I’m originally from Toronto, Canada. I did my BSc and PhD at the University of Toronto, where I studied the neural circuits that regulate REM sleep phenomena and the sleep disorder narcolepsy. I then did my postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School, where I studied hypothalamic circuits that regulate feeding and how learning & motivation shape neural responses in the visual cortex. I started my lab at the University of Michigan in 2018.

The Burgess Lab is broadly interested in identifying the neural circuits and mechanisms that underlie fundamental behaviors. Current work focuses on the role of neuromodulators/neuropeptides in the regulation of sleep, non-homeostatic feeding, motor learning, and sensory processing.

When I am not in the lab I like to watch Formula 1, read science fiction, play chess (badly), and spend time with my daughters Eliza and Rosalind.

Professional Interests: Supporting investigator-driven studies and efficient day-to-day lab operations through research coordination, workflow organization, mentoring and supervising new students, protocol management, inventory and equipment oversight, and enhancing collaborative neuroscience research environments.

Hobbies/Fun Facts: I love travelling to new places and experiencing different cultures around the world, cooking, and gardening which brings me peace and happiness.

Professional Interests: I'm interested in how associations between cues and reward outcomes form and are maintained in the lateral visual association cortex using in vivo two-photon calcium imaging.

Hobbies/Fun Facts: I enjoy collecting and selling Pokemon cards, I’m a matcha enthusiast, and I like watching YouTube and twitch streams while I do work.

Professional Interests: I am a pre-med student working with Alvin and helping understand the physiological changes behind locus coeruleus norepinephrine release during visual learning. I am interested in neurology and how public health intersects with clinical medicine!

Hobbies/Fun Facts: I enjoy running in my free time, baking (fun fact I used to have a cookie business), and travel.

Professional Interests: I’m interested in how sleep promotes motor learning! I’m currently working on understanding the role of dopamine and acetylcholine in the striatum during sleep and after learning. I use fiber photometry and optogenetics in combination with behavioral and sleep recordings.

Hobbies/Fun Facts: I’ve been an Irish dancer for almost 20 years, most recently, with Leim Irish Dance, a club here at UM! I also love to bake; my specialties are garlic bread and banana muffins. In my free time, I’m working on visiting every park in Ann Arbor— I’ll be rating them all on a 30-point scale!

Professional Interests: I’m currently working with Alvin on studying locus coeruleus norepinephrine changes when it comes to visual learning! I am also applying to dental school and hope to one day do family or pediatric dentistry and academic/teach in dentistry.

Hobbies/Fun Facts: I discovered my love for dentistry from doing nails and working on histology here in the Burgess Lab! I also was an ice dancer for 10 years for UMich, played piano for 15 years and competed nationally, and am a Beli lover.

Professional Interests: I am a pre-med student and one day hope to be a surgeon! In lab, I work with Brandon on studying the mechanisms of REM sleep regulation.

Hobbies/Fun Facts: I love to watch crime documentaries, play the violin, and eat a lot of food!

Professional Interests: I’m interested in how monoaminergic systems regulate healthy and disordered sleep, with a focus on REM sleep phenomenon.

Hobbies/Fun Facts: Busy everyday watching sports, biking, and playing chess.

Professional Interests: I’m interested in individual differences in motor skill with a focus on basal ganglia cortico-striatal circuitry.

Hobbies/Fun Facts: I enjoy doing anything outside (running, hiking, boating, camping, etc.), I have an unhealthy love of coffee, and I enjoy trying new restaurants.

Sarah Golidy, MD: R1 @ the University of Toledo

Sierra McClaim, DVM, MPH, MS: Cardiology Resident @ Atlantic Coast Veterinary Specialists

Chris Phillips: PhD student @ UT Dallas

Annie Taylor: PhD Student @ UCSF

Tim Cha: Veterinary student @ Michigan State University

Courtney Meyers: PhD student @ UMich

Hannah Lyons: PhD student @ McGill University

Lorelei Baron: PhD student @ UMich

Mohammed Rasheed: MD candidate @ Chicago Medical School

Kaan Gurun

Lexi Faulkner, PhD: Evident Scientific

Katie Furman, PhD: Michigan Medicine Fellow

Robert Zhang

Katlynn Emaus, PhD: Postdoc @ University of Colorado

Makaila Furderer, MS: Physical Therapy Technician

Joey Sanjya

Pio Lee: MD Candidate @ Cornell University

Allie Mallouk

Drew Michelini: Software Engineer

Lucia Kim: MD Candidate@ University of Michigan

Swathi Karthik: PhD @ Stony Brook University

Rayna Reddy: MD Candidate @ University of Queensland

Elizabeth Pappas: MD Candidate @ University of Oklahoma

Katie Chang: MD Candidate @ Johns Hopkins

Selina Li: PhD student @ the University of Michigan

Jack Evans: MD Candidate @ Oakland University

Anna Goforth: Master’s student @ University of Wisconsin-Madison

Austin Chen

Sarah Fechtali: Undergraduate at UT Permian Basin

Victoria Ortiz: Lab technician @ Harvard Medical School

Natasha Selektor

Amulya Jonnalagadda: Medical Assistant

Chris Wierenga

Eitan Frankowitz: Associate Researcher @ Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine

Alexandra Jack

Elena Fernandez