{"id":146,"date":"2014-10-27T13:22:34","date_gmt":"2014-10-27T17:22:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/knack\/?page_id=146"},"modified":"2026-03-19T08:24:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T12:24:59","slug":"current-lab","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/knack\/current-lab\/","title":{"rendered":"Current Lab Members"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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Current Lab Members<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
\"lab\"
<a href=”https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/knack\/files\/lab-photo.jpg” rel=”attachment wp-att-197″><\/a> Back row (L-R): Austin Guerrina (u), Yasmin Padovan Hernandez (u), Lizhen Wu, Lori Knackstedt, Javier Mesa (g), Harrison Blount (u), Daniel Fierro (u), Carly Logan (g). Front row: Ashleigh Polo (u), Virginia Hodges (u), Wetnys Anestal (u). Not pictured: Courtney Wilkinson (g). g= graduate student; u = undergraduate<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

GRADUATE STUDENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"javier\"
<a href=”https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/knack\/files\/Javier.jpeg” rel=”attachment wp-att-247″><\/a> <strong>Javier Mesa<\/strong><br \/>Javier is a third year Ph.D. student. His research analyzes glutamatergic projections underlying cue-primed cocaine relapse. He is trained in immunohistochemistry, fluorescent microscopy, and cocaine self-administration extinction reinstatement model of relapse. Javier enjoys hiking, trivia, and poker.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"courtney\"
<a href=”https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/knack\/files\/courtney-pipetting.jpg” rel=”attachment wp-att-249″><\/a> <strong>Courtney Wilkinson<\/strong><br \/>Courtney is a second-year graduate student. Her research will utilize the behavioral economic demand theory in addiction to assess the reinforcing efficacy of opiates in rats with PTSD-like symptoms. Using microdialysis and HPLC, Courtney plans to further explore the neurobiological differences in glutamate, serotonin, and dopamine levels in resilient and stress-susceptible rats in the prefrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens, and hippocampus.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

UNDERGRADUATES<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"giselle\"
<a href=”https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/knack\/files\/Giselle-poster.jpeg” rel=”attachment wp-att-246″><\/a> <strong>Giselle Rojas<\/strong><br \/>Giselle is an undergraduate student who entered the lab in June 2019. Her first project was to investigate the effects of systemically-administered oxytocin on nucleus accumbens glutamate and dopamine levels. Giselle is also investigating the circuitry involved in mediating cued cocaine-seeking after forced and voluntary abstinence. Giselle is funded by the MARC GatorSTAR program, a NIGMS funded T34 for undergraduate students planning to pursue a PhD in biomedical or behavioral science.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n<\/section>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":472,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"featured_post":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-146","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/knack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/knack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/knack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/knack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/472"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/knack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/knack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":294,"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/knack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/146\/revisions\/294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.clas.ufl.edu\/knack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}