Fabienne E. Poulain
                   Principal Investigator
                   [email protected]

​Dr. Poulain obtained her PhD in Neuroscience from the University Paris 6-Pierre et Marie Curie in France where she  studied  the roles of the microtubule-regulating proteins stathmins in neuronal morphogenesis. She then joined  the labs of Drs. Chi-Bin Chien  and Joseph Yost at the University of Utah to study the molecular mechanisms that control axon guidance and pruning in vivo using the zebrafish visual system as a model. Her work led to the discovery that selective axon degeneration is essential for proper topographic ordering of retinal axons during development. She also developed new transplantation approaches and transgenic lines to study the development and maintenance of the visual system.

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Trevor Moreland
Graduate student
[email protected]

Trevor obtained his B.S. in Biology from Erskine College in South Carolina. His experience as a research technician at the Greenwood Genetics Center motivated him to pursue a PhD in neuroscience at UofSC. Trevor joined the Poulain lab in 2021 and is studying the cellular and molecular mechanisms of circuit wiring during brain development.

Brian Kessler
Graduate student
[email protected]

Brian obtained his B.S. in Biological Sciences with a minor in Microbiology from Clemson University, where he worked in the lab of Dr. Samantha Price studying the effects of habitat on the evolution of teleost morphology. He then worked as a technician at Aalto Scientific, Ltd. in Eatonton, GA and the Clemson University Center for Human Genetics in Greenwood, SC. Brian joined the lab in 2023 and is studying the genetic, molecular, and cellular factors regulating topographic map formation.​

Jackson Councilman
Zebrafish facility manager
[email protected]

Jackson obtained his B.S. in Neuroscience with a concentration in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of South Carolina. He worked in the lab of Dr. Dan Speiser as an undergraduate student before joining the lab in summer 2025 to share his expertise in behavior and supervise the zebrafish facility. 

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Layla Latefi
Undergraduate student

Abigail Williams
Undergraduate student

Madeline Falk
Undergraduate student

Sophia Flanagan
Undergraduate student

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ALUMNI

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Post-docs

Dr. Lexie Schmidt (Associate Research Scientist. Frenesius Kabi USA)
Dr. Cory Weaver (Director of the Virology and Serology Division at the South Carolina Public Health Laboratory)
​Dr. Tine Verreet (​Senior Consultant Grants & Incentives for Moore, Belgium)

Graduate  students

Olivia Spead (Neuroscience Tissue and Cell Biologist at GlaxoSmithKline-GSK, Collegeville, PA).

Undergraduate students

Kate Roge-Jones (MUSC)
Izlen Peksenar
Joshua Wiltse
Brianna Hegarty (Graduate School, Georgia Institute of Technology)
Bradley Brodie (Medical School, MUSC)
Madison Boylan (Medical School, Mercer University)
​Ryan Woodard (Medical School, UofSC)
​Rosemary Neigenfield (Graduate School, NYU)
​Leila Nguyen (Medical School, UofSC)
​Jacob Espinoza
Tucker Hadley (Medical School, MUSC)
Eesha Gurav (Medical School, UofSC)
Anna Raffo (Vital Care EMS, Peidmont, SC​)
​Abigail Fern (Graduate School, Drexel University)
​Tremayne Ansani (Medical School)

Zebrafish facility managers

Cory Donelson
Brian Wheeler
Quill Thomas (Graduate School, Florida State University)
Rachel Watkins
Mia Flack (Graduate School, Northeastern University)