Graduate Students

Mason Martin - Neuroscience

Mason is a doctoral student in the FAU Neuroscience Graduate Program, training through the Tian and Blakely labs. His research is focused on the development and application of genetically encoded glutamate sensors. He is currently optimizing a glutamate sensor in the Tian lab. He plans to use the glutamate sensor in the Blakely lab to investigate how copper homeostasis affects glutamate dynamics between neurons and astrocytes, and how they are disrupted in the context of brain disease risk factors. Before joining FAU, Mason earned his bachelor's degree in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Central Florida, followed by postbaccalaureate research at the Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute.

Carina Meinke - Integrative Biology - Neuroscience
Room 113, MC-17
Email: carnold2019@fau.edu

Carina is a native of Germany and pursued her graduate degree at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, studying pharmaceutical sciences and technologies. At FAU, she is pursuing her doctoral studies in the FAU-Max Planck IMPRS program. In the Blakely lab, she is investigating the cellular, physiological and behavior impact of phosphorylation in the presynaptic serotonin transporter (SERT) using in vitro and in vivo approaches, with an eye to how altered phosphorylation drives changes in synaptic signaling and impacts risk for mental illness.

Gabriella Smith

Gabriella Smith is a doctoral student in the FAU Neuroscience Graduate Program in the Blakely lab, pursuing research on the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying a rare dopamine transporter mutation, DATVal599. This rare mutation was identified in humans who were diagnosed with ASD, Bipolar disorder, and ADHD, inspiring the lab to develop a DATVal599 knock-in mouse model. Her research aims to use both in vivo and in vitro approaches on this model to further advance pharmacological and behavioral therapies for disorders characterized by dysregulated dopamine homeostasis.

Allison Walsh - Neuroscience
Room 113, MC-17
Email: awalsh2020@fau.edu

Currently a doctoral student in the Blakely lab, Allison is working on the connection between neuropsychiatric disorders and altered serotonin signaling, with a special emphasis on the presynaptic serotonin transporter (SERT) and neuroinflammation. Her research interests in neuroscience are, broadly-speaking, the interaction between our environment, genetics, and health. Previously, she earned a graduate degree in public health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a focus on environmental health. Later she pursued graduate research in the Experimental and Clinical Neuroscience program in Germany at the University of Regensburg. It was during this time in Germany that Allison honed her passion for better understanding the molecular and genetic underpinnings of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. Outside of the lab, she enjoys yoga and time at the beach.