Past Laboratory Members

Laboratory Manager

Matthew Selby graduated from UO in the Spring of 2018 with a BS in Biochemistry. He originally joined the Sullivan lab, our neighbors down the hall, not long after graduation, but transferred to managing the Huxtable laboratory in February 2020. In June 2021, he had a bittersweet parting with the Huxtable lab, leaving for a PhD program in Nutritional Sciences at Rutgers University. He is very excited for the future, but cherishes the time spent working with the Huxtable group and values the experiences made and friendships forged with the other lab members. He misses the team in Pacific 111, and they miss him!

Courtney Guenther earned her B.S. in Biochemistry from Clemson University in South Carolina and her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She taught Anatomy and Physiology at Horry Georgetown Technical College, where she also served as department chair. She then worked as an assistant professor at Winthrop University, where she also served as the biology internship coordinator and developed a cognitive neuroscience research program before joining the Huxtable lab at the University of Oregon in 2023.

Graduate Students

Austin Hocker earned his B.S. in Exercise Science from Linfield College and his M.S. in Human Physiology at the University of Oregon. He joined the Respiratory Neurophysiology and Plasticity lab in Summer 2015 and graduated with his PhD in Spring of 2019.

Nina Morrison earned her B.S. in Human Physiology from the University of Oregon in 2015. She joined the Respiratory Neurophysiology and Plasticity lab in 2016 and graduated with her Master’s degree in winter of 2020.

Robyn Naidoo graduated from the University of Oregon in 2018 with a B.S. in Human Physiology. She joined our laboratory in the summer of 2020, a challenging time to begin graduate school, yet she quickly immersed herself in research despite the work restrictions stemming from COVID-19. Robyn’s primary research project was investigating the effects of an adult inflammatory challenge following neonatal inflammation on breathing control. She also worked on a project with Emilee McDonald examining alterations in opioid receptor expression in the respiratory rhythm generating center of neonatal brains following maternal opioid use.

Kasey Drake earned her B.A. in Neuroscience from Vassar College in New York, before joining the Institute of Neuroscience at the University of Oregon to complete her PhD in Neuroscience. Her academic interests are focused on the neural circuits of behavior and physiological function. After obtaining her PhD, Kasey hopes to teach at a research university. Kasey completed a rotation in the Huxtable lab during the Winter 2024 term.

Sarah Beyeler earned her M.S. Cellular and Molecular Biology from SFSU, before joining our laboratory in 2018 to complete a PhD in Neuroscience. She studied mechanisms underlying how early life insults impair neural circuits controlling breathing. She became well-versed in microglia isolations, flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry, qPCR, and in vitro electrophysiology. Sarah successfully defended her PhD in spring 2024.

Undergraduate Students

Emilee McDonald was an undergraduate in Biology and joined our research group in the summer of 2020. Though COVID-19 lab occupancy restrictions initially prevented Emilee from working with most folks in-person, she established herself as a valuable member of the Huxtable team in short order. She completed immunohistochemistry experiments, with the assistance of Robyn, and worked on a published examining alterations in opioid receptor expression in the respiratory rhythm generating center of neonatal brains following maternal opioid use.

Deanna Plunkett joined our lab spring 2019 as an undergraduate in the Human Physiology department and Clark Honors College, and graduated Spring 2021 with a B.S. in Human Physiology. Her thesis focused on the effect of early life inflammation on later neural immune response, specifically how microglia number change in adults after a neonatal immune challenge.

David Albarran graduated from UO with a BS in Human Physiology in 2020.

Kelly Royster graduated from the UO with a BS (Hons) in Human Physiology in 2018 before continuing on to Pharmacy school.