Meet our amazing lab members.

Deborah Hegarty, Ph.D.

B.A. in Biology, Holy Cross College
Ph.D., Weill-Cornell Graduate School
I conduct behavioral and immunocytochemical studies         for the Aicher lab and our collaborators. My current      projects use light and confocal microscopy followed               by image analysis; I also have experience with electron microscopy. I am responsible for maintaining the lab            and training new personnel on techniques and instrumentation.

Madeleine Barrett

B.S. in Biology
Oregon State University
I assist in conducting neuroscience research within the Aicher lab and with collaborators.  For my current project, I label neurons for imaging and analysis via retrograde tracers or immunocytochemistry. These techniques allow us to study morphological and molecular changes to the cells in our models. 
 

Olivia Mack

B.S. in Biology
​Willamette University
​I support collaborations in research with other neuroscience labs with a specialization in electron microscopy. I process a variety of biological tissues with immuno-labelling for either transmission electron microscopy or three dimensional methods such as FIB-SEM or SBF-SEM to visualize cellular structures as well as the localization of labeled subcellular components.
Dennis Nguyen
Hannah Behrens
Undergraduate at
​Portland State University
B.S. in Biology
University of Oregon
 As a laboratory assistant I work on a variety of lab duties ranging from segmentation of SEM rod cells images to grading behavioral animal data.  The Aicher lab is also allowing me to conduct my senior thesis which researches the effects of resveratrol on post eye corrective surgery pain.
 I am the clinical research coordinator for our collaborative project with the Casey Eye Institute at OHSU and Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami. We are examining the effects of photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) and laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) on ocular surface health and persistent ocular pain. I recruit patients, conduct pain assessments, and collect tear samples to be analyzed by the proteomics team. We hope to discover biomarkers for post-surgical ocular pain. 
Our primary expertise is combining immunocytochemistry and microscopy.
We've never me​t a neuron we didn't love.

Corneal afferents

The nerves at the front of your eye mediate pain, but they also stimulate tear production and support ocular homeostasis.

Parvalbumin neurons

These fast-spiking interneurons are critical components in modulating learning circuits in the medial prefrontal cortex.  Their activity is modulated by extracellular matrix structures called perineuronal nets.
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