Personnel

                                             PI - Robert Kozol, PhD

                                                                    I am a neuroscientist that studies

                                                                    the development and function of the

                                                                    nervous system. As a Marine Biology

                                                                    undergrad, I fell in love with the

                                                                    functional specializations of deep

                                                                    sea fish. In graduate school, I pivoted

                                                                    to studying sensory deficits in

                                                                    models of Autism Spectrum

Disorders. This provided me with expertise in the genetics of disease, neural

development, sensory integration and behavior, and pharmacology.

Following my doctorate, I transitioned to evolutionary medicine and

adopted the blind Mexican cavefish as a model for studying how genetic

variation drives the evolution of the brain and behaviors and how

those findings translate to the function and malfunction of the vertebrate

brain.

Visiting Scholars

Zachary Harkinish-Murray

Zachary investigates variations in sensorimotor behavior of cavefish. He received his Masters in Neuroscience from St. John's University in 2024 and is currently exploring PhD programs in Ecology and Evolution.

Tiffany Chan

Tiffany studies how changes in gene expression impact cave-derived biological traits. Tiffany received her Master's in Neuroscience from St. John's University in 2024 and is currently looking at research opportunities in biomedicine.

Graduate Students

Hala AlGarni - M.S.

Hala is determining how variation in serotonergic genes impact cavefish biology. She joined the lab in the fall of 2024 as a Neuroscience student and looks to defend her master's thesis in 2025.

Jerry Gbarlea - M.S.

Jerry is establishing cavefish as an alternative model for neural homeostasis and evolutionary medicine. Jerry joined the lab in the fall of 2024 as a Neuroscience student and looks to defend his master's thesis in 2025.

Sanaya Kumar - M.S.

Sanay is studying how changes in opsin expression impact light-evoked behaviors in cavefish. Sanaya joined the lab in the Summer of 2024 as a Biology student and will receive her masters in 2025.