
Birdbrain Lab
Current Lab Members

Principal Investigator
Donna Maney
Dr. Maney received her PhD in Neurobiology & Behavior from the University of Washington in 1997 and did her postdoctoral work at Johns Hopkins University. She has been at Emory since 2002.

Postdoctoral Fellow
Nicole Baran
Nicole received her PhD from Cornell University, where she focused the neuroendocrine control of reproductive strategies in birds. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Ga Tech, where she investigated the neural and genomic basis of complex social behaviors of African cichlid fish. In our lab, Nicole is analyzing a previously understudied chromosomal rearrangement in white-throated sparrows.

Visiting Scholar
Isabel Fraccaroli
Isabel has an undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of Ferrara, Italy, where she also completed a masters thesis in Biomolecular Sciences and Evolution. She has worked with bumblebees, rats, mice, lizards, and of course, birds. In our lab, she is investigating the role of genetic variation in the evolution of social behavior.

Graduate Fellow
Kenzie Prichard
Kenzie graduated from the University of Montana in 2017. In her honors thesis there, she looked at how stress hormones affect parental behavior in tree swallows. She has also worked with woodpeckers and wolverines. Her field experience includes projects in South Africa and Tanzania. In our lab she is interested in the evolution of behavior and its neuroendocrine control.

Undergraduate Researcher
Megan Lagerquist
Megan is majoring in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology. After taking a course in social neuroscience, she joined our lab to explore these interests further. Currently, she is helping us start up a new project on the role of nonapeptide receptors in vocal development.