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Delenn Flory

Delenn Flory is a second-year student pursuing a bachelor's degree in psychology with a research focus, alongside minors in criminal justice and interdisciplinary cybersecurity. Mentored by Dr. Nicholas Murray in the School of Public Health, her MARC project evaluates baseline performance on the Vestibular/Ocular Motor Screening (VOMS), a brief clinical tool used to assess balance and visual-motor function following a concussion. Her study compares baseline scores across males, naturally menstruating females, and females using monophasic oral contraceptives to help clinicians better interpret post-injury scores across sexes and hormonal profiles. 

Alexis Rivera

Alexis Rivera is a third-year undergraduate student at the Â鶹ÊÓƵ, pursuing an Honors Baccalaureate degree in Neuroscience (B.S.). She aspires to earn an M.D.-Ph.D. and become a physician-scientist, advancing the understanding of human health and development at a mechanistic level. In the Kidd Lab, under the mentorship of Dr. Thomas Kidd and Dr. Sahara Harrington, she investigates Slit signaling in the Drosophila melanogaster tracheal system, a highly branched network that shares conserved developmental signaling mechanisms with the human vascular system. These similarities make it a valuable model for studying angiogenesis-related processes, furthering her interest in developing therapeutic approaches targeting tumor growth and metastasis. Her research also focuses on the C-terminal fragment of Slit (Slit-C) and its potential roles in cellular signaling and metabolic regulation. She is currently developing an approach using tissue-specific proximity labeling to identify potential binding partners of Slit fragments. Through this work, she has gained experience in molecular cloning, designing DNA constructs, genetic crosses, fluorescence microscopy, larval dissections, and phenotypic analysis. Outside the laboratory, Alexis enjoys mentoring students as a Biology and Genetics Discussion Group Leader and Anatomy Dissection Assistant, fostering curiosity and confidence in learning. 

Giana Brunetti

Giana Brunetti is an undergraduate student at the Â鶹ÊÓƵ, pursuing a degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology with a minor in Microbiology and Immunology. Under the mentorship of Dr. Mary Burtnick and Dr. Paul Brett, her research focuses on purifying capsular polysaccharides and recombinant proteins to support the production and testing of novel subunit vaccines against Burkholderia pseudomallei. Through this work, she aims to contribute to ongoing efforts at UNR to develop countermeasures to help prevent disease in regions where this bacterial pathogen is endemic. Giana looks forward to sharing her findings at future scientific conferences and pursuing a career in biomedical research. 

Jayden Jimmerson

Jayden Jimerson is a third year undergraduate student pursuing a BS in Neuroscience and a minor in Science, Mind, and Philosophy. His coursework is focused on biology and psychology with an emphasis on understanding perception and human minds. In the Pieces of Mind Lab, Jayden works under the supervision of Dr. Lescroart and graduate student Giselle Urquijo. The research Jayden is working on primarily focuses on understanding our perception of the world through the human visual experience. So far in the lab, Jayden has helped with labeling eyelids and pupils on subjects in order to improve tracking accuracy of data collected during experiments. Additionally, Jayden is currently working with his graduate student to gather data for a new experiment that has subjects walk around naturalistic environments while doing tasks in order to gather eye data to help better understand our visual experience. One day, Jayden hopes to be able to apply his knowledge of visual perception to better understanding dreams and our unconscious experiences as a whole.