Meet the Team
Principle Investigator
Laura Corbit, PhD
Laura completed her PhD at the University of California, Los Angeles, studying the neural basis of goal-directed learning and Pavlovian influences on responding. She then moved to the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco where she completed postdoctoral training studying the role of habits in alcohol use and abuse. From there she moved to the University of Sydney, Australia where she continued her work on the neural bases of instrumental learning with a focus on how experiences such as exposure to drugs, stress or different diets impact the circuits that underlie goal-directed and habitual control. In 2017 she joined the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto where her lab continues this work.
Graduate Students
Ashleigh Brink
I completed my undergraduate studies here at the University of Toronto in the psychology research specialist program, conducting projects under the supervision of Dr. Laura Corbit and Dr. Junchul Kim. I am now in the third year of my PhD in CSB, where I am investigating the role of the locus coeruleus (LC), and more broadly, the intersection of noradrenaline and dopamine in appetitive error-driven learning. I am also currently implementing the lab’s new fibre photometry system. Outside of the lab, I enjoy playing music and watching F1.
Madison Fedele
I completed my undergraduate degree in Honours Science at Wilfrid Laurier University. I am now a first-year master’s student in the Cell & Systems Biology program, supervised by Dr. Laura Corbit. My research focuses on investigating the physiological changes in the brain caused by an obesogenic diet, particularly how it affects control over goal-directed behaviours. Specifically, I will begin by characterizing the interactions between microglial activation and glutamatergic transmission in the dorsal medial striatum. Outside of the lab, I enjoy hot yoga and reading.
Undergraduate Students
(left to right) Elif Sari, Jeya Scott, Clizia Martini
Lab Alum
(left to right) Benjamin-Israel Moke (MSc), Jaec Emtage (MSc), Simon Lui (Postdoc), Megan Shipman (Postdoc),
Zac Pierce-Messick (PhD), Gabrielle Desilets (USRA/UTEA)