Former Members of the Parfitt Lab:

Below are listed students who’ve worked in the Parfitt Lab, their thesis titles, honors they’ve been awarded, and where they are now. Theses and current contact information may be obtained from Dr. Parfitt.

Senior thesis students (experimental thesis):

Kristen Henkins - Neuroscience ’06
- Thesis: “The amyloid β-peptide-A_25-35 or aging has an inhibiting effect on chemically induced long term potentiation in area CA1 of rat hippocampus”
- Currently a graduate student in the Neuroscience program at UCLA.
Blaine Bisel - Molecular Biology ’05
- Thesis: “A cyclic AMP-mediated pathway of learning and memory in the rat hippocampus may be affected by the drug Rolipram and an Alzheimer’s amyloid-β peptide”
- Currently a lab technician, UT Southwestern.
Sidney Kuo - Molecular Biology ’04
- Thesis: “Role of the cAMP pathway in age-related deficits in hippocampal long term potentiation”
- Winner of the Bertsch prize in Molecular Biology. Winner of a Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience Travel Award to attend the 2004 Society for Neuroscience meeting.
- Research assistant, Dept. of Neuroscience, Univ. of Minnesota. Currently in the graduate program in Neuroscience at Univ. of Oregon Health Sciences Center
Daniel Jones - Neuroscience ’04
- Thesis: “Role of cyclic AMP in long term potentiation in neonatal hippocampus”
- Currently a graduate student in the Neuroscience program at UCSF.
Alison Ellsworth - Neuroscience ’04
- Thesis: “Effects of the insecticide chlorpyrifos on hippocampal synaptic transmission and spatial memory”
- Winner of the Neuroscience senior prize.
- Currently a teaching assistant in a primary school in Hanover, NH.
Jeffrey Raskin - Neuroscience ’03
- Thesis: “Changes with aging in cyclic AMP-mediated forms of long-term potentiation”
- M.S., USC Program in Neuroscience.
- Currently in medical school, University of Nevada School of Medicine.
Christopher Jordan - Neuroscience ’03
- Thesis: “Late-phase long term potentiation in the rat hippocampus”
- Currently in medical school, Dartmouth Medical College; Army Medical Scholar, 2nd Lieutenant.
Rachel Hopper - Molecular Biology ’01
- Thesis: “Significant differences in oxygen consumption of fetal and adult ovine brain cortex suggest nitric oxide-induced hypoxic hypometabolism as a regulatory mechanism in fetal brain tissue” (in collaboration with Dr. Gordon Power, Loma Linda School of Medicine)
- Medical student, Univ. of Michigan School of Medicine.
Chang (Chris) Park - Neuroscience ’01
- Thesis: “Differences in calcium-mediated long-term potentiation in hippocampal area CA1 of adult rats”
- Research associate in Neuroscience, UC Irvine.
Shennan Weiss - Molecular Biology ’01
- Thesis: “An investigation of the functional neurprotective properties of the caspase inhibitor z-VAD-fmk in response to hypoxia and ischemia in fresh hippocampal slices”
- MD/PhD student, Albert Einstein School of Medicine.
Daniel Darcy - Neuroscience ’00
- Thesis: “Development of the fast transient potassium current IA is preceded by astroglial proliferation in intact hippocampus” (thesis experiments conducted in the lab of Michael Barish, City of Hope)
- Research associate in Neuroscience at City of Hope. Currently in the Neuroscience Graduate Program at UCSD.
Paige Nilson - Neuroscience ’00
- Thesis: “Changes in isoproterenol- and forskolin-induced cAMP production with aging”
- Research associate in Neuroscience, UCLA.
- D.V.M., Cornell University.
- Currently a Veterinary Neurologist in San Diego.
Alex Huang - Neuroscience and Molecular Biology ’99
- Thesis: “The Role of semaphorins in adult synaptic transmission and plasticity”
- Winner of senior prizes in both Neuroscience and Molecular Biology.
- Currently in MD/PhD Neuroscience program at Johns Hopkins.
Gabriel Murphy - Neuroscience ’99
- Thesis: “Ethanol Modulates Synaptic Transmission Presynaptically in Area CA1 of the Hippocampus”
- Ph.D., Neuroscience UC San Diego. Currently a postdoc at the Univ. of Washington.
Zachary Edmonds - Neuroscience ’97
- Thesis: “Pathological investigation of vascular β-amyloid, elastin, and endothelium in the middle temporal gyrus of histologically confirmed Alzheimer’s patients with varying levels of total serum homocysteine”
- Recipient of Pomona College’s 1997 Stauffer Prize, and 1997 senior prize in Neuroscience.
- M.D./M.B.A., UCLA School of Medicine and Anderson School of Management. currently a resident in Internal Medicine.
Michael Lee - Neuroscience ’97
- Thesis: “Age-related changes in synaptic transmission in hippocampal area CA1 of young vs. aged Fischer 344 rats in response to forskolin and 8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dimethylxanthine”
- M.D., Univ. of Washington School of Medicine. Currently a resident in Orthopedics.
Gerald Reis - Molecular Biology ’97
- Thesis: “Age-related changes in β-adrenergic receptor activation and modulation of low frequency stimulation-induced LTP in hippocampal area CA1 of Fisher 344 rats”
- Recipient of a Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience Travel Award, Fall 1997, for his thesis work.
- Currently in UC San Diego MD/PhD program.

Other laboratory research students

Timettra Wellington - Chaffey College Chemistry major, June ’95-August ’96
Enriquetta Ramirez - Chaffey College then Pomona Biology major, June ’95-May ’99
- Distinguished Alumni of the Year Award 2005. Click here for her remarkable story.
Thomas Tsai - Pomona Psychology major, Fall ’95
Stephen Maley - Pomona Molecular Biology major, Fall ’95
Steven Beier - Pomona Neuroscience major, Fall ’95-Spring ’96
Jennifer Heaton - Pomona Neuroscience major, Sept. ’96-December ’96
Esther Hui - Pomona Molecular Biology major, Sept. ’96-Dec.’96
Richard Russell - Pomona Neuroscience major, Sept. ’96-December ’96
Rishi Garg - Pomona Neuroscience major, January ’97-May ’97
Jason Johnson - Chaffey College, May ’97-August ’97
Scott Lehto - Pomona Molecular Biology major, May ’97-August ’97
Sharon McDaniel - Pomona Neuroscience major, January ’99-May 99
Timothy Stocker - Pomona Neuroscience major, January ’99-May 99
Kelly Alvarez - Pitzer College Psychobiology major, May ’99-August ’99
Frances Chiu - Pomona Molecular Biology major, May ’99-December ’99
David Peters - Pomona Neuroscience major, May ’99-August ’99
Louis Scrattish - Pomona Neuroscience major, May ’00-August ’00
James Nachtwey - Pomona Biology major, May ’01-August ’01
Paulami Naik - Pomona Neuroscience major, May ’04-August ’04