Contact Us
Undergraduate Lab Members
Sasha Abielmona
I am a fourth-year undergraduate student majoring in biology with a minor in international studies in hopes to becoming a doctor. I am interested in narrowing the gap between stem research and international relations. This year I will be assisting in a research study regarding the links between HIV in mice through IV self-administration and drug addiction. I look forward to furthering my neuroscience background along with research skills, because no matter the type of doctor I become, it is crucial for all doctors to have a sufficient understanding of these topics to provide adequate care to all types of patients.
Garrett Denney
I am a junior neuroscience major and have been a member of the Psychopharmacology Lab since Spring 2023 where I mainly assist PhD student Shihui Huang in two different studies. I primarily assist in a study investigating how HIV associated neurocognitive deficits can influence heroin addiction using a mouse model and conditioned place preference. Additionally, in a study using morphine investigating the interoceptive regulation of drug intake, I assisted in pre and post operative care of rats undergoing jugular catheterization surgery as well as running IV self-administration. In gaining experience in techniques like IV self-administration as well as conditioned place preference and basic pharmacology, I hope to complete my capstone project in the lab using these skills.
In the future, I plan to continue my education to the graduate level and pursue a PhD in neuroscience or a related field.
Jarin Moonrising
I am a senior at American University in the College of Arts and Sciences intending to major in psychology with a minor in legal studies. This will be my first year as a member of Dr. Anthony Riley’s psychopharmacology lab. My research interests include psychedelic and entactogenic substances and their clinical applications. I will be integrating a neuroscientific approach with a legal and public policy approach in my research.
Matthew Nifong
I am a senior at American University majoring in neuroscience. I recently became a member of the AU Psychopharmacology Lab, joining in summer of 2023. Dr. Riley’s neuropharmacology course strengthened my interests in psychoactive drugs and drugs of abuse and led me to pursue lab experience.
After graduating, I hope to work in a research lab to gain more experience and enroll in a graduate program to ultimately pursue a career in neuropharmacology research.
Jovanikha Oreus
I am a fourth-year undergraduate student at American University where I am majoring in neuroscience and minoring in psychology. I have been incredibly lucky to have been able to take several complex courses with brilliant professors in which I have been challenged in the realm of abstract as well as concrete thought. As a result, my interests within the sphere of drug addiction are expansive; they range from addiction science and treatment to the wide-ranging debates and discussions concerning addiction, addiction treatment, and its ethical impact on modern society.
I am thrilled to be starting my journey in research this coming fall and to further develop my understanding of drug addiction and its related concepts.
Upon completion of my undergraduate degree, I plan to attain my M.D., then work in a professional research lab. There, I hope to lend valuable contributions to several burgeoning discussions surrounding various topics in drug science and ethics as a voice of steadfast reason and compassion.
Sophie Robinson
My name is Sophie Robinson. I am a junior at American University, and I am majoring in Neuroscience with a minor in Psychology. I am currently pre-med, and I aim to become a psychiatrist in the future. I have long been fascinated with the biological basis for behavior and the factors that can be manipulated to alter such results, and my academic experience in the above programs at American have strengthened and specified my interests. I have recently joined the Psychopharmacology Lab, and I am eager to assist Shihui Huang in upcoming projects, focusing on interoceptive abilities in relation to drug self-administration as well as examining cognitive alterations caused by HIV on the development of addiction. I am intrigued to understand more about the process of animal behavioral research as well as how various models, rodents in particular, can model different behaviors of interest. As I complete my undergraduate degree and begin medical school, I am interested to observe where studies of rodent behavior and that of humans overlap and how such overlap can contribute to new developments in the psychological and medical communities.
Morgan Scott
Hello! My name is Morgan Scott, and I am a senior at American University in the College of Arts and Sciences. I am a Psychology major with a minor in Biology. I was privileged enough to have recently joined Dr. Anthony Riley’s psychopharmacology lab this past spring. I have been interested in research since the inception of my college career. I am currently working on a research project that focuses on the relationship between HIV and substance abuse using IVSA in a chimeric mice model. Throughout the years, I’ve been able to expand my research interests to animal models of substance abuse and addiction, neurodegenerative diseases, connectomics, and reinforcement learning.
