Lab Members:
Haley O'Brien
I am an assistant professor of neuroscience at Oklahoma State University's Center for Health Sciences. My research focuses on paleophysiology, or how unique thermoregulatory capabilities have influenced the evolution of large mammals across Cenozoic climate change. I use selective brain cooling in large mammals as a model system for generating inferences regarding the interface between an organism's physiology and its environment over geological time. My primary data collection involves radiopaque latex injection of ungulate cranial vasculature and examination of fossil skulls for osteological correlates of said vasculature. I divide my research time between museums and the field. I'm also unrelentingly fond of Buddy Holly, pasta, science fiction / speculative fiction, pasta, burpees, and pasta.
Graduate Students
David I. Kay (PhD Expected 2022)
David is a PhD student at Oklahoma State University’s Center for Health Sciences. His research focuses largely on how dental tissues behave as materials, as well as how teeth function to fail certain biological materials in both extant and extinct taxa. His masters research investigated the evolution of the material properties of dental tissues and their relevance to whole-tooth functionality and ecological diversifications across Gnathostomata. He also takes part in paleontological field research on the North Slope of the Alaskan Arctic with colleagues from Florida State University and University of Alaska-Fairbanks. David is being co-advised by Dr. Paul Gignac, and is also a gifted interpretive dancer.
David is a PhD student at Oklahoma State University’s Center for Health Sciences. His research focuses largely on how dental tissues behave as materials, as well as how teeth function to fail certain biological materials in both extant and extinct taxa. His masters research investigated the evolution of the material properties of dental tissues and their relevance to whole-tooth functionality and ecological diversifications across Gnathostomata. He also takes part in paleontological field research on the North Slope of the Alaskan Arctic with colleagues from Florida State University and University of Alaska-Fairbanks. David is being co-advised by Dr. Paul Gignac, and is also a gifted interpretive dancer.
Nathan Ong (Ph.D. Expected 2024)
Nathan is a Ph.D. student at Oklahoma State University’s Center for Health Sciences, being co-advised by Dr. Holly Woodward-Ballard and Dr. Haley O’Brien. As a geoscience undergraduate at the University of Utah, Nathan’s research documented the highly variable spaleohistology of cryptodiran turtle shells from the Kaiparowits Formation. He is now studying modern turtles to understand how similar variance affects the shell’s material properties and thermoregulatory capacity. A fun fact about Nathan is that he knits scarves that resemble scaled-down stratigraphic columns.
Nathan is a Ph.D. student at Oklahoma State University’s Center for Health Sciences, being co-advised by Dr. Holly Woodward-Ballard and Dr. Haley O’Brien. As a geoscience undergraduate at the University of Utah, Nathan’s research documented the highly variable spaleohistology of cryptodiran turtle shells from the Kaiparowits Formation. He is now studying modern turtles to understand how similar variance affects the shell’s material properties and thermoregulatory capacity. A fun fact about Nathan is that he knits scarves that resemble scaled-down stratigraphic columns.
Matt Taylor (MSc. Expected 2021)
Matt is an MS student doing some really outstanding research on the connection between drug addiction and brain anatomy. He takes microCT scans of adolescent rat brains and then uses computer software to analyze brain regions that may be affected by drug addiction. His side-project-turned-main-focus has been gathering data to help make microCT methods more efficient. Outside of the lab he works full time writing some bomb college biology textbooks. His other skills include being a pretty incredible father and a halfway decent pianist. He’s also surprisingly talented at writing third-person research blurbs while drinking margaritas.
Matt is an MS student doing some really outstanding research on the connection between drug addiction and brain anatomy. He takes microCT scans of adolescent rat brains and then uses computer software to analyze brain regions that may be affected by drug addiction. His side-project-turned-main-focus has been gathering data to help make microCT methods more efficient. Outside of the lab he works full time writing some bomb college biology textbooks. His other skills include being a pretty incredible father and a halfway decent pianist. He’s also surprisingly talented at writing third-person research blurbs while drinking margaritas.
