Principal Investigator: Elizabeth Holly, PhD
Elizabeth is currently an Assistant Professor in the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience at Rutgers - Newark. She earned her PhD working with Klaus Miczek at Tufts University, where she investigated how social defeat stress causes long-lasting neuroadaptations in the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system to drive escalated cocaine self-administration and reinstatement in male and female rats. Her thesis earned the 2017 Outstanding Dissertation Award from Division 28 of the American Psychological Association. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship in Marc Fuccillo’s lab at the University of Pennsylvania, where she used a combination of molecular, viral, photometric, genetic, and electrophysiological approaches to investigate the contribution of local dorsal striatal circuitry to goal-directed behaviors. Her work in the Fuccillo lab was funded by the NIMH (F32 and K01). As an independent investigator, her work integrates her broad training to explore the role of the basal ganglia, and the distributed networks in which it participates, in goal-directed behaviors. In particular, she is interested in how stress across development alters decision making and underlying striatal function.
Postdoctoral Associate: Tsogbadrakh Bayasgalan, MD, PhD
Tsogbadrakh.bayasgalan@rutgers.edu
Tsogo (Tsogbadrakh) is currently a postdoctoral associate in the Holly lab in the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience at Rutgers University. He earned his PhD through the Stipendium Hungaricum Scholarship at the University of Debrecen, under the supervision of Dr. Pal Balazs. His doctoral work focused on "Neuromodulatory actions on ion channels of neuronal populations in the reticular activating system," combining ex vivo patch-clamp electrophysiology with optogenetics.Over the past seven years, Tsogo has developed a comprehensive skill set in slice electrophysiology and behavioral neuroscience techniques, including behavioral testing, stereotaxic intracranial viral delivery, and fluorescent/confocal microscopy. He also holds an MD, which he earned in 2012 in Mongolia, followed by a master’s degree. Tsogo is particularly interested in investigating the role of the pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN), raphe nuclei, and basal ganglia in neurodegenerative and neuropsychological disorders, as well as aging, with a focus on how these systems influence arousal, motivation, learning, and motor function changes.
Avantika Vivek, PhD Student
​​​​​​​​​​​avantika.vivek@rutgers.edu
Avantika is a PhD student in the Holly Lab in the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience. She earned her B.A. in Neuroscience at Reed College in Portland, OR. Her undergraduate thesis was on amphetamine reinstatement as modulated by orexin in female rats. She is interested in the mechanisms driving negative affect behaviors and goal-directed learning, primarily focusing on environmental, social, and addiction-based stress.
​
Melanie Roloff, PhD Student
Melanie is a PhD student in the Holly Lab. She graduated from Rutgers University-Newark with a double major in Neuroscience and Psychology. During her undergraduate studies in the Delgado Lab, she conducted research on smoking withdrawal-related stressors and associations in cigarette smokers. Melanie's current research interests focus on how early-life traumatic events influence neural circuitry and goal-directed behaviors, as well as exploring interventions to mitigate the effects of these events on stress-related disorders
​
Elly Ragone, Laboratory/Technical Assistant
Elly is a graduate from Oberlin College of Arts and Sciences with a Neuroscience Major and a Religion Minor. At Oberlin, she studied the effects of estrogen on microglia in relation to Alzheimer's in the Mariani Lab. She also worked in the Brain and Behavior Lab at Indiana University, where she isolated neural “events” in mice using fMRI data, which resulted in the paper Modular subgraphs in large-scale connectomes underpin spontaneous co-fluctuation “events” in mouse and human brains. In her free time, she enjoys rock climbing, knitting, and whitewater kayaking.
