Research Services Core

Adriana Galvan received her PhD in Neurosciences from the Center of Research and Advanced Studies, National Polytechnic Institute, Mexico City, Mexico. She joined the labs of Drs. Smith and Wichmann in 2000, as a post-doc fellow, to study localization and functions of GABA receptors in monkeys. In 2009 she joined the Department of Neurology as junior faculty member.  Her research focuses on understanding neural transmission in the basal ganglia, both in normal and pathological conditions, using a variety of in vivo methodologies that include extracellular electrophysiological recordings, electrical stimulation, intracerebral microinjections, microdialysis and optogenetic technique.

Susan Jenkins graduated from the Medical University of South Carolina. Subsequentlym she held positions as a pathology supervisor at a children’s hospital, worked for a Dermatologist studying skin cancer, as well as in a large commercial laboratory. She joined Yoland Smith’s lab more than twenty years ago where she is now a senior research specialist. Her position involves an array of duties ranging from testing antibodies, cutting tissue, training students, immunohistochemistry study and others.

Jeff Pare graduated from Ste-Foy College in Quebec, Canada in 1989 as a Laboratory Technologist. He started working in Yoland Smith’s lab in 1992, and has been a laboratory supervisor for most of this time.  He is responsible for training and supporting members of the laboratory along with assuming the day-to-day operations of the lab. Additional responsibilities include maintaining two electron microscope facilities at the Emory Primate Center, and oversight of the use of the group’s confocal microscope. He is actively involved in almost all research projects carried out in the Smith laboratory.

Damien Pittard has an MS degree in Clinical Psychology from Capella University and is an AALAS-registered laboratory animal technician. He began working at Emory University in 2006 as an animal care technician at the Emory National Primate Research Center. He later joined the Wichmann lab in 2010 as an entry-level research specialist. He is experienced with behavioral assessments of the non-human primate PD model, calcium imaging and electrophysiology.