Spring 2024

  • Rafael Gutierrez, UChicago undergraduate, joins the lab

Winter 2024

  • Emily Hendricks (DRSB) rotates in the lab

Fall 2023

  • Hagerah Malik (MSTP-CON) joins the lab
  • Robin Mitchell (CON) and Vasudha Aher (DRSB) rotate in the lab
  • Annika unconditionally passes her qualifying exam

Summer 2023

  • Greaney et al., “Distinctive features of the central synaptic organization of Drosophila larval proprioceptors” is published in Frontiers in Neural Circuits
  • Dylan Cook (GGSB) rotates in the lab
  • Oscar Hernandez from Cal State Fullerton (MGCB REU program) and Michayla Hatcher from UChicago Laboratory Schools (Summer Link program) perform summer research in the lab

Spring 2023

  • Sam unconditionally passes their qualifying exams
  • Bianca Campagnari graduates from UChicago with a senior research honors thesis from the Heckscher Lab
  • Grace and Nicolas are both awarded DNUFO fellowships for summer research

Winter 2023

  • Grace is awarded the Quad Undergraduate Research Fellowship
  • Karen Velez (CMB) rotates in the lab

Fall 2022

  • Ellie is promoted to Associate Professor with tenure
  • Zarion unconditionally passes his qualifying exams
  • Nicolas Zerda and Grace Hu, UChicago undergraduates, join the lab
  • Sam is appointed to the Genetic Mechanisms & Evolution training grant

Summer 2022

  • 2022 CSHL course: Drosophila Neurobiology: Gene, Circuits & Behavior. Ellie- Lecturer/Lab Coordinator; Jake and Deeptha- TAs
  • 2022 UCSB KITP QBio summer research course: Neurophysics of Motion. Ellie- Instructor; Marie- TA
  • Sam Swank (DRSB) and Annika Sharma (CON) both join the lab
  • Zarion is re-appointed to the DevBio training grant
  • Bianca gets a NESSTP summer fellowship
  • Wang et al., “Sequential addition of neuronal stem cell temporal cohorts generates a feed-forward circuit in the Drosophila larval nerve cord” is published in eLife

Spring 2022

  • Julia Meng wins the CMB graduate program award for best PhD thesis
  • Jake is awarded an NRSA graduate fellowship
  • Sam Swank, DRSB graduate student rotation
  • Brandon Chew, CMB graduate student rotation
  • Yiqin Gao graduates from UChicago with a senior research honors thesis from the Heckscher Lab
  • Blogpost “Snapshots in Neuroscience” is published about Zarion’s eNeuro paper

Winter 2022

  • Annika Sharma, CON graduate student rotation
  • Casey Dubose, CMB graduate student rotation
  • Zarion Marshall publishes “The role of even-skipped in the Drosophila larval somatosensory circuit assembly” in eNeuro

Fall 2021

  • Julia Meng gets an honorable mention for the Elkins Award (best thesis) at Neurobiology of Drosophila, CSHL meeting

Summer 2021

  • Zarion Marshall is put on the Developmental Biology training grant
  • Bianca Campari is a DNUFO summer undergraduate researcher

Spring 2021

  • Marie Greaney and her collaborator Maxime Lehman win the best presentation prize at the 2021 CNRS-Chicago symposium
  • Julia Meng is accepted for a post-doc in David Lyons Lab at the University of Edinburgh
  • Yiqin Gao is accepted into the Neuroscience Honors Program
  • Juan Zuniga graduates from UChicago with a senior thesis in Neuroscience from the Heckscher Lab
  • Zarion Marshall, CON graduate student, (re)joins the lab
  • Conor Lee-Smith, CMB graduate student rotation
  • Talia Friedman, UChicago undergraduate, joins the lab

Winter 2021

  • Dr. Julia Meng, the first Heckscher Lab graduate student, successfully defends her thesis!
  • Marie Greaney gets an NRSA F31 Fellowship
  • Julia Meng publishes her review article “Development of Motor Circuits” in Current Topics in Developmental Biology Special Issue on Neural Development
  • Rio Salazar, CMB graduate student rotation
  • Anali Migueles, DRSB graduate student rotation

Fall 2020

  • Deeptha Vasudevan, postdoctoral researcher, joins the lab
  • Zarion Marshall, CON graduate student rotation

Summer 2020

  • Jake Henderson selected for the Developmental Biology Training Grant for a second year
  • Yiqin Gao awarded a BSCD Summer Research Fellowship
  • Juan Zuniga awarded a Metcalf Summer Fellowship
  • Yi-wen Wang, PhD leaves the lab for a job in Taiwan
  • Zarion Marshall leaves the lab to become a UChicago Committee on Neurobiology graduate student in the fall