I started my research journey during my freshman year, where I worked in a year long intensive research program at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, where I was introduced to skills such as Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and Python Programming. Our project focused on investigating Drosophila hemibrain data to analyze subneuronal connections to understand the computational capabilities within the neuron. Before this experience, I was a biology major on the pre-med track, but shortly after this, I realized that I had a passion for research. I switched my major to Psychology and ended up taking Dr. Riley’s Drug and Behavior course, and I absolutely fell in love with the subject matter. This is what drove my interest in joining the lab. His work inspired me to apply to my current research position, where I will spend the summer working on a project in contention with the Framingham Heart Study in the Brain Aging division to study the relationship between different genetic factors and Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias.
In the future, I hope to pursue a PhD and continue my quest for knowledge in the field of Psychology of Neuroscience. I am not sure about the specifics of my long-term career interests, but this lab has pointed my in a great direction by providing the tools for me to thrive in other areas of research. I am hopeful to continue this valiant work alongside my other capable and intelligent lab members!
Zoe Smith
Zoe is a senior studying Psychology with a double minor in Sociology & Justice, Law, and Crimonology.
She has been a member of the AU Psychopharmacology Lab since her junior year and has loved working alongside such bright and driven individuals. Last year she assisted graduate students, Hayley Manke and Shihui Huang with their projects that explored methylone pre-exposure and drug discrimination learning.
This summer she is interning at The National Institute of Health (NIH) at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) working in Dr. Satoshi Ikemoto’s Neurocircuitry of Motivation Laboratory studying nicotine addiction, in hopes of developing a nicotine self-administration model in mice. She has conducted immunohistochemistry to verify orexin neuron projections in the suppramammillary nucleus, performed intracranial authors for viral tracing, and conducted behavioral experiments to determine nicotine consumption.
Her research interests lie in determining factors that increase an individual's susceptibility to addiction. After graduation she hopes to pursue her PhD and continue drug research.
Anushka Valsan
I am a junior political science major and international studies minor at American University. I have been a member of the AU Psychopharmacology Lab since Spring semester my freshman year. I first became passionate about substance use disorder and the policy surrounding it following my participation in Professor Riley’s course, Drugs: Views/Other Lenses. I realized the importance in understanding the science behind a health crisis before crafting its solutions, and as someone whose research interests lie in law and the intersection between public policy and science, the lab has only furthered my motivation to emphasize science in the policy field.
During my time in the lab, I have assisted a study investigating the relationship between HIV in mice and heroin use via intravenous self-administration. My sophomore year, I focused on assisting Shihui Huang in her research on drug discrimination learning, and I helped present this research at the 2023 American University Robyn Mathias Research Conference, receiving the Student Research Award.
Following the completion of my undergraduate degree, I’d like to attend law school and eventually practice criminal defense law. In the future, I hope to utilize my background in both policymaking and science to better advocate for marginalized communities and create policies that serve them.
Honeyeh Younesie
I am a senior at American University majoring in Neuroscience on the pre-med track with a certificate in Leadership and Ethical Development (CAS LEAD). I became fascinated with animal behavior research while taking the course Neuropharmacology, taught by Dr. Anthony Riley and subsequently joined the Psychopharmacology lab in the Spring of 2022.
In the lab, I am working with PhD student Nina Ardabili on various projects which include studying the effects of different drugs on the Western diet (which is high in fat and sugar), as well as investigating brain impairments and measuring changes in neurotransmitters in animal models. In addition to this, I have also observed and assisted PhD student Shihui Huang in jugular vein catheterization surgery on rats, behavioral assays of IV self-administration, conditioned place preference, conditioned taste avoidance, and cell culturing.
I am also active in the Stoodley lab, which is dedicated to studying the human cerebellum and its role in cognition and cognitive development. The lab investigates the functional organization of the cerebellum, the specific types of processing it performs, and the consequences of cerebellar dysfunction in clinical and developmental disorders. Some research methods I have assisted on include neuroimaging (fMRI), neuromodulation (tDCS), lesion-symptom mapping, and behavioral studies.
Altogether, I have and will continue to gain valuable experiences in both human research in the Stoodley lab as well as animal research in the Psychopharmacology lab. With that being said, I am planning to pursue a combined MD-PhD degree after graduation by going to medical school, which will combine my love for clinical work with my research experience. My primary focus is to become a neurosurgeon; however, I am looking forward to finding innovative ways in which I can incorporate my research experience into my long-term endeavors post-graduation.
Most recently I have been interning with the Jefferson Neurosurgery Department in Philadelphia, and the clinical experience I have obtained thus far has supported my education and undoubtedly affirmed my interest in the field/specialty.