Lab Members
David Akalal – Postdoctoral Associate
dakalal@bcm.tmc.edu
David Akalal graduated from the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston with a Ph.D. in cell biology. His dissertation work under Dr. Gregg Nagle involved the cloning, expression, and characterization of MDGF (mollusk-derived growth factor), which is the first identified Aplysia growth factor. In the Davis Lab, Akalal is interested in further characterizing the roles of the different regions of the Drosophila mushroom bodies in the various stages of learning and memory.
Jacob Berry – Graduate Student
jaberry@bcm.tmc.edu
Jacob Berry graduated in 2002 with a B.S. in Computation Physics from the University of Texas at Austin. After working for two years in breast cancer research at Baylor College of Medicine and MD Anderson Cancer Center, he entered the Developmental Biology Program at BCM and is now nearing the end of his first year of his graduate studies. Jacob recently joined the Davis Lab and is, currently, exploring project ideas in memory and behavior using functional imaging techniques in a Drosophila model system.
Monica Buchanan – Graduate Student
mb139895@bcm.tmc.edu
Monica Buchanan graduated cum laude from Emory University in Atlanta with a B.S. in Biology. In the lab of Stephanie Sherman, she was involved with an epidemiological pilot study on Down's syndrome and thereby fulfilled her thesis requirements. In the Davis Lab Monica will be initiating a study on the role of NF1 in learning and memory.
Nada Catic – Laboratory Technician
ncatic@bcm.tmc.edu
Nada is our extremely dependable fly food maker. She joined us from her native land, Bosnia, in 2000.
William Krause – Graduate Student
wkrause@bcm.tmc.edu
William Krause graduated in 2001 with a B.S. in molecular biology from Vanderbilt University. After working for a year in the lab of Dr. Nancy Weigel, where he focused on the androgen receptor and associated coregulators, he joined the Davis Lab in 2004. Currently, he is working on mapping the responses of antennal lobe glomeruli to odors using a pH sensitive, fluorescent indicator localized to the antennal lobe by confocal microscopy.
Lynda Lynch – Administrative Assistant
lyndaa@bcm.tmc.edu
Lynda Lynch received her B.A. in Psychology from the University of St. Thomas, Houston, Texas. She has been with the Davis Lab since September 2002 and is responsible for the general administrative duties in the lab... and for building this spectacular website.
Alfonso Martin Pena – Postdoctoral Associate
alfonsop@bcm.tmc.edu
Alfonso Martin-Peña graduated in 2007 with a Ph.D. in Neurogenetics from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) at Madrid. His dissertation work at the Cajal Institute (CSIC) with Prof. Ferrus involved many aspect of the Drosophila Ellipsoid Body, from development of axonal guidance to the role of PI3K signaling pathway in synaptogenesis. He has joined, recently, to Davis lab where he is exploring the neuronal traces underlying memory extinction.
Ying Tan – Postdoctoral Associate
yingt@bcm.tmc.edu
Ying Tan received her Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Houston. Her doctoral studies focused on the characterization of a zebrafish clock mutant and the functional analysis of the zebrafish circadian system. She joined the Davis Lab in 2003 and is currently interested in understanding the role of the discs-large gene in Drosophila learning and memory.
Seth Tomchik – Postdoctoral Associate
tomchik@bcm.tmc.edu
Seth Tomchik graduated from the University of Miami in 2005 with a Ph.D. in Biology. His dissertation work with John Lu involved the function of efferent feedback in auditory signal processing. He went on to investigate the role of cell-cell communication in the gustatory system in the lab of Stephen Roper. In the Davis Lab, he is studying signaling pathways underlying learning in Drosophila using functional imaging.
Curtis Wilson – Research Technician
curtisw@bcm.tmc.edu
Curtis Wilson graduated from College of the Mainland with an Associates degee with an emphasis in Biology. He is currently attending the University of Houston Clear Lake pursuing a B.S. in Environmental Science. He has been in the Davis Lab for seven years and is the primary histotechnician for the lab. He is also responsible for maintaining the lab mouse colony.
Dinghui Yu – Instructor 
dyu@bcm.tmc.edu
Dinghui Yu received his Ph.D from the Institute of Biophysics, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing. After joining the Davis Lab, he began working on a research project to study the neural activity in the central brain of Drosophila using transgenically-supplied protein reporters and confocal and multi-photon microscopy.
Lin Zong – Research Technician
lzong@bcm.tmc.edu
Lin Zong received her B.S. from West China University of Medical Sciences. Her major was Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Design. She joined the Davis lab in 1997. Her major role is to assist on several lab projects using molecular and genetic techniques, as well as confocal and multiphoton microscopy. She constructed vectors for the gene-switch project and currently performs the microscopy for the Drosophila brain mapping project.