People
Principal Investigator
Ryoichi Teruyama
Associate Professor CDIB Division
PhD: University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1998
Email: rteruyama@lsu.edu
Phone: (225) 578-4623
Office: A212 Life Sciences Building Annex
Lab: 254/256/258 Life Sciences Building
Graduate Students
Bandana Ghimire (Ph.D. student)
email: bghimi8@lsu.edu
M.S.: West Virginia State University, 2017
Bandana is investigating the regulation of oxytocin neurons by oxytocin receptor expressing neurons in the Perinuclear Zone in the Hypothalamus.
Armita Abdollahi Govar (PhD student)
email: aabdol1@lsu.edu
M.S.: Lamar University, Beaumont, TX
Armita is investigating the plasticity of oxytocin receptor expressing neurons in the medial preoptic area in response to lactation.
Current Research Personnel
Hiba Hassan (Honors College Thesis).
Project title: Characterization of Oxytocin Receptor Expressing Taste Receptor Cells
Lab Alumni
Abigail Randolph (Honors College Thesis 2022, received Outstanding Honors Thesis Award)
Project title: Characterization of Oxytocin Receptor Expressing Cells in the Intestinal Mucosa
Lindsey Hall (Honors College Thesis 2022)
Project title: Sexually Dimorphic Expression of OXTR in the Adipose Tissue
Kaustubh Sharma (Ph.D, 2021)
email: ksharm2@lsu.edu
Kaustubh grew up in Kathmandu, Nepal. He came to the United States (2007) and earned his B.Sc. (2011) in Biology from Louisiana State University. After his undergraduate studies he worked as a Research Assistant at a biopharmaceutical manufacturing company, TransGenRx, to produce protein-based drugs by using avian cell. He joined the Ph.D program (2014) at Louisiana State University and is currently focused on understanding the role of estrogen-dependent sexually dimorphic oxytocin receptor-expressing neurons in the hypothalamus. As a soccer fanatic, he watches or plays soccer whenever he can; sometimes even inside the lab.
Jack Green (Honors College Thesis, 2021)
Project Title: Identification of cell type expressing oxytocin receptor in the retina.
Madigan M Reid (undergraduate researcher)
Madigan investigated the effect of oxytocin on oxytocin neurons using Calcium Imaging technique.
Emaya M. Moss (the Louis Stokes Louisiana Alliance for Minority Participation program)
Emaya is investigating allele-specific expression of oxytocin receptor in the brain.
Anna Rawls (Honors College Thesis)
Project Title: TBA
Danielle N Ledet (Honors College Thesis)
Project Title: TBA
Natalie J. Mills (PhD 2018)
Thesis Title: Regulation of epithelial sodium channels in vasopressin neurons in the hypothalamus.
Natalie is the leading author of our publications in Physiological Reports and Neuroscience.
Masudul Haque (Postdoc 2011-2016)
Masudu is the leading author of our publication in Journal of Neuroendocrinology .
Florencia Scaglia Drusini (Honors College Thesis 2017)
Project Title: Oxytocin receptor expressing cells in peripheral organs.
Ryan LeBlanc (NIH Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program, 2015-16)
Project Title: Sexually Dimorphic Oxytocin Receptor Expressing Neurons in Mouse Brain. *received award at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Student for poster presentation.
Meagan Moore (NIH Bridges to the Baccalaureate Program 2015)
Project Title: Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay of mineralocorticoid receptor binding sites in the γENaC gene (Scnn1g) in the supraoptic nucleus. *received award at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Student for poster presentation.
Meagan is an undergraduate student coauthor of our publication in Neuroscience.
Katherine M Lawless (Undergraduate researcher 2015)
Project Title: Whole-Hypothalamus Imaging of Oxytocin and Vasopressin Neurons with Single-Cell Resolution.
Ella D. Baus (undergraduate researcher 2015)
Project Title: Effect of aldosterone on the expression of ENaC in vasopressin neurons
Richard Guidry (Honors College Thesis 2015)
Project Title: The Effect of Dietary Salt Intake on the Subcellular Distribution of Epithelial Na+ Channels in Vasopressin and Oxytocin synthesizing Neurons in the Rat Hypothalamus (selected as a recipient of an Honors College Outstanding Thesis Award)
Kerry Smith (The Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program 2015)
Thesis Project: Cell Type Specific Expression of Oxytocin and Vasopressin in Magnocellular Neurosecretory Cells in the Hypothalamus.
Remi Wilson (Honors College Thesis 2013)
Project Title: Localizations of 11ß-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenase Type 2 and Mineralocorticoid Receptors in the Rat Hypothalamus.
Remi presented her work at the Experimental Biology meeting in Boston 2013.
Katie Huang (LA-STEM undergraduate researcher 2015)
Project Title: Effect of Dietary Salt Intake on Epithelial Na+ Channels (ENaCs) in the Hypothalamus of Dahl Salt-Sensitive Rats.
Katie presented her work at the Society for Neuroscience Meeting in Washington DC 2014. She is also an undergraduate student coauthor of our publication in Physiological Reports.
Yiwei Gao (Summer Internship Program Dept. Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University 2013), Project Title: Immunocytochemical localization of GnRH neurons in the Alligator Brain.
Sarah Pederson (Undergraduate researcher 2012)
Project title: Transient receptor potential canonical type 4, 5, and 7, in the male rat hypothalamic supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei.
Sarah presented her work at the Society for Neuroscience in New Orleans 2012.
Narine Wandrey (HHMI summer research internship, Biology Dept. University of Dallas,
2011)
Project Title: Immunocytochemical Localization of Mineralocorticoid Receptors in the Hypothalamic Supraoptic and Paraventricular Nuclei.
Narine is an undergraduate student coauthor of our publication in American Journal of Physiology.
Jeff Hebert (Undergraduate researcher 2010)
Project title: Immunocytochemical localization of TRPM4 in Oxytocin and Vasopressin Synthesizing neurons in the hypothalamus.
Lori Wilson (Undergraduate researcher 2010),
Project Title: Immunocytochemical localization of Epithelial Na+ Channel Subunits in Vasopressin Synthesizing Neurons in the Hypothalamus. Lori is an undergraduate student coauthor of our publication in American Journal of Physiology.