{"id":97,"date":"2018-01-09T15:52:04","date_gmt":"2018-01-09T15:52:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/labs.la.utexas.edu\/champagne\/?page_id=97"},"modified":"2026-08-01T01:57:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T01:57:20","slug":"lab-members","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/labs.la.utexas.edu\/orsinilab\/lab-members\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Team"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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People<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lab Members<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Interested in joining our lab? Fill out this form<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Principal Investigator<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Caitlin A. Orsini, PhD
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Associate Professor, Department of Psychology and Neurology, The University of Texas at Austin<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Orsini received her Bachelor’s of Science from Washington College, majoring in Psychology with a concentration in Behavioral Neuroscience. She subsequently attended graduate school at the University of Michigan and was trained under the supervision of Dr. Stephen Maren. After receiving a PhD in Psychology (with a focus on Biopsychology), Dr. Orsini began a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Florida with Drs. Barry Setlow and Jennifer Bizon. She completed her postdoctoral training in 2019 and joined the Department of Psychology and the Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research as an Assistant Professor in September 2019. She was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in September 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Orsini’s research seeks to understand the neurobiological and hormonal mechanisms underlying cost\/benefit decision making and how the compromise of such processes may contribute to maladaptive choice behavior associated with  substance use disorder. The overarching goal of this research is to develop and advance therapeutic strategies to improve pathological decision making and executive functioning and, ultimately, prevent continued substance use and promote abstinence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aside from her love of the brain, Dr. Orsini enjoys running, reading and painting.<\/p>\n

Orsini CV 2026 June<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Current Trainees<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Graduate Students<\/h2><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Payton Kahanek<\/h2><\/div>\n\n\n\n

PhD Student – Pharmacology & Toxicology<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Payton’s research delves into the intricate relationship between traumatic stress and decision-making, particularly in the context of substance usedisorders. She also explores the underlying neurocircuitry driving these phenomena. Beyond her academic pursuits, Payton enjoys paddle boarding, sewing, and spoiling her cat, Craig.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Hannah Bow<\/h2><\/div>\n\n\n\n

PhD Student – Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hannah’s work investigates the effects of hormones and the postnatal environment on the neural substrates underlying risk-based decision making. In particular, she is interested in the ways that early life stress alters functions of dopaminergic circuitry. In her free time she enjoys running, crafting, and maintaining her growing collection of houseplants.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Staff<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lab management and technicians<\/h2><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Megan Kelly, B.S.<\/h2><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Lab manager and technician<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Allison Lau, B.S.<\/h2><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Lab technician<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allison received her Bachelor’s degree in neuroscience at UT Austin. She is currently working as a research technician in the Orsini lab, supervising much of our optogenetic studies. Broadly, Allison is interested in researching behavioral neuroscience as well as the neurobiology behind neurological and mental disorders. When not in the lab, she enjoys crocheting, baking, and playing board games with friends.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Undergraduate Research Assistants<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jaeden Gomez, Namrata Boggaram, Monil Parekh, Ariba Badarpura, Jewel Marie Parrel, Samyak Girish, Vincent Nguyen, Reeda Karowadia, Trisha Govind, Shrinika Govin, Berkeley Keller, Aslesha Barik, Swasti Sogani, Luke Fehlis, Sophie Vuong <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alumni<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former graduate students<\/h2><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Alexa-Rae Wheeler, PhD<\/summary>\n

B.S., University of Florida; PhD, UT Austin (2026)<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

Leah Truckenbrod, PhD, Account Executive, Harvard Biosciences<\/summary>\n

B.S., University of Florida; PhD, UT Austin (2025)<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

Former technicians<\/h2><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Emily Cooper, technician<\/summary>\n

<\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

Merrick Garner, technician<\/summary>\n

Currently in medical school at McGovern School of Medicine<\/em><\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n\n\n

Alessandro Bernini, BS \u2014 Technician<\/summary>\n

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Former undergraduate research assistants<\/h2><\/div>\n\n\n\n
See all former undergraduate students<\/summary>\n


Nicki Kheradbin \u2014 Pharmacy school, UT Austin
Hannah Cutright \u2014 Medical school, UT Health San Antonio
Sydney Tu
Zain Zeitouni
Pooneh Rahimi
Katie Kitto \u2014 Grad school, Medical University of South Carolina
April Sunyoung Ju \u2014 Medical school, Baylor College of Medicine
Nadia Carlos
Isabel Csitkovits
Sree Darma
Emily Zoorob \u2014 Medical school, Texas Tech
Isabel Tseng
Marion Mochache
Kathy Tran
Giselle Pedraza
Erin Brill \u2014 PhD Neuroscience, Texas A&M
Allison Greer
Adrian Boehnke \u2014 Medical school, Baylor College of Medicine Megan Thomas \u2014 Medical school, Long School of Medicine
Kyra Gruenberger
Xixi Jia
Stephanie Root<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/details>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People Lab Members Interested in joining our lab? Fill out this form Principal Investigator Caitlin A. Orsini, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Psychology and Neurology, The University of Texas at Austin Dr. Orsini received her Bachelor’s of Science from Washington College, majoring in Psychology with a concentration in Behavioral Neuroscience. She subsequently attended graduate school […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-97","page","type-page","status-publish","entry"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"home-bottom":false,"home-middle":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"laitsadmin","author_link":"https:\/\/labs.la.utexas.edu\/orsinilab\/author\/laitsadmin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"People Lab Members Interested in joining our lab? Fill out this form Principal Investigator Caitlin A. Orsini, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Psychology and Neurology, The University of Texas at Austin Dr. Orsini received her Bachelor’s of Science from Washington College, majoring in Psychology with a concentration in Behavioral Neuroscience. She subsequently attended graduate school…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.la.utexas.edu\/orsinilab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/97","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.la.utexas.edu\/orsinilab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.la.utexas.edu\/orsinilab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.la.utexas.edu\/orsinilab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.la.utexas.edu\/orsinilab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97"}],"version-history":[{"count":130,"href":"https:\/\/labs.la.utexas.edu\/orsinilab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/97\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1013,"href":"https:\/\/labs.la.utexas.edu\/orsinilab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/97\/revisions\/1013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.la.utexas.edu\/orsinilab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}