The KAUN Lab:
Behavioral Neurogenetics of Addiction 

Congrats to Sam Stea, Tariq Brown, Rebecca Oramas, John Hernandez and Reza Azanchi on publication of 'Characterizing choice behavior in Drosophila melanogaster olfactory classical conditioning' in the Journal of Experimental Biology. In this paper we describe how to use a simple circular arena with two odor ports at either end to determine which behaviors flies display when they are deciding to approach an odor previously paired with sugar or avoid an odor previously paired

A warm welcome back to Neuroscience Graduate Student Amelia Harman, who after rotating with different labs and learning lots of new techniques in her first year of PhD studies officially joined the lab to conduct her PhD thesis, jointly co-supervised by Dr. Kate O'Connor-Giles and Dr. Karla Kaun. Amelia's postbaccalaureate studies with the O'Connor-Giles and Kaun labs focused on localizing calcium channel subunits in the Drosophila brain. Amelia is interested in how the molec

Nick Olson wins Best Research Presentation by an Undergraduate Trainee at 2026 American Physician Scientists Association (APSA) Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference

Characterizing choice behavior in Drosophila olfactory classical conditioning

Dr. Lewis Sherer was awarded the 2026-27 Pape Adams Postdoc Award

Nandashree Kasturacharya (Postdoc), Nicholas Olson (Undergrad), Megan Wang (Research Assistant), John Hernandez (Asst. Prof. Research) and Karla Kaun all attended the 2026 New England Addiction Neuroscience Research Conference at Tufts University in Boston, MA on August 14. While the lab didn't present our research this year, we really enjoyed time speaking with colleagues and learning about the latest cutting edge research on addiction happening in the New England Area. Drs.

The Kaun Lab presentations at the Brown Summer Research Symposium were fantastic!

The Kaun Lab Retreat at Colt State Park was a great success

Dr. John Hernandez attended the Annual Research Society on Alcohol Conference in San Antonio, Texas June 21-24 2026 where he presented his work in a poster entitled 'A dopamine-acetylcholine memory that encodes approach-avoidance conflict'. It was a great chance to catch up with colleagues and get helpful feedback on his work!

Dr. John Hernandez is spending a few weeks learning relative sucrose conditioning assays from Dr. Emmanuel Perisse at the Institut de Genomique Fonctionnelle in the Center National de la Recherche Scientifique at the Universite de Montpellier in France as part of an active collaboration with the Perisse Lab. John spent time becoming an expert in sucrose memory, but also wine and seafood tasting. He also had a chance to enjoy some of the gorgeous sites and meet up with lab alu

Karla and Lewis presented their work at the 2026 IBANGS Genes Brains & Behavior Meeting

Welcome to the lab the Brown University Summer Research Early-Identification Program Students Rubaiya Rahman, who joins us through the Dana Foundation Neuroscience and Society Program, and Sam Filatov, who joins us through the Blueprint Program for Enhancing Neuroscience Diversity through Undergradaute Research Education Experiences. Rubaiya and Sam will be working together to develop materials to understand how eugenic ideas are integrated into public knowledge about neurosc

Marygrace Trousdell was accepted to be part of the ICoN Program at Brown University

Megan Wang receives Brown University Department of Neuroscience James T. McIlwain Award for Excellence

Sam Stea receives the 2026 Brown University Master's Award for Outstanding Academic Accomplishment.

Our very own Megan Wang was highlighted in a Commencement 2026 Spotlight for the Robert J. and Nancy D. Carney Institute written by Gretchen Schrafft. In this spotlight, Megan talks about her research in the lab, done in collaboration with Dr. John Hernandez, and her love for the open curriculum which allowed her to pursue her additional interests in Early Modern World.

Dr. John Hernandez gave the first ever fly talk at the International Congress on Alcoholism and Stress in Volterra, Italy 12-15 May, 2026. John presented work on the circuit and molecular basis underlying high alcohol self-administration. This is directly relevant to John's COBRE pilot award investigating the mechanisms through which stress impacts alcohol self-administration.

In collaboration with the Fleischmann Lab, the Kaun Lab just received a new Carney Innovation Award entitled 'Cross-species gene regulatory networks underlying addictive behaviors'. The purpose of this grant is to identify the molecular mechanisms that link the sense of smell to addictive behaviors. Our approach combines innovative behavioral assays as well as cutting-edge molecular and computational approaches to identify conserved molecular mechanisms underlying both natura

Congrats to senior undergraduate Megan Wang who recently received Honors for her impressