LAB MEMBERS
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
CHRISTOPHER FORD, Ph.D.
christopher.ford@cuanschutz.edu
Chris received his BS in Biology and his PhD in Neuroscience. He did his graduate work with Peter Smith at the University of Alberta examining how peptide transmitters regulate the expression and function of ion channels in the sympathetic nervous system. He did his postdoctoral work with John Williams in Portland at the Vollum Institute, OHSU where he first became interested in the mesolimbic dopamine system. In 2011, Chris moved to the shores of Lake Erie to start his own lab at Case Western Reserve University in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics. In the fall of 2017 the lab packed up and moved west to the slopes of the rocky mountains to join the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. The lab’s main focus is on the synaptic mechanisms that regulate transmission by neuromodulators and changes in circuits that underlie neurological and psychiatric diseases.
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS
ANDREW YEE, Ph.D. (2019 - present)
Andrew.Yee@cuanschutz.edu
Andrew joined the lab March 2019. Andrew did his PhD in the Department of Physiology at the University of Auckland, NZ. His work examined the excitability of dopamine neurons in the SNc and VTA and the factors that contribute to their sensitivity to Parkinsonian toxins. Andrew is using the combination of electrophysiology and multiphoton imaging to examine how dopamine D2-receptors in the striatum synaptically encode the release of dopamine. He is currently supported by a postdoctoral NRSA (F32 DA51135).
B. ELIZABETH NIELSEN, Ph.D. (2020 - present)
Beatriz.Nielsen@cuanschutz.edu
Elizabeth joined the lab in September of 2020. Elizabeth did her PhD in the Department of Biology, Biochemistry and Pharmacy at the Universidad Nacional del Sur (UNS), Argentina. Her work examined structure function studies of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Elizabeth is examining cholinergic transmission in the striatum and aiming to define the changes that result following loss of dopamine in Parkinson’s disease. She is currently supported by a Parkinson’s Foundation Fellowship.
MATCH McGREGOR, Ph.D. (2022 - present)
Matthew.McGregor@cuanschutz.edu
Match joined the lab in May of 2022. Match did his PhD at UCSF with Alexandra Nelson. His work examined connectivity of striatal striosomes and matrix neurons within the basal ganglia. Match’s work is examining the role of dopamine in striatal dependent behaviors.
NIKOLAS BERGUM, Ph.D. (2024 - present)
Nikolas.Bergum@cuanschutz.edu
Nik joined the lab in January 2024. Nik did his PhD at Colorado State University in the Department of Biomedical Sciences. His graduate work focused on elucidating the contribution of retinal opioid receptors to opioid-induced sleep/circadian disruption. Nik’s current work is examining the dysfunctions in transmission that arise in animal models of Parkinson’s disease.
SWETA PRADHAN, MD/PhD (2024 - present)
Sweta.Pradhan@childrenscolorado.org
Sweta joined the lab in 2024. Sweta did her MD/PhD (MSTP) at OHSU in the Vollum Institute with John Williams where she examined the mechanisms of opioid induced desensitization. Sweta is currently doing her residency in Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Colorado during which time she gets to carve out time to be back in the lab. Sweta’s current project studies the cellular consequences of early life opioid exposure on mesolimbic circuits.
GRADUATE STUDENTS
JOY ADLER (2023 - present)
Joy.Adler@cuanschutz.edu
Joy joined the lab in 2023 as a PhD student in Neurosciences Graduate Program. Joy received her undergraduate degree in Neuroscience from Virginia Tech and then worked for a couple years at UT Austin doing neuroscience research. Joy’s current project is looking at the mechanisms and regulation by which dopamine receptors regulate the strength of glutamatergic synaptic inputs in the nucleus accumbens. She is currently supported by the NIH Training Grant (T32-NS099042)
ANNIE LY (2023 - present)
Annie.Ly@colorado.edu
Annie joined the lab in August of 2023. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College in 2016. She joined the PhD Behavioral Neuroscience Program at University of Colorado Boulder in Dr. David Root’s lab in 2020. Annie is spending a year in the lab to study co-transmission of glutamate and GABA from the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis to the arcuate nucleus. She is currently supported by a pre-doctoral NRSA (F31MH132322).
SELIN EKICI (2024 - present)
Selin.Ekici@cuanschutz.edu
Selin joined the lab in 2024 as a PhD student in the Pharmacology Graduate Program. She received her undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Emory University, where she worked in a lab conducting neuroscience research. She began the MSTP (MD/PhD) at CU Anschutz in 2021, is now looking at the mechanisms of dopaminergic signaling in the setting of antipsychotics for her PhD.
RESEARCH ASSOCIATES
TRACY FROST (2021 - present)
Tracy.Frost@cuanschutz.edu
Tracy joined the lab in fall of 2021. Tracy has been on campus working with OLAR as a veterinary technician since 2018. Tracy is an invaluable member of the lab, playing a critical role helping with the lab husbandry and assisting with projects in the lab.
