Robison Lab Personnel
Graduate Students:
Mary Oswald, B.S. Biology, Western State College of
While completing her undergraduate degree (Biology w/ an emphasis in Ecology & Environmental Science) at, CO, Mary conducted three undergraduate research projects involving behavior (Gunnison Sage-Grouse), population distributions (Rough-legged Hawks), and habitat analysis (Colorado Cutthroat Trout). She also worked for the local offices of the USFS, BLM, and Colorado DOW.
As a graduate student, Mary is interested in animal behavior, particularly as it pertains to the process of domestication. She is currently researching the fitness consequences of variation in predator avoidance behavior among several strains of zebrafish.
Matt Settles, MS.
Comp Sci,
Matt is a graduate student in the BCB program under the supervision of Terry Soule in Computer Science. Matt’s interest in the analysis and interpretation of microarray data has led him to rotate into the Robison lab, where he analyzes the gene expression data from our behavioral and physiological experiments. His personal web page can be found here.
Postdoctoral Researcher:
Dr. Robert Drew,
Ph.D. Washington State University
Scientific Aide:
Erin
Churchill, BS Zoology,
Undergraduate Researchers:
Stephanie Vincent, Psychology Undergraduate,
Stephanie has received an undergraduate research award from the Department of Biological Sciences to investigate intraspecific variation in male reproductive investment in the zebrafish. Stephanie completed collecting sperm from a variety of wild and domesticated zebrafish strains and assaying quantity, motility, and speed. She also finished collecting whole testes from adult males. Her preliminary data indicates a significant difference between wild and domesticated zebrafish in sperm production. Her data will be used in future in conjunction with existing genetic crosses to map regions of the zebrafish genome influencing male reproductive investment.
Katy Schmidt, Biology
Undergraduate,
Holly Paddock,
Biology Undergraduate,
Laboratory Assistants:
Maia Benner, Biology Undergraduate,
Maia assists in the day-to-day activities of the lab.
She is responsible for maintenance of our zebrafish facility, and also assists
with projects concerned with comparative genomic analysis of domestication
related to behaviors in zebrafish. Maia is also responsible for the
collection of behavioral data, and the molecular analysis of genotypic samples. Maia is currently studying abroad in
Heather Guild,
Biology Undergraduate,
Heather also assists in the day to day operation of the lab. Like Maia, she helps maintain the zebrafish colony and assists with the collection of phenotypic data for our behavioral assays.
Robison Lab Alumni:
Terry Marquardt, B.S. Biology, University of Idaho 2005.
Terry has moved on from the Robison Lab, and is currently pursuing studies in Optometry at the Indiana University School of Optometry. While in the Robison Lab, Terry designed and implemented a project examining the effects of environmental variation on the behavior, learning, and growth rate of wild and domesticated zebrafish. The discussions that this project generated have inspired us (in collaboration with the Stenkamp Laboratory) to further investigate the zebrafish as a model system for the study of environmental enrichment and experience dependent neuronal plasticity.
Kristina Goodson, Biology Undergraduate,
Kristina completed an investigation of variation in mate choice in females of three strains of zebrafish (TM1, SH, and Nadia). Females of each strain were given a choice of mates between males of two different strains, and all possible combinations of females and males were tested. Genetic analysis was used to determine parentage of the resulting embryos. Preference differences between wild and domesticated female zebrafish are of special interest, since these have implications for the conservation of captively reared fish species.
Wesley Blackburn, Biology Undergraduate,
Wesley completed a research project investigating multiple strains of zebrafish housed in the Robison lab to identify any variation in the number of meristic elements (fin rays, scales, vertebrae, etc.).
Megan Tortorelli, B.S.
Biology/Psychology,
Megan assisted on a number of projects in the Robison lab,
including identification of molecular markers for endangered Cyprinids
throughout the