Lab members and collaborators

Austin Graves, PhD  |  Google Scholar  |  Orcid 

Austin received his PhD in Neuroscience from Northwestern University, where he worked with Nelson Spruston to explore how discrete cell types differentially process output from hippocampus. As a postdoc, he worked with Adam Hantman and Josh Dudman at the HHMI Janelia Research Campus. His work combined in vivo calcium imaging, silicon probe physiology, and super-resolution microscopy to study motor control circuits. Moving to Johns Hopkins in 2017, Austin joined Rick Huganir's lab as a Research Associate in the Dept. of Neuroscience. He used CRISPR/Cas9 genetics, in vivo 2p microscopy, and network learning analysis to image millions of individual synapses and track plasticity during learning. He is now an Assistant Research Professor in BME and a faculty member in the Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute at Johns Hopkins. 

In his spare time, Austin enjoys hiking, gardening, woodworking, raising chickens, and serving in the Cockeysville Volunteer Fire Company.  

Collin Warrick, Ph.D. 

Collin is a postdoc in the Graves Lab. He completed his PhD in Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences at Johns Hopkins in 2026, where he worked in Rick Huganir's lab in the Department of Neuroscience. 

Collin is broadly interested in psychopharmacology, particularly the effects of recreational substances on stress-related behaviors. In the Graves lab, he uses brain-wide Neuropixels recording to study changes in activity and functional connectivity underlying psychedelic experience and resilience to stress. In addition to evaluating ketamine- and cannabinoid-dependent changes to behavior, his background includes multiple molecular techniques applicable to pharmacodynamics such as primary neuron culture, high-resolution imaging, and protein purification. 

Growing up in Washington state sparked a love of the outdoors, which Collin continues to fulfill by taking his Jeep on fishing, camping, and trail-riding trips. He also loves a good story and game nights with friends. 

Ted Sawyer, Ph.D.

Ted is a Research Associate in the Graves and Sillé labs (JHU Bloomberg School of Public Health). Ted uses his expertise in whole-cell patch-clamp recordings and animal behavior to explore how neonatal exposure to heavy metal mixtures impairs physiological function later in life.  

Ted enjoys live music around Baltimore and role playing games with friends. 

Jonathan Brown, B.S. 

Jonathan received his B.S. In Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 2026, where he worked in the lab of Dr. Tilak Ratnanather, developing pipelines for studying structural changes in the limbic system and neocortex in first-episode psychosis. As a postbac in the Graves lab, Jonathan studies synaptic effects of amyloid-targeting therapies and compuational approaches for efficient data analysis.

In his free time, Jonathan enjoys running, failed crochet projects, and very slowly reading books.

Julia Ramos de Camargo

Julia was a CARES Scholar at Johns Hopkins during the summer of 2026, where she worked in the Graves Lab to study synaptic pathologies of Alzheimer's disease. She pioneered a novel tissue clearing protocol and used super-resolution confocal microscopy to image synaptic protein expression in a mouse model of amyloidosis. 

Julia is finishing her senior year at Stetson University in Florida, where she is majoring in Neuroscience. She is continuing to work remotely with our lab and will be presenting her data at several upcoming conferences, including BMES in Orlando and ABRCMS in Seattle. Julia plans to pursue a PhD in Neuroscience. 

We are recruiting graduate students interested in pursuing collaborative dissertation research within Biomedical Engineering, Neuroscience, and the Cross Disciplinary Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences (XDBio) at Johns Hopkins. 

Tim Harris, Ph.D.  |  Google Scholar 

We collaborate with the Harris lab to make whole-brain electrical recordings from behaving mice using Neuropixels probes. 

Tim is a Research Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins. In collaboration with the Janelia Research Campus and several other collaborators, Tim pioneered the development of Neuropixels, the most advanced silicon-probes to date. 

Meaghan Morris, M.D., Ph.D.  |  Google Scholar 

We collaborate with the Morris lab to investigate mouse models of Alzheimer's disease and tauopathies, and to develop novel image processing strategies to improve the effective resolution of neuroimaging in humans. 

Meaghan is an Assistant Professor in Neuropathology at Johns Hopkins. In addition to her clinical practice in pathology, she leads a basic research program focusing on understanding the molecular basis for Alzheimer’s disease and other age-related dementias, with the ultimate goal of identifying new therapeutic targets for Alzheimer’s disease treatment. 

Richard Huganir, Ph.D.  |  Google Scholar 

We collaborate with the Huganir lab to study how dynamic regulation of AMPA-type glutamate receptors governs synaptic plasticity, memory, and behavior. 

Rick is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, Director of the Neuroscience Department at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and is Co-Director of the Johns Hopkins Medicine Brain Science Institute. 

Gabrielle Coste, B.A.  |  Google Scholar 

We collaborate with Gaby and the Huganir lab to visualize endogenous AMPA receptor trafficking in behaving mice. 

Gaby worked in the Huganir and Graves labs as a postbac from 2020-2022 and is now a graduate student in the Neuroscience Program at Johns Hopkins. 

Kellie Tamashiro, Ph.D.  |  Google Scholar 

We collaborate with the Tamashiro lab to study how psilocybin alters social behavior and brain-wide neural circuits. 

Kellie is a Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins. Her lab studies animal models of stress, obesity, and eating disorders using a wide array of behavioral paradigms. 

Naveen Pandey, PhD

Naveen was a postdoc in the Graves lab from 2023-2025. Working closely with Dr Fenna Sillé's lab in the JHU Bloomberg School of Public Health, Naveen used whole-cell patch-clamp recordings, transcriptomic analyses, and animal behavior to uncover how neonatal exposure to heavy metal mixtures affected physiological function later in life. 

Evan Li, B.S. Neuroscience

Evan was an undergraduate researcher for two years in the Graves lab. He used stereotactic injections, IHC, confocal imaging, and many behavioral paradigms to study how synaptic plasticity encodes learning and memory. Evan graduated from Johns Hopkins in 2025 and is currently pursuing his M.D. at NYU. 

In his free time Evan enjoys practicing kendo, trying new foods, and spending time outdoors. 

Emily Rivera, B.S. Neuroscience

Emily was an undergraduate researcher for three years in the Graves lab. She studied synaptic pathologies of Alzheimer's disease in the APP/PS1 mouse model, using IHC and confocal microscopy to track progressive deficits in AMPA receptor expression and synaptic plasticity. 

Emily graduated from Johns Hopkins in 2024 and plans to pursue her M.D.

Sarah Jung, B.S. Neuroscience

Sarah was a research technologist in the Graves and Harris labs at Johns Hopkins. Sarah received her B.S. in Neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University and worked in the Huganir Lab as an undergraduate research assistant from 2020-2022. Sarah used Neuropixels probes to track neural correlates of alcohol seeking in the insula.

During her free time, Sarah enjoys visiting pastry shops, watching sunsets, playing violin, and reading mystery and dystopian novels. She is now pursuing her M.D. at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.