LAB ALUMNI
KELSEY BARCOMB, Ph.D. (Postdoctoral Fellow/Instructor; 2018 - 2023)
Kelsey was a postdoctoral fellow that joined the Ford Lab in 2018. Kelsey was the recipient of postdoctoral NRSA (F32-DA43924) looking at the diversity of synaptic inputs to locus coeruleus neurons and was a Co-Investigator on our NIMH RF1 (MH123085). She then became an instructor in the Department examining how the overexpression of alpha-synuclein contributes to circuit disfunction in Parkinson’s disease. She was also the project manager for our ASAP team (Team Edwards). Following her time in the lab she was recruited to be a Project Manger for BD2 and the Milken Institute.
SHENG GONG, Ph.D. (Graduate Student; 2017 - 2023)
Sheng was a PhD student in the lab who joined the lab in 2017. After earning his bachelor’s degree from Jilin University, Sheng joined the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at Case Western Reserve University. Sheng’s thesis focused on understanding how dopamine signals are encoded by D2-receptors across mesolimbic and striatonigral circuits and identifying the molecular changes in D2-receptor signaling that arise in cocaine addiction. Sheng is currently doing his postdoctoral training with Joshua Dudman at the HHMI Janelia Research Campus.
SARAH ZYCH, Ph.D. (Graduate Student; 2017 - 2022)
Sarah was a MD/PhD student in lab in the UC Anschutz MSTP and Neuroscience Graduate Program. Sarah studied co-transmission of GABA and dopamine from dopamine terminals in the striatum looking at how the co-release is modulated at nigrostriatal synapses. She was supported by a predoctoral NRSA (F30 DA48543). After completing the MD phase of her MSTP degree in 2024 she moved to California and is now doing her residency in Neurology at UC Davis.
YUAN CAI, Ph.D. (Graduate Student; 2016 - 2020)
Yuan was a PhD student and joined the lab in January of 2016. He graduated from Capital Medical University in China in 2014 with a Bachelors degree in Medicine. Yuan was interested in understanding how substantia nigra dopamine neurons regulate the dynamics of cholinergic interneuron activity and how the changes in dopamine-glutamate co-transmission are altered in Parkinson’s disease. After graduating Yuan joined Michael Halassa’s lab at MIT and is now a Scientist at Vizgen.
APHRODITI MAMALIGAS, Ph.D. (Graduate Student; 2012 - 2018)
Didi was a PhD student in the lab. Didi did her undergraduate at Case Western and joined the lab initially as a technician before starting her PhD in Neurosciences. Didi was interested in understanding how muscarinic receptors in the striatum encode the release of ACh from cholinergic interneurons and how excitatory inputs regulate cholinergic activity and transmission in the striatum. After graduating Didi joined Anatol Kreitzer’s lab at the Gladstone Institute and Zach Knight at UCSF for her postdoctoral work. She is currently at MapLight Therapeutics.
PAMELA MARCOT, Ph.D. (Graduate Student; 2013 - 2017)
Pam was a MD/PhD student. Pam did her undergraduate at Wake Forest in 2010 and joined the lab as part of the MSTP program after completing her first two years of medical school. Pam studied how striatal dopamine release leads to the activation of D2-receptors and how drugs of abuse differentially alter dopamine receptor signaling in the dorsal striatum and nucleus accumbens. After graduating Pam did her residency in Neurology at UCSF and is now a postdoctoral fellow at UCSF with Alexandra Nelson.
NICHOLAS COURTNEY, PHh.D. (Graduate Student; 2011- 2015)
Nick was the first graduate student to join the lab. Nick did his undergraduate and masters degrees at Case Western. Nick started in lab in the fall of 2011 and his thesis work examined the synaptic mechanisms by which local somatodendritic circuits in the VTA, LC and dorsal raphe operate. After graduating Nick did his post-doctoral work in Ed Chapman's lab at HHMI University of Wisconsin and is now a Senior Scientist at Promega.
ANDREA BOTELLO. Andrea was a research technician from 2020-2021 who helped with the lab husbandry
CAM WASCHKE. Cam was a research technician from 2019 to 2020 before she had to move out of state after her husband’s job got relocated.
MICHAEL GRYBKO. Mike was a research technician and lab manager who was in the lab from Jan 2018 until Jan 2020.
SUHANTI BANERJEE. Suhanti was our research technician in the lab at Case Western from June of 2016 until the lab moved to Denver in in 2017.
SANTOSH COORG. Santosh was a Case Western undergraduate who spent the summer of 2016 in the lab as summer student. She worked with Pam doing fast-scan cyclic voltammetry and is now in medical school at Rutgers.
SAMANTHA SIMPSON. Samantha was an undergraduate summer student who spent two summers in 2011 and 2012 when she was at Cedarveill University. She then came back again for her research rotation during medical school at the Cleveland Clinic Learner School of Medicine. She is currently pursuing her residency.