the Sodhi Lab. Micah co-authored 2 publications with the Sodhi Laboratory. He is currently working at Southern Research’s Neuroscience Drug Discovery Division.

Emily is a graduate student in the IPBS Ph.D. program at Loyola. She completed a rotation in the Sodhi Laboratory in which she was able to successfully analyze synaptic morphology in mice exposed to stress. Emily joined the Kekenes-Huskey lab in 2022.

Rachel is a graduate student in the Loyola IPBS program and recently completed a rotation in the Sodhi Lab. Her interests include neuroinflammation and infectious disease. Rachel joined the Dept. of Microbiology program in 2022.

Krishna joined the lab as part of the IMSA program while in high school. Krishna is working on a project including RNAseq analysis of subjects with psychiatric illness. Krishna has won first and second place in two consecutive Brain Bee competitions in Illinois, and he joined Dartmouth College in the Fall of 2020. His long-term goal is to study medicine.

Andrew is working with the Sodhi Lab in collaboration with the Miller Lab in an in silico drug discovery project. Andrew co-authored one paper with the Miller and Sodhi labs during his summer research experience at Loyola. He coauthored two papers as a result of this project. Andrew's goal is to study medicine after he graduates from Notre Dame University.

Jaap is investigating the effects of prenatal stress and social isolation on learning and memory in mice, with the goal of identifying which molecular pathways mediate the long term effects of stress on behavior. Jaap is majoring in Systems Biology and Computer Science at Case Western University.

Mackenzie is a graduate student in the IPBS Ph.D. program at Loyola. She completed a rotation in the Sodhi Laboratory that included testing the levels of RNA editing in human hippocampus. Mackenzie joined the Gogliotti lab in 2021.

Jake conducted research on RNA editing in the Sodhi Lab during his rotation in the Masters in Biochemistry program at Loyola. Jake is very interested in studying traumatic brain injury (TBI), and is completing his MS project focused on treatments for TBI at the VA Hines.

Chris is a graduate student of the IPBS Ph.D. program at Loyola, and has completed a rotation in the Sodhi Laboratory. Chris assisted in optimizing hippocampal slice culture protocols and performed pilot tests of the effects of fluoxetine and corticosterone on the hippocampus.

McKenna is a graduate student of the IPBS Ph.D. program at Loyola. She successfully completed a rotation in the Sodhi Laboratory where she assisted in optimizing hippocampal slice culture protocols and performed pilot tests of the effects of estrogen on the hippocampus after exposure to corticosterone.

Michael Long is a graduate student in the IPBS Ph.D. program at Loyola. He completed a rotation in the Sodhi Lab, focused on RNA editing in the hippocampus of a rat model of PTSD. Mike is now conducting research into ARC protein function in the neuron.

Will is a graduate student in the IPBS program at Loyola. Will completed a rotation project in the Sodhi Laboratory including studies of RNA editing in the rat hippocampus. Will is completing his Ph.D. thesis in the Jones lab.

Arthur is a student in the MS in Neuroscience Program at Loyola University. Arthur is contributing to ongoing studies of in silico molecular modeling in the Sodhi Laboratory. Arthur presented his research at the Chicago Society for Neuroscience and the Society for Biological Psychiatry annual meetings. Arthur's goal is to be a physician scientist.

Chris was a graduate student of Bioengineering and worked with the Sodhi Laboratory on a project focused on identifying gene expression signatures of schizophrenia. Chris co-authored 1 paper with the Sodhi Laboratory and received his Ph.D. in January 2018. Chris is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University.

Brittany participated in laboratory research during her undergraduate studies. She received a Masters in Neuroscience from Georgetown University. She is currently a Post Baccalaureate Research Fellow at NINDS.

Banafshe joined the Sodhi Lab in 2014. She investigated RNAseq data in psychiatric illness and is currently pursuing doctoral level training in the Dept. of Chemistry at UIC.

Sarah Khan contributed to laboratory research in 2015-16, including molecular genetic analyses, during her senior year. She is now pursuing a graduate degree in Dentistry.

Sarah completed a rotation in the Sodhi Laboratory in 2014, focusing on laser capture microdissection of postmortem human brain. She is currently a Ph.D. student in the laboratory of Jeff Loeb at UIC.

Julie performed undergraduate research in the Sodhi lab and graduated with a B.S. in Biochemistry in 2014. She is currently pursuing a Pharm D at the UIC College of Pharmacy.

Jenni joined the Sodhi Lab during 2013 and is interested in the mechanisms underlying schizophrenia and psychosis. She completed her undergraduate degree in Neuroscience at Cardiff University and her Master's degree in Mind, Language, and Embodied Cognition at the University of Edinburgh. She recently received her PhD in Neuroscience at UIC.

Yoshimi conducted undergraduate research focused on glutamate receptor gene expression in psychiatric illnesses. She is pursuing a PharmD degree at UIC.

Nathan is a graduate student of the Neuroscience Program and completed a rotation in the Sodhi Laboratory in 2014. He received his Ph.D. at UIC and is currently working as a Medical Science Liaison (MSL) for Collegium Pharmaceuticals.

Sean completed his MD at the UIC College of Medicine. He is interested in neuroscience research regarding the underlying molecular mechanisms of psychiatric disorders and aspires to be a physician-scientist. Sean has completed the pediatrics residency program at Rush University.

Julie trained at the UIC College of Pharmacy. She is interested in pharmacogenetics and its relevance to the treatment of depression. Julie is currently a pharmacist working in the VA system in Illinois.

Kavita has conducted research on RNA editing in the Sodhi Lab. She was awarded the distinction of Outstanding Student for 2012 by the UAB Undergraduate Neuroscience Program. She completed her medical degree at UAB in 2016 and is doing her residency training at Rhode Island Hospital.