Katherine Slenker (M.Sc. Expected 2022)
Coming soon!
Coming soon!
Undergraduate & Internship Students
Sana Ahmed, Undergraduate TABERC Intern (Summer, 2019)
Sana joined the lab as a recipient of the highly competitive Tulsa Area Bioscience Education & Research Consortium internship (TABERC; Summer, 2019). During her internship, she not only described the cranial arterial patterns of lorises, galagos, and tarsiers, she also evaluated the hemodynamic potential of specialized arterial networks! Her work was presented at the SICB Annual Meeting in Austin (2020), and is currently in preparation for the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. Sana is an avid artiodactyl fan (pictured), has excellent taste in ice cream, and is currently studying hard for her MCAT exams and applications to medical school. We're all hoping she joins the OSU-COM family as a future physician in 2021!
Sana joined the lab as a recipient of the highly competitive Tulsa Area Bioscience Education & Research Consortium internship (TABERC; Summer, 2019). During her internship, she not only described the cranial arterial patterns of lorises, galagos, and tarsiers, she also evaluated the hemodynamic potential of specialized arterial networks! Her work was presented at the SICB Annual Meeting in Austin (2020), and is currently in preparation for the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. Sana is an avid artiodactyl fan (pictured), has excellent taste in ice cream, and is currently studying hard for her MCAT exams and applications to medical school. We're all hoping she joins the OSU-COM family as a future physician in 2021!
Gizmo
Gizmo is the lab's Pace-of-Life advisor- advocating for hard work with frequent bouts of play. His most recent contribution to the lab was an epic journey to collect specimens throughout Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana.
One time, the entire lab (L-R Skylar Turner, Caleb Jones, Todd Green, David Kay, & Dr. Paul Gignac) won competitive awards
at the American Association of Anatomists meeting in Orlando, so what else can you do besides take everyone to Disney
and snap the cover to our forthcoming lab album, "Contrast Enhanced."
at the American Association of Anatomists meeting in Orlando, so what else can you do besides take everyone to Disney
and snap the cover to our forthcoming lab album, "Contrast Enhanced."
Medical Students
Blake Bertolino & F. Weston Speer (2019–2021)
Recipients of the OSU Center for Health Sciences Presidential Research Fellowship (Summer, 2020)
As OMS-II's, Blake and Weston helped refine diceCT imaging pipelines to combine cadaveric MRI-emulating staining methods with in-lab dissections. Their research helped adapt the neuroanatomy labs for online presentation during the COVID-19, and their case study + workflow recommendations are in preparation for Anatomical Sciences Education. Blake and Weston are highly accomplished medical students and researchers, with leadership positions in the OSU-COM Neurology Club and multiple research presentations on campus and at national meetings. Recently, Weston even won an award for his love of Baby Yoda.
Recipients of the OSU Center for Health Sciences Presidential Research Fellowship (Summer, 2020)
As OMS-II's, Blake and Weston helped refine diceCT imaging pipelines to combine cadaveric MRI-emulating staining methods with in-lab dissections. Their research helped adapt the neuroanatomy labs for online presentation during the COVID-19, and their case study + workflow recommendations are in preparation for Anatomical Sciences Education. Blake and Weston are highly accomplished medical students and researchers, with leadership positions in the OSU-COM Neurology Club and multiple research presentations on campus and at national meetings. Recently, Weston even won an award for his love of Baby Yoda.
Daniel Sisco (2020)
Recipient of the OSU Center for Health Sciences Presidential Research Fellowship (Summer, 2020)
Daniel earned a BS in Biology with a minor in Chemistry at the University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, and an MS of Biomedical Science at OSU-CHS (Advisor: Dr. Kathleen Curtis). He joins the O'Brien lab as a rising-OMS III with extensive and decorated research experience (1st place Biochemistry [2017 Texas Academy of Science Annual Meeting]; 3rd place Biomedical Sciences [2018 Oklahoma Osteopathic Association Annual Meeting]). His work in the lab focuses on 3D reconstructions of neuroanatomy to help understand brain, cerebellum, brainstem and spinal cord structures. He is creating digital and 3D printed models to be utilized for teaching future neuroanatomy students.