Spring 2020

  • Meng et al., “Temporal transcription factors determine circuit membership by permanently altering motor neuron-to-muscle synaptic partnerships” is published in eLife
  • Hannah Carr graduates from UChicago having done a thesis in the Heckscher Lab and is accepted at UChicago Pritzker School of Medicine
  • Sean Corcoran, DRSB graduate student rotation (socially distanced)
  • Juan Zuniga and Yaa Asante, UChicago undergraduates, join the lab

    Summer 2019

    • Jake Henderson, DRSB, joins the lab and is selected for the Developmental Biology Training Grant
    • Elise Paniel graduates with MS from University Paris, Diderot
    • 2019 CSHL course: Drosophila Neurobiology: Gene, Circuits & Behavior. Ellie- Lecturer/Lab Coordinator; Marie and Yi-wen- TAs.
    • Hannah Carr awarded International REU Program Fellow
    • Omar Kassem, an undergraduate, joins the lab and is awarded an Odyssey Scholarship and Summer Fellowship
    • Yiqin Gao, an undergraduate, joins the lab and is awarded a Developmental Neurobiology Undergraduate Fellowship

    Spring 2019

    • Marie Greaney gets an honorable mention for an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
    • Alden Hererra, former undergraduate in the lab, graduates from UChicago
    • Anthony Osuma, CON graduate student rotation

    Winter 2019

    • Jake Henderson, DRSB graduate student rotation
    • Rosteen Mansouri-Rad, CON graduate student rotation

    Fall 2018

    • Heckscher Lab R01 officially begins!
    • Yi-wen Wang, postdoctoral researcher, joins the lab
    • Marie Greaney, CON, joins the lab and is awarded the Pritzker Neurobiology graduate fellowship
    • Elaine Kushkowski, DRSB graduate student rotation

    Summer 2018

    • Annie Ullyot and Noah Brookes, UChicago undergraduates, join the lab
    • Alden Herrera and Hannah Carr get DNUFO summer fellowships
    • 2018 CSHL course: Drosophila Neurobiology: Gene, Circuits & Behavior. Ellie- Lecturer/Lab Coordinator; Julia Meng- TA.
    • Katie Bell graduates from UChicago with a BS having done a thesis in the Heckscher Lab and will attend graduate school at USC in the fall

    Spring 2018

    • Julia Meng gets an NSF GRFP graduate fellowship and is re-selected for MGCB training grant
    • Elise Paniel joins the lab
    • Grace Schultz, DRSB graduate student rotation
    • Erica Mezias, CON graduate student rotation

    Winter 2018

    • Marie Greaney, CON graduate student rotation
    • Khoi Nguyen, DRSB graduate student rotation

    Fall 2017

    • Meike Lobb-Rabe, CMB graduate student rotation
    • Julia Meng is selected for the MCB training grant
    • Julia Meng gives talks at the Drosophila Neurobiology Meeting, Cold Spring Harbor, and the UChicago Molecular BioSciences Retreat

    Summer 2017

    • Julia Meng, CMB graduate student joins the lab
    • Alden Herrera, UChicago undergraduate joins the Heckscher Lab
    • Hannah Carr, Odyssey Summer Fellow works in the lab and is selected to present at the 4th Annual UChicago Undergraduate Research Symposium
    • Machiah Gill, University of Miami undergraduate visits to do a summer project on motor neuron formation
    • Luis X de Pablo, University of Chicago Lab School Science Summer Link student spends time with us

    Spring 2017

    Winter 2017

    • Julia Meng, CMB graduate student rotation
    • Roy Morgan, CMB graduate student rotation
    • Hirono et al., “The Hunchback temporal transcription factor establishes, but is not required to maintain, early-born neuronal identity” is published in Neural Development

    Fall 2016

    • Harry Feng, DRSB graduate student rotation
    • Hannah Carr and Anthony DiGiovanni, UChicago undergraduates, join the Heckscher Lab
    • Sun and Heckscher 2016, “Using linear agarose channels to study Drosophila larval crawling behavior” is published in JoVE

    Summer 2016

    • Wanhao Chi, GGSB graduate student rotation
    • Katie Bell, UChicago undergraduate joins the Heckscher Lab
    • Zarion Marshall joins the lab as a Technician
    • Clark et al., “Functional genetic screen to identify interneurons governing behaviorally distinct aspects of Drosophila larval motor programs” is published in G3

    Winter 2016

    • Xiao Sun, DRSB graduate student rotation

    Fall 2015

    • Chris Wreden, PhD joins Heckscher Lab as a Research Assistant
    • Heckscher Lab opens in CLSC 915!