ARTEP Alumni

Alcohol Research Training Grant in Epigenetics and Pathophysiology (ARTEP)

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Alcohol Research Training Grant in Epigenetics and Pathophysiology (ARTEP)
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ARTEP Alumni

Jordan Barone BA

  • Graduate Research Assistant
Jordan came to UIC in 2018 as an MD/PhD student in UIC’s Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP). Currently, Jordan is a PhD candidate preparing her dissertation for the Graduate Program in Neuroscience. Prior to joining the CLEAR lab, Jordan graduated from Vanderbilt University with double majors in Neuroscience and Child Development, then completed a post-baccalaureate research fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), studying sex differences in brain development across puberty. Under Dr. Eisenlohr-Moul's training, Jordan has studied how the menstrual cycle interacts with modulators of GABAergic systems, including alcohol use and neuroactive steroids. For her dissertation research, Jordan is interested in identifying if sensitivity of the GABA-A receptor serves as a peripheral biomarker of menstrual cycle-related psychiatric symptoms.After defending her PhD in Neuroscience, Jordan will return to medical school with the goal of becoming a primary care physician who focuses on the intersection of mental and reproductive healthcare.

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Jordan Barone

Julia Brooks MA

  • Graduate Research Assistant
  • Clinical Neuropsychology Extern
  • Graduate Student, Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program
  • Department of Psychology, UIC
Julia Brooks is a Clinical Neuropsychology Extern in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). Julia is a 4th year student in the UIC doctoral program in Clinical Psychology, and received her Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology in 2020. Julia is interested in understanding how neuropsychological processes such as inhibitory control and executive functioning influence behavioral outcomes, and her research is focused on understanding brain-behavior relationships in the context of young adult substance use.

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Julia Brooks

Hagar Hallihan PhD, RN

  • Research Assistant Professor
  • Director, Alcohol aBSTinence And braIN (ABSTAIN) Laboratory
  • Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, UIC
Dr. Hallihan is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine and directs the ABSTAIN Lab. Her overall research interests focus on alcohol use disorders among young adults. She is interested in: (a) examining the neural mechanism underlying the susceptibility to alcohol addiction and (b) developing behavior change interventions to improve the health and outcomes of young adults with problematic drinking. Her current research involves a study aimed at improving alcohol abstinence that is funded by a K99/R00 career development award from National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

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Hagar Hallihan

Kana Hamada PhD

  • Neuroscience Program, Class 2020
  • University of Illinois Chicago
Kana Hamada successfully defended her dissertation, entitled Impact of Ethanol Drinking on ALK and STAT3 Signaling in the Mouse Brain, on October 29th, 2020. Kana was advised by Dr. Lasek during her doctoral training in the Neuroscience Program at UIC. Prior to her doctoral studies, she received her Master of Health Science at Johns Hopkins University in 2013.

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Kana Hamada

Elizaveta Mangutov BS

  • Graduate Research Assistant/Graduate Student
  • Graduate Program in Neuroscience
  • Department of Psychiatry, UIC

Elizaveta received her Bachelors in Molecular and Cellular Biology and Chemistry from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2019. She joined the Pradhan Lab in 2020 and her work focuses on the effect of delta opioid receptors on opioid induced hyperalgesia, cortical spreading depression, and migraine.

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Elizaveta Mangutov

Ryan Patwell

  • Graduate Research Assistant / PhD Candidate
  • Department of Psychiatry
  • University of Illinois Chicago
Ryan Patwell successfully defended his thesis titled Involvement of DNA methylation in Alcohol Withdrawal-induced Behavioral Changes in Rats on June 30th, 2021. Ryan was advised by Dr. Subhash Pandey and Dr. Elizabeth Glover. As a graduate student, Ryan focused on the effect of alcohol on DNA methylation in the amygdala and operant ethanol self-administration in rodent models. Prior to joining the Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Ryan received his B.S. in Biological Sciences from UIC in 2013.

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Ryan Patwell

Braeden Rodriguez

  • Graduate Research Assistant, the CoNECt lab
  • Graduate Program in Neuroscience
Braeden Rodriguez is a PhD student in the Graduate Program in Neuroscience. At Kalamazoo College they majored in chemistry, concentrating in Biochemistry, and a completed a minor in Psychology. At the University of Chicago, they worked on projects investigating the dorsolateral striatum’s role with respect to Parkinsonian motor deficits, nicotine aversion, and nociception. In the CoNECt lab, Braeden studies the intersection of Internalizing Psychopathologies (Depression, Anxiety, etc.) and Alcohol Use Disorder by means of global brain connectivity. 

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Braeden Rodriguez

Valeria C Torres Irizarry

  • Predoctoral Fellow
  • Graduate Student
  • Graduate Education in Medical Sciences (GEMS) PhD Program
  • Department of Medicine, UIC
Valeria is a graduate student from the Integrative and Translational Physiology (ITP) Research Concentration. She received her bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey. Valeria is part of the Graduate Education in Biomedical Sciences (GEMS) Program and is doing her predoctoral training under the mentorship of Dr. Pingwen Xu. Her work consists of using optogenetic tools and neuronal tracing techniques to understand the role of estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) signaling in the brain and elucidate the mechanisms by which ERα-expressing neurons regulate adipose tissue function and energy homeostasis. Valeria is also an NSF Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Program Fellow.

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Valeria C. Torres Irizarry

Shiva Edalatian Zakeri MA

  • Predoctroal Research Felllow
  • Ph.D. Candidate, Clinical Psychology
  • The Chicago Alcohol and Trauma (CHAT) Lab
  • Department of Psychology, University of Illinois Chicago
Shiva Edalatian Zakeri is a predoctoral research fellow in the Department of Psychiatry via receiving a T32 fellowship (ARTEP) in 2022. She is a Ph.D. candidate and 4th year student in Clinical Psychology program at UIC. Shiva is interested in alcohol use problems and alcohol use disorder and comorbid conditions, namely posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), among adults. Specifically, she is interested in learning about treatment response and other health outcomes in PSTD-SUD populations.

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Shiva Edalatian Zakeri

Joel Shillinglaw PhD

  • Post Doctoral Research Associate
  • Department of Psychiatry, UIC
Joel completed his BA at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2010, and subsequently worked as a research assistant studying alcohol seeking behavior in rodents under the mentorship of Dr. Donita Robinson. He earned his PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2019 from The University of Texas at Austin where he investigated the effects of acute and chronic ethanol on synaptic transmission in the Insular Cortex under the mentorship of Dr. Richard Morrisett and Dr. Regina Mangieri. Broadly speaking, Joel is interested in elucidating how brain regions and circuits of motivational significance change to underlie, at last in part, various psychiatric disease states.

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Joel Shillinglaw

Sean Schrank PhD

  • Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Dr. Sean Schrank received his PhD in Neuroscience from Rosalind Franklin University in 2021 studying molecular and electrophysiological pathologies in Alzheimer’s Disease, and then transitioned into a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Medical College of Wisconsin studying spinal cord injury. In 2023, Sean began a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Illinois Chicago researching alcohol use disorders, and is currently interested in understanding the inflammatory consequences of binge ethanol consumption and how that impacts changes synaptic physiology throughout the extended amygdala. Ultimately, Sean would like to run his own research program focusing on the relationship between inflammation, synaptic communication, and the neurobiology of substance abuse.

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Sean Schrank