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                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 laboratories of Drs. Chi-Bin Chien  and Joseph Yost at the University of Utah to study the molecular mechanisms that regulate 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 an essential correction mechanism that establishes topographic ordering of retinal axons during development. She also developed new transplantation approaches and transgenic lines to study retinal axon development and topographic map formation.

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.​

Lexie  Schmidt
Post-doc
[email protected]

Lexie obtained her B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Neuroscience from Bowling Green State University, where she studied the biology of affect and motivation. She then joined the lab of Dr. Sadie Bergeron at West Virginia University to study the transcriptional control of visual circuit formation in zebrafish. She obtained her Ph.D. in Biology in 2022 and joined the lab in 2023 to pursue research on the formation of visual circuits.

Rachel Watkins
Zebrafish facility manager
[email protected]

Rachel Watkins obtained his B.S. in biology from the University of South Carolina Aiken and worked in the lab of Dr. April DeLaurier as an undergraduate student. She recently joined the lab to share her expertise and supervise the zebrafish facility. 

Tremayne  Ansani
Undergraduate student

Abigail Fern
Undergraduate student

ALUMNI

Post-docs

Dr. Cory Weaver (Lead Assay Development Scientist at SC DHEC)
​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​)

Zebrafish facility managers

Cory Donelson
Brian Wheeler
Quill Thomas (Graduate School, Florida State University)