Student Neuroscience Research
Many Amherst Neuroscience majors perform research in laboratories at Amherst College during the academic year and during summers here and elsewhere around the country.
In addition, students may elect to complete an honors research project during their senior year. The honors research project culminates in a written thesis and a public defense. Completion of the honors thesis results in the possibility for graduating with latin honors.
- View titles from Earlier Student Theses
- Amherst students and faculty may view full versions here: Student Theses PDFs
Recent Honors Theses:
Class of 2017
Alifayaz Abdulzahir
Determining the role of 5-HT in the antidepressant effect of caffeine via the forced swim test in male adolescent rats
Christina Hansen
Contributions of Lateral Line and Auditory Inputs to the Larval Zebrafish Startle Response
Emily Horwitz
Characterizing the role of presynaptic Discs- large in active zone development
Carlos Johnson-Cruz
Exploring the role of the Orexin-1 Receptor in Risk/ Reward Decision Making in rodents
Rakin Muhtadi
A structure-function analysis of Rab3-guanine exchange factor (Rab3-GEF) at the Drosophila melanogaster neuromuscular junction
Samuel Short
Contributions of Afferent Neurons to Sensory Adaptation in the Zebrafish Lateral Line
Ruben Valera
Exploration of the projection from the parabrachial nucleus to the central nucleus of the amígdala via chemogenetic inhibition
Class of 2016
Matthew Bonomo
Activation of central GPP-1 receptors attenuated binge eating by reducing incentive motivation and hedonic taste evaluation.
Topher Flanagan
The Effect of Presynaptic Discs-Large Knockdown on Bruchpilot Localization
Jason Kuan
Understanding the role of the parabracial nucleus in AgRP-mediated feeding behavior.
Steven Ryu
Characterizing the Effects of RIM Domain Deletion on Calcium Channel Accumulation at Active Zones in the Drosophila Neuromuscular Junction
Thomas Sommers (Advisor: Trapani)
Evaluating Cellular Mechanisms of Sensory Adaptation in the Zebrafish Lateral Line
Class of 2015
Peter Alsharif (Advisor: Graf)
Does Rab3 maintain the active zone composition of extended larval synapes
Rushell Dixon (Advisor: Turgeon)
The effects of chronic caffeine consumption in adolescent male and female rats in the forced swim test
Emma Hickman (Advisor: Turgeon)
The effect of chronic caffeine consumption in adolescent male and female Sprague-Dawley rats on two measures of anxiety: elevated plus maze and light/dark exploration behavior
Sabrina Lee (Advisor: Turgeon)
The effects of chronic caffeine consumption on open field behavior and novel object recognition task in adolescent male and female Sprague-Dawley rats
Sarah Martell (Advisor: Baird)
Exendin-4, a potent glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist, attenuates binge eating in a novel rat model of binge eating
David Miao (Advisor: Turgeon)
ABC transporters in Drosophila intestinal stem cells
Alexander Ordoobadi (Advisor: Trapani)
Hair cell encoding of intensity in the Zebrafish lateral line
Alissa Rothman (Advisor: Graf)
The role of RIM domains on calcium channel accumulation at the Drosophila neuromuscular junction
Kyra Schapiro (Advisor: Baird)
Exploring the electrophysiological changes of the rat prelimbic medial prefrontal cortex during learning, maintenance, and extinction of associations between tones and outcomes of opposing valence
Alyssa Sherwill (Advisor: Baird)
Disentangling the complex roles of hindbrain GABA in the control of feeding behavior