Kelly Monk, Ph.D. monk@ohsu.edu
Senior Scientist and Principal Investigator

Kelly Monk is the co-director of the Vollum Institute. She received her B.S. in Biochemistry from Elmira College & her Ph.D. in Cell Biology from University of Cincinnati/Cincinnati Children's Hospital where she studied neuron-glial interactions in development & disease models. Kelly performed postdoctoral studies at Stanford University from 2006–2010. In 2011, she joined the Department of Developmental Biology at Washington University School of Medicine and was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2016. Kelly joined the Vollum Institute in 2017 as a senior scientist. She was named director of the Vollum/OHSU Neuroscience Graduate Program in 2018.

Suhail Akram akram@ohsu.edu
Research Assistant 2

Postdoctoral Fellow

Saul received a B.A. in Neuroscience from Lake Forest College in Illinois. He next joined the Post-Baccalaureate – PREP program at Northwestern University working with Dr. David McLean, studying the innervation patterns of motor neurons in larval zebrafish. He then earned a Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis while working with Dr. Martha Bagnall, studying the developmental and connectivity patterns of spinal interneurons in the larval zebrafish spinal cord. Saul is now studying the impact of astrocytes on locomotor circuits in the Monk lab.

Cody Call, Ph.D. callc@ohsu.edu
Postdoctoral Fellow

Cody received a B.S. in Psychology and Biology from Florida State University working primarily with Dr. Richard Hyson on activity-dependent neuron survival in the developing auditory system. He next earned a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University under the mentorship of Dr. Dwight Bergles, where he investigated the dynamics and specificity of cerebral cortex remyelination using two-photon in vivo imaging in adult mice. Cody is now studying glia-glia interactions regulating myelination in the zebrafish as a postdoctoral fellow in the Monk lab.

Hannah Collins collinha@ohsu.edu
Graduate Student, Neuroscience Graduate Program

Hannah received her B.S. in Cellular Molecular Biology with a minor in psychology from Humboldt State University, on the beautiful northern coast of California, in 2015. There she studied the role of asymmetric cell division of neural stem cells in the initiation and progression of glioblastoma. After graduating she joined the lab of Dr. Claudia Petritsch at UCSF as a California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Bridges Fellow, continuing her work on asymmetric cell division, this time in oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs). In 2016 she joined the lab of Dr. Ben Barres at Stanford University as a research technician working on creating defined culture system for microglia. Hannah joined the Neuroscience Graduate Program in 2018 and the labs of Dr. Ben Emery and Dr. Kelly Monk in 2019. With this co-mentorship she hopes to use the combined power of zebrafish and mouse models to understand the regulation and maintenance of central nervous system myelination.

Adam Coombs, coombsa@ohsu.edu
Graduate Student, Neuroscience Graduate Program

Adam received a B.S. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from the University of California, San Diego in 2016. During his time in California, he worked his way up from undergraduate intern to research assistant in the lab of Ardem Patapoutian at Scripps Research/HHMI. Adam worked on various projects centered around mechanosensitive ion channels, and spanning from plant biology to translational projects involving human subjects. In 2020, he joined the Neuroscience Graduate Program and entered into a co-mentorship with Ben Emery (OHSU Jungers Center) and Kelly Monk to study the mechanobiology of myelinating glia.

Armani Del Franco, Ph.D. delfranc@ohsu.edu
Postdoctoral Fellow

Armani received a B.S. in Biology from Arizona State University working primarily with Dr. Cassandra Gipson-Reichardt on synaptic plasticity in nicotine addiction. He then earned a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Minnesota. During his Ph.D., under the mentorship of Dr. Eric Newman, Armani investigated the role of astrocyte calcium signaling in neurovascular coupling and capillary dilations of the awake, behaving mouse. He also studied the impact astrocyte β-adrenergic receptor signaling had on influencing pyramidal neuronal NMDA receptor activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, and revealed that increasing astrocyte volume with β-adrenergic receptor agonists reduces the recruitment of neuronal extrasynaptic NMDA receptors. Armani joined the Monk lab in July 2023 to study astrocyte morphogenesis and how their physiology influences neuronal circuits in the developing brain.

Ryan Doan, Ph.D. doanr@ohsu.edu
Postdoctoral Fellow

Ryan received his B.S. in Neuroscience from Saint Louis University. He then worked as a research technician at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in the laboratories of Aaron DiAntonio and Stefanie Geisler, characterizing the function of Sarm1 in axon degeneration and peripheral neuropathies. Ryan earned his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from OHSU, where his dissertation work in Kelly Monk’s lab described an evolutionarily conserved role of Dock1 in Schwann cell development, maintenance, and repair. Ryan continues his research on the peripheral nervous system in the Monk lab using both zebrafish and mouse models. His work focuses on studying the molecular signaling and cellular dynamics regulating Schwann cells during development and remyelination and identifying the mechanisms responsible for their dysfunction in human disease states.

