News

September 2025: Jordan Clayton joins the lab as an undergraduate lab assistant. Welcome Jordan! The lab shares its passion for Drosophila, optogenetics, and neuroscience with the public at BugFest.

August 2025: Kendall Lipsteuer is one of only two undergraduates asked to present her research in a talk at the Comparative Medicine Institute Annual Summit. She was also awarded the first place poster award. Many congrats Kendall! The lab says farewell to Morolake Okanlawon, who heads to George Mason University for her PhD in Bioinformatics. Congratulations Morolake!

July 2025: Breyton Hill is named the first place winner for the undergraduate student Video and Interactive category of the 2025 Envisioning Research contest for “Doublesex Neurons: The Architects of Attraction”. Congratulations Breyton!

Summer 2025: The lab welcomes three new undergraduate research assistants: Katie Mason (statistics), Kendall Lipsteuer (biology – IPN; recipient of CMI/UHP Summer Research Fellowship), and Avery Henson (biological engineering). Welcome all!

May 2025: The lab has three graduates: Ayush Pathak, Aniket Darp, and Sofia Abril De-Nicola. Congrats to all!

April 2025: Jacob Grodeon, Bioinformatics PhD student, joins the lab. Welcome Jake!

Spring 2025: Christa is interviewed by Ars Technica on how AI compares to living brains, and by her hometown newspaper on the impact of cutting federal science funding. The lab receives an Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research and Mentorship Award and a COS Research Initiative Fund Award.

February 2025: Emma Droste, PhD student, passes her prelim. Congrats on your hard work Emma!

January 2025: Jacob Grodeon, Bioinformatics PhD student, joins the lab for a rotation and Robin Waddell, undergraduate joins the lab. Welcome Jacob and Robin!

Fall 2024: Sarah Jeffers, Biology PhD student, completes a rotation in the lab and Sofia Abril-De Nicola, Biological Sciences undergraduate, joins the lab. Welcome Sarah and Sofia!

August 2024: Morolake Okanlawon, recent graduate from Mississippi Valley State University, joins the lab as a research technician. Welcome Morolake!

Summer 2024: The Baker Lab welcomes Master’s student Aniket Darp and undergraduate Honors student Breyton Hill. Welcome Aniket and Breyton!

May 2024: Alex is awarded the NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology (PRFB). Congrats Alex!

March 2024: Emma Droste is awarded the Henry E. Schaffer Teaching Award from the Genetics, Genomics, & Bioinformatics Graduate Programs. Congrats Emma!

March 2024: Christa is awarded the C.J. Herrick Award in Neuroanatomy from the American Association for Anatomy.

January 2024: Emma Droste is awarded the GAANN Molecular Biology Fellowship. Congrats Emma!

Fall 2023: The Baker Lab welcomes Master’s student Ayush Pathak and undergraduate research assistant Emma Payne. Welcome Ayush and Emma!

August 2023: The Baker Lab welcomes our first postdoc Alexandra Venuto. Welcome Alex!

Summer 2023: Emma Droste is selected to attend the Cold Spring Harbor Drosophila Neurobiology course. Congrats Emma!

Feb 2023: Genetics and Genomics PhD student Emma Droste joins the Baker Lab for her PhD. Welcome Emma!

Jan 2023: The Baker Lab welcomes our first undergraduate research assistants, Morgan Cumberland and Juman Odeh. Welcome Morgan and Juman!

Dec 2022: The Baker Lab welcomes brave graduate student Emma Droste for a hybrid rotation!