Lab Members

Dr. Yvonne M. Ulrich-Lai, PhD

Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Systems Physiology

Yve graduated with a BS in biology from Harvey Mudd College in 1994. She received a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Minnesota in 2002 under the mentorship of Dr. William C. Engeland, where she received a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Predoctoral Fellowship to study neural regulation of adrenal growth and function. She then pursued postdoctoral training with Dr. James Herman under the support of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Institutional NRSA Postdoctoral Fellowship. This was followed by NIH-supported (K01) training as a junior faculty with Dr. Steve Woods studying brain regulation of feeding behavior, metabolism and energy balance. Yve has been a faculty member in the College of Medicine at the University of Cincinnati since 2007.

Dana Buesing

Principal Research Assistant

Dana is the Ulrich-Lai lab manager. She has over 20 years of research experience, and has been in the Ulrich-Lai lab for the past 7 years. Dana is a key contributor to all lab projects.

Houda Nashawi

Graduate Student

Houda received her BS in Pharmacy from Kuwait University and a MS in Neuroscience from the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York. She is now a third year neuroscience PhD student. She is interested in understanding the neurological basis of anxiety and depression. In the Ulrich-Lai lab, she is studying the neurological basis of stress and stress resilience by food reward in rodent models, with a focus on neurocircuitry mechanisms.

Ivanka Rainer

Graduate Student

Ivanka is pursuing a PhD in Neuroscience graduate program. Ivanka received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Kentucky with a dual major in Neuroscience and Biology. Her research is focused on understanding how a history of palatable feeding alters brain endocannabinoid signaling.