Raja Estes estesr@ohsu.edu
Graduate Student, Neuroscience Graduate Program

Senior Research Associate

Dongeun Heo, Ph.D. heo@ohsu.edu
Postdoctoral Fellow

Dongeun received her B.S. degree in Neurobiology from Georgetown University, where she first developed her interest in glial cells in the lab of Jeffrey Huang. She earned her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University, where she studied oligodendrocyte lineage cells using a diverse set of transgenic mouse lines in the lab of Dwight Bergles. Dongeun joined the Freeman and Monk labs in September 2021 and is interested in investigating the development and function of astrocytes using both fruit fly and zebrafish models.

Jiaxing Li, Ph.D. lijia@ohsu.edu
Postdoctoral Fellow

Jiaxing received a B.S. degree in Animal Science from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and then a Ph.D. degree in Molecular Biology with Dr. Catherine Collins from University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. During his Ph.D., Jiaxing investigated the regulation mechanism of a MAP kinase, known as Wallenda/dlk, which plays important roles in synapse development and axonal injury response. Using Drosophila embryos and larvae, his work revealed a previously unknown regulation mechanism that coordinates axonal cargo volume with axonal transport capacity. Jiaxing joined the Monk lab in November 2017 to study myelination in the central nervous system with a focus on the development of oligodendrocyte-lineage cells.

Tania Miramontes miramota@ohsu.edu
Graduate Student, Neuroscience Graduate Program

Tania received her B.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biochemistry with a minor in Biomedical Engineering from The University of Texas at El Paso in 2019. She was a BUILDing SCHOLAR and explored various research topics throughout her undergraduate years. Her undergraduate thesis work focused on understanding the mechanisms that promote sex differences in the reinforcing effects of nicotine. Tania joined the Neuroscience Graduate Program in 2019 and the Monk lab in 2020. She is interested in using the zebrafish model to understand neuron-glia interactions and glial development through various genetic and imaging techniques.

Tia Perry perryti@ohsu.edu
Research Assistant 2

Tia Perry received her bachelor’s degree in Zoology from Oregon State University in 2012. Prior to joining the Monk Lab at OHSU as a research assistant, she worked at the Oregon Zoo as the Oregon Silverspot Butterfly Program Coordinator. The Oregon Silverspot Butterfly is a federally threatened species, and she helped collect eggs from wild caught gravid females and raised the larvae for release on historical and newly created habitat. Tia also helped the Oregon Zoo Butterfly Conservation Lab raise and release federally endangered Washington Taylor’s Checkerspot butterflies. Before leaving the Oregon Zoo she participated in the first successful zoological breeding of the Oregon Silverspot Butterfly, which produced over 300 larvae that were released back into the wild. Tia joined the Monk lab in December 2020.

Graduate Student

Melanie Piller received a B.S. with highest distinction in biology in from the University of Virginia in 2019. As an undergraduate, she worked in the lab of Dr. Sarah Kucenas studying the roles of adenosine and glutamate signaling in glial development as a Beckman Scholar. Melanie joined the OHSU MD-PhD program in 2020, and the NGP and Monk lab in 2022, where she studies interactions between oligodendrocyte lineage cells and neurons during development.

Adriana Reyes reyesad@ohsu.edu
Research Associate

Adriana Reyes graduated with a B.S. in Animal Science from West Virginia University in 2014. She started off in the research field working for Charles River Laboratories at Janelia Farms in Ashburn, VA as a study support associate for various labs mainly on rodent studies. Soon after she moved to New York City to work at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center where she gained most of her zebrafish knowledge. After a couple of years in NYC, Adriana made her way to Pittsburgh, PA to work at the University of Pittsburgh. There she was able to work with a variety of species such as rodents, livestock, amphibians and non-human primates. Outside of work Adriana loves to travel and trying new food spots around the city.

Amanda Senatore senatore@ohsu.edu
Graduate Student

Amanda received her B.S. in Psychological Science and M.S. in Pharmacology from the University of Vermont. She first developed an interest in mechanobiology during her master's where she worked with Dr. Alan Howe studying the regulation of focal adhesions by PKA. Prior to beginning graduate studies at OHSU, she worked as a research technician with Dr. Osama Harraz and helped to define a role for Piezo1 as a mechanosensor in brain capillary endothelial cells. Amanda joined the Monk and Murthy labs in 2023 where she plans to combine electrophysiology, zebrafish, and mouse model systems to investigate the role of mechanically activated ion channels in myelination.