Get to know the people behind the research.
Lauer Lab 2021 (From left): Madison Weinberg, Sergio Vicencio-Jimenez, Zandy Wong, Kali Burke, Sean Oddoye, Grace Capshaw, Nick Andresen, Amanda Lauer
AMANDA MARIE LAUER, PH.D.
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
I am a native of York County, Pennsylvania, home of rolling hills, hearty PA Dutch cuisine, and Harley Davidson motorcycles. I followed in my father’s footsteps and attended college at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, where I received my B.S. and M.S. in Psychology/Biopsychology. Instead of answering the call from friends with lucrative pharma jobs in the Philly area, I opted to become a poor graduate student in Bob Dooling’s Laboratory of Comparative Psychoacoustics at the University of Maryland. There I studied perceptual hearing deficits in canaries with a hereditary hearing loss and had the opportunity to learn about all manner of creatures—bugs, birds, bats, reptiles. I received my Ph.D. in Psychology/Integrative Neuroscience in 2006 and moved to Johns Hopkins to redirect my skills to study the mammalian auditory system. I completed postdoctoral fellowships with Drs. Brad May and David Ryugo, took an Instructor position, and then became an Assistant Professor at Hopkins in July 2013 and Associate Professor in 2019.
I live in Oella along the Patapsco River with my husband, a cat, and two rescued greyhounds. In my spare time, enjoy gardening, hiking along the river, and volunteering for greening efforts in my community. I am a junky for locally produced food, and I am constantly experimenting with various veggies and fruit in my own postage stamp garden.
Photo credit: Sandra Cryder
Madison Weinberg
Research Specialist ii
I am primarily interested in the effect of aging on the auditory system and what neural mechanisms come into play in order to combat age related hearing loss. My main focus in the lab is applying histological techniques to look at cochlear damage. Currently, I am using electron microscopy to examine cochlear synapses.
Catherine J. Connelly Graham, Ph.D.
Senior Research Scientist
My interests are in the neurobiology of hearing loss and mechanisms for hearing restoration.
Sergio vicencio-jimenez, PH.D
postdoctoral fellow
My work at the lab primarily focuses on two lines of research: First, I am interested in understanding how sensorimotor interactions contribute to auditory perception. Specifically, I am interested in investigating the role of the efferent auditory system in auditory perception. Along with this, I am also interested in understanding how the auditory system (especially the efferent) is altered during aging and how these alterations impact our hearing and cognition.
Grace Capshaw, PH.D
Postdoctoral fellow
I’m working on a project bridging the research interests of the Lauer lab in the School of Medicine and the Moss lab in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. My current focus is on auditory specializations for resistance to noise and age-related hearing loss. I am a comparative biologist at heart, and am interested in studying hearing mechanisms in diverse species to better understand the evolutionary history of the vertebrate auditory system.
KALI BURKE, PH.D
postdoctoral fellow
I am interested in understanding the consequences of traumatic brain injury and noise exposures on the peripheral and central auditory systems.
Jane Mondul, Au.D., Ph.D.
postdoctoral fellow
As a clinical audiologist and auditory neuroscientist, I am interested in understanding the effects of hearing loss on peripheral and central auditory function. My PhD work investigated the effects of noise-induced sensorineural hearing loss and cochlear synaptopathy on cochlear anatomy, auditory physiology, and hearing in noise abilities of nonhuman primates. My postdoctoral work will expand on this by investigating the effects of noise exposure on olivocochlear efferent function and how these affect auditory brainstem circuitry and hearing in noise abilities.
Alice Li
Undergraduate Student
My research focuses on incorporating deep learning algorithms with human temporal bone analysis.
Zandy Wong
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT
I am a second-year undergraduate (Class of 2024) studying neuroscience at Hopkins. In the Lauer Lab, I create auditory brainstem response thresholding algorithms and assist in forward masking/notched noise studies done in noise-exposed mice.
Tanvi Kosuri
Undergraduate Student
I am a member of the Hopkins Class of 2024 and plan on majoring in Public Health and the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology. My research interests include neurodegenerative diseases and traumatic brain injuries. My research projects include analyzing TBI mice brain sections and quantifying cell size and number and nucleus volume in AD mice.
