Springs New Beginning
Farewell and Good Luck to Dr. Michael Cardenas.
Michael began in the Gothard Lab shortly into his undergraduate career and was entranced with the feedback loops that occurred between an animal's brain and body. He decided to remain in the lab in 2020 to complete a Ph.D. and delve further into understanding the communication between the brain and interoceptive signals. Over his many years in the lab he contributed to numerous projects, whether that be through providing coding expertise or direct monkey training, and gained authorship on various papers. His dissertation work involved training animals to tolerate uncomfortable stimuli in exchange for a reward, and evaluating how changes to their internal state would affect their tolerance. He defended his dissertation entitled “Neural and Autonomic Correlates of Approach Avoidance Conflict Following Interoceptive Manipulation” on April 14th, 2026. Dr. Cardenas plans to continue his research in a postdoctoral position in the Stauffer Lab at the University of Pittsburgh. While both humans and monkeys alike will miss him, we know it is time for him to share his skills with other labs, and gain even more knowledge on his path to becoming a principal investigator.
Too Soon Farewell to Alyssa Camp.
After too short a time in the crazy monkey circus, technician Alyssa has moved on from the Gothard lab. In her time, she succeeded at training multiple monkeys to make facial expressions on command, calibrate for viewing, and to hold her hands. We wish her great luck in her next ventures.
Celebrating the First of Many.
As the two undergraduates who worked tirelessly with Monkey Coco to complete the next stage in the Hierarchy project, Venkat Machavarapu and Mihir Shah presented their data in a poster titled “Estimating the status of others depends on the perception of self-status” at the Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Spring 2026 poster presentation. They will be continuing their work over the summer, replicating their results with new stimuli.
Congratulations to Spring 2026 graduates.
Mackenzie Lynch graduated with a B.S. in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science with a minor in Sociology. She received the Outstanding Senior award for her major. She will be taking a gap year in the Gothard Lab, learning more advanced skills including electrophysiology before applying to graduate school.
Amanda Feng graduated with honors with a B.S. in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science and minors in Criminology and Chinese. She will be taking a gap year, gaining more experience working full time with children on the autism spectrum.
Welcome to Summer 2026 Rotating students.
Elena Ferretti is an international grad student visiting from Italy to complete a rotation learning hands-on skills with macaques including electrophysiology.
Cameron Bolles is returning for his second rotation as part of his MD/PhD program, continuing work on the project he began during his first rotation, evaluating our monkey’s performance on a NonMatch to Sample task with interoceptive manipulation.
Nicholi Brown will be joining the lab through the Veterinary Summer Scholars Research Program (VSSRP), to gain hands-on research experience with monkeys prior to beginning his studies to be a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine.