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, and recently completed her masters thesis in Biomolecular Sciences and Evolution. She has worked with bumblebees, rats, mice, lizards, and of course, birds. 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 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. For her master's thesis at Emory, she explored how oxytocin shapes vocal development in songbirds. Starting in 2020, she will focus on social reward in rhesus macaques in Jocelyne Bachevalier's lab.

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.

Graduate Fellow

Harrison is a Neuroscience student rotating in our lab. He graduated from the University of Utah with a B.A. in Biology and a minor in Spanish. Before coming to Emory, he worked on a project on hypothalamic neurogenesis and its role in regulating anxiety and stress in zebrafish. In our lab, he's investigating the direct links between gene sequence and behavior in our white-throated sparrow model, focusing on polymorphisms in serotonin receptors.

Undergraduate Researcher

Stephanie 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 studying the role of oxytocin in attention to social signals during development in zebra finches.

Undergraduate Researcher

Nabihah is majoring in Biology and minoring in Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies. She is broadly interested in the complex interactions between genes and the environment. In our lab, she is helping to develop a new genetic model of socially-guided vocal learning.

Undergraduate Honors Student

Aditya is majoring in Psychology and Music. He is interested in how music interacts with learning processes and its effectiveness as a treatment for neurological disorders. In our lab, he is investigating how behavioral interactions with adult song tutors predict learning in young zebra finches.

Undergraduate Honors Student

Katerina is a Psychology major. Last semester she worked with the Grady Trauma Project on a large-scale study on PTSD. She leads a mental health awareness club at Emory. In our lab she is analyzing the literature on sex disparities in mental health treatment.

Undergraduate researcher

Naomi is a 3rd-year majoring in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology. She is broadly interested in both neuroscience and psychology. In our lab, she is analyzing recently published literature to find out how neuroscientists are currently testing for and reporting sex differences.