Upon completion of this research project, he intends to present these 3D models with an accompanying poster at the OSU-CHS Research Annual Conference and the Neurobiology Symposium. Additionally, he is working to co-author an ongoing research grant for future projects involving upcoming OSU graduate students.
Recipient of the OSU Center for Health Sciences Presidential Research Fellowship (Summer, 2020)
Daniel earned a BS in Biology with a minor in Chemistry at the University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, and an MS of Biomedical Science at OSU-CHS (Advisor: Dr. Kathleen Curtis). He joins the O'Brien lab as a rising-OMS III with extensive and decorated research experience (1st place Biochemistry [2017 Texas Academy of Science Annual Meeting]; 3rd place Biomedical Sciences [2018 Oklahoma Osteopathic Association Annual Meeting]). His work in the lab focuses on 3D reconstructions of neuroanatomy to help understand brain, cerebellum, brainstem and spinal cord structures. He is creating digital and 3D printed models to be utilized for teaching future neuroanatomy students.
Upon completion of this research project, he intends to present these 3D models with an accompanying poster at the OSU-CHS Research Annual Conference and the Neurobiology Symposium. Additionally, he is working to co-author an ongoing research grant for future projects involving upcoming OSU graduate students.
Skylar Turner & Caleb Jones (2018–2020)
Recipients of the OSU Center for Health Sciences Presidential Research Fellowship (Summer, 2019)
With backgrounds in engineering prior to enrolling in medical school, Skylar and Caleb have been working on in-silico computational fluid dynamics models for heat exchange across the surface area of the artiodactyl carotid rete, in collaboration with OKState Engineering Professor Aaron Alexander. They have presented their research at the Experimental Biology / American Association of Anatomists annual meeting in Orlando, FL (2019) and at the International Congress for Vertebrate Morphology.
In their spare time, Skylar enjoys biking, beer, and playing basketball poorly, while Caleb enjoys spending time with his wife, board games, and playing basketball slightly less poorly than Skylar.
Recipients of the OSU Center for Health Sciences Presidential Research Fellowship (Summer, 2019)
With backgrounds in engineering prior to enrolling in medical school, Skylar and Caleb have been working on in-silico computational fluid dynamics models for heat exchange across the surface area of the artiodactyl carotid rete, in collaboration with OKState Engineering Professor Aaron Alexander. They have presented their research at the Experimental Biology / American Association of Anatomists annual meeting in Orlando, FL (2019) and at the International Congress for Vertebrate Morphology.
In their spare time, Skylar enjoys biking, beer, and playing basketball poorly, while Caleb enjoys spending time with his wife, board games, and playing basketball slightly less poorly than Skylar.
Advanced Imaging Research Rotation, May 2020
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit OSU-COM and Y3/Y4 medical students were recalled from rotations, the University banded together to create new opportunities. In 4 short weeks, these 6 medical students (diagonal & lower left) turned lemons into lemonade by learning 3D segmentation of medical imaging studies and conducted a reproducibility study on different techniques. With resilience and positivity like that, they're going to make incredible physicians some day!
Read more about their research here: https://health.okstate.edu/news/articles/june20/remote_research_covid_osu_medical_students.html
Read more about their research here: https://health.okstate.edu/news/articles/june20/remote_research_covid_osu_medical_students.html
Lab Alumni
Dr. Leigha Lynch (2016–2018)
Dr. Lynch completed her PhD in the OKState Center for Health Sciences Anatomy & Vertebrate Paleontology program in 2018, and from 2018–2020 held a Postdoctoral Associate position in the Department of Neuroscience at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. This Fall, she begins a position as Assistant Professor of Anatomy at Midwestern University's College of Medicine in Glendale, Arizona. She is also Program-Officer Elect for the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology's Division of Phylogenetics and Comparative Biology.
