Birdbrain Lab

Principal Investigator

Dr. Maney received her PhD in Neurobiology & Behavior from the University of Washington in 1997 and did her postdoctoral work at Johns Hopkins University. She has been at Emory since 2002.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Nicole received her PhD from Cornell University, where she  focused the neuroendocrine control of reproductive strategies in birds. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Ga Tech, where she investigated the neural and genomic basis of complex social behaviors of African cichlid fish. In our lab, Nicole is analyzing a previously understudied chromosomal rearrangement in white-throated sparrows. 

Research Specialist

Isabel has an undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of Ferrara, Italy. She has worked with bumblebees, rats, mice, lizards, and of course, birds. She will soon complete her masters thesis in Biomolecular Sciences and Evolution. In our lab, she contributes to every project and makes sure everything runs smoothly.

Graduate Fellow

Jenny graduated from the University of Illinois with a B.S. in Psychology and a minor in Integrative Biology. In our lab, she's applying her solid background in behavioral genetics to understand how small changes in gene sequence can have large effects on behavioral phenotypes.

Graduate Fellow

Natalie grew up in Eastern Washington and earned her bachelor's degree at Tulane. Before coming to Emory, she studied the neurobiology of memory, sleep, and aging in mouse models. She's also worked with human subjects in the field of social psychology. At Emory, Natalie is interested in social reward and how it shapes vocal development in songbirds.

Graduate Fellow

Kenzie graduated from the University of Montana in 2017. In her honors thesis there, she looked at how stress hormones affect parental behavior in tree swallows. She has also worked with woodpeckers and wolverines. Her field experience includes projects in South Africa and Tanzania. In our lab she is interested in the evolution of behavior and its neuroendocrine control.

Lab Assistant

Emily joined our lab in 2018. Last year, she helped us show an important role for estrogen receptors in aggression in white-throated sparrows. Currently, she is investigating the effects of oxytocin antagonist on song learning in zebra finches.

Lab assistant

Stephanie is a junior NBB major. She is broadly interested in how hormones can alter brain structure and function, and what happens in the brain if hormone signaling goes awry. In our lab, she is looking at the role of oxytocin in attention to social signals in developing zebra finches.