Madhusudan Duwadi
Undergraduate student
I am Madhusudan Duwadi (Sudan), undergraduate student at New Jersey Institute of Technology in Biomedical Engineering and applied statistics program. I am summer 2021 intern at Lauer lab under CSM-SIP program. At Lauer lab, I study the effect of habituation in Acoustic Startle Response in laboratory mice. I am interested in neuroscience and biomedical data science, and I look forward to combining both for my PhD.
Precious Conteh
high school student
I am a high school senior at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute working with the Lauer Lab through a program at my school. I'm investigating the role of spiral ganglion neurons in hearing loss from sickle cell disease.
Bohan Zhang
Undergraduate Student
I am a third-year undergraduate student at Johns Hopkins University studying neuroscience. In the Lauer Lab, I prepare and analyze mice brain sections to investigate the physiological changes in the brainstem due to various forms of acquired hearing loss.
Amaan Siddiqui
Undergraduate Student
My name is Amaan Siddiqui and I am a junior studying anthropology and pre-medicine at JHU. In the Lauer Lab, I study spiral ganglion neurons in mice that have a combination of both age and noise-related hearing loss.
Sean Oddoye
Undergraduate Student
I am a current third-year undergraduate Neuroscience and Psychology and Brain Sciences double major. Currently, I am working on a project that makes use of neural reconstruction software to translate 2-D scanning electron microscope images of neurons and glial cells in the auditory system to their corresponding 3-D images. Through this work, we hope to arrive at a more complete understanding of the function astral glial cells have in the peripheral auditory system.
Nick Andresen
Resident
I am a T32 resident in the Department of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery. My current work is focused on anatomic changes to the mouse and human cochlea in age-related hearing loss.
Lab Alumni
Postdoctoral Students
Katrina Schrode (Data Analyst at Charles Drew University)
Yehyun Kim
Laurel Screven
Research Techs
Gail Larkin (now in the Immunogenetics lab at Hopkins)
Aikeen Jones (now at NIH)
Brian McGuire (now an independent business owner)
Hamad Javaid (MPH Student at George Washingtion University)
James Engel Jr (Research Specialist at University at Buffalo in the Xu-Friedman Lab)
Abhijit Roy
Omobolade Odedoyi
Ryan Reigel
Gregory McCarty
Med Students
Jordan Swift (UK, visiting student in 2014)
Prashant Singh (India, visiting student in 2016)
LiYang Tang (JHU SOM class of 2017, now ENT resident at USC)
Adrian Jimenez (JHU Undergraduate class of 2019, JHU SOM Class of 2024)
Dillan Villavisanis
Undergrads
Elennyel Correa (JHU scholar, neuroscience program)
Nazrawit Retta (JHU Undergraduate class of 2019, now with Teach for America)
Naasir Albright (Stevenson U class of 2019)
Lydia Gutema (JHU class of 2019)
Mark Scotto Di Vetta (JHU class of 2018)
Amy Schettino (Provost's Undergraduate Research Award winner, now at Yale SOM)
Ioan Lina (now a resident at JHU SOM Dept. of Otolaryngology)
Heather Graham (now a graphic designer at Indigo Ink; http://www.heatherjanegraham.com)
Phani Ghaddipati (JHU class of 2016; 2014 Google app contest winner)
Seal Bin Han (Provost's Undergraduate Research Award winner, JHU class of 2017)
Aditi Trevedi (JHU class of 2016)
Surekha Mullangi (JHU class of 2016)
William Yu (JHU class of 2014)
Nicholas Bell (JHU class of 2016)
Antonio Spina (JHU class of 2016)
Jessica Stuyvenberg (JHU class of 2011)
Judy Park (JHU class of 2011)
Alice May (now at Barnard University)
Garrett Brown
Lauren Brewster
Sabrina Rainsbury
Sarah Coreas
Ryleigh Board
Talia Feingold
High School Students
Sophie Thrippleton (UK)
2017 (from left: Kat Schrode, Ye-Hyun Kim, Amanda Lauer, Hamad Javaid, James Engel, Omo Odedoyin)
2015 (from left: Kat Schrode, AJ Jones, Brian McGuire, Gail Larkin)
2019 (From left: James Engel, Madison Weinberg, Laurel Screven)
2019 (From left: Sergio Vicencio-Jimenez, Madison Weinberg, Laurel Screven, Amanda Lauer, Ryan Reigel, Abhijit Roy, Ye-Hyun Kim
2019 (Madison Weinberg)