Dr. Lynch's research research, aims to understand how extrinsic and intrinsic factors influence and result in the diversity of morphological variation that we see across vertebrates through time. She uses Carnivorans as a model system, with much of her recent work focusing on Mustelidae to test hypotheses about trait evolution and development in the face of environmental and genetic selective pressures. Her lab uses a combination of 3D imaging techniques, geometric morphometrics, genetic sequencing (both modern and ancient), and phylogenetic comparative methods to understand Pleistocene glacial cycles and their associated changes in climate, habitat, and both genetic and morphological evolution.
Dr. Lynch completed her PhD in the OKState Center for Health Sciences Anatomy & Vertebrate Paleontology program in 2018, and from 2018–2020 held a Postdoctoral Associate position in the Department of Neuroscience at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. This Fall, she begins a position as Assistant Professor of Anatomy at Midwestern University's College of Medicine in Glendale, Arizona. She is also Program-Officer Elect for the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology's Division of Phylogenetics and Comparative Biology.
Dr. Lynch's research research, aims to understand how extrinsic and intrinsic factors influence and result in the diversity of morphological variation that we see across vertebrates through time. She uses Carnivorans as a model system, with much of her recent work focusing on Mustelidae to test hypotheses about trait evolution and development in the face of environmental and genetic selective pressures. Her lab uses a combination of 3D imaging techniques, geometric morphometrics, genetic sequencing (both modern and ancient), and phylogenetic comparative methods to understand Pleistocene glacial cycles and their associated changes in climate, habitat, and both genetic and morphological evolution.
Khanh To (2017-2018)
Khanh To completed her OKState Integrative Biology Undergraduate Honors Thesis, "Examining the Musculoskeletal Ontogeny of Avian Cranial Kinesis Along the Altricial-precocial Spectrum" with co-supervision by Dr. Paul Gignac. For her research, she learned how to digitize and describe jaw muscle patterns in chickens and finches––including early ontogeny specimens that would be impossible to dissect without digital methods! She is now a Ph.D. Student at Virginia Tech, working with Dr. Michelle Stocker.
Learn more about her new and ongoing research here!
Khanh To completed her OKState Integrative Biology Undergraduate Honors Thesis, "Examining the Musculoskeletal Ontogeny of Avian Cranial Kinesis Along the Altricial-precocial Spectrum" with co-supervision by Dr. Paul Gignac. For her research, she learned how to digitize and describe jaw muscle patterns in chickens and finches––including early ontogeny specimens that would be impossible to dissect without digital methods! She is now a Ph.D. Student at Virginia Tech, working with Dr. Michelle Stocker.
Learn more about her new and ongoing research here!
Kenneth Wheeler (2012-2013)
Kenneth Wheeler, former lab member extraordinaire, is graduate of Ohio University. Kenneth joined the lab as a PACE intern, and has assisted with specimen injection and 3D rendering of CT-scanned specimens. He presented his project, "A Digital, Dissectible Skull of the Domestic Pig, Sus scrofa," at the Ohio University Research and Creativity Expo during the Spring of 2013, and was interviewed by Athens News! You can see his work here, and an interview with Ohio University journalism students here. In the photograph, he is assisting with an arterial injection of a dromedary camel, on loan from the AMNH.
Joining the Lab
If you are interested in joining the O'Brien Lab at Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences, please first check out our graduate programs in Biomedical Sciences and Anatomy and Vertebrate Paleontology. If our program can accommodate your graduate school needs, send your C.V. and a short description of your research experience and interests to haley.obrien@okstate.edu. Note that the application deadlines are typically in January for Ph.D. applicants and May for M.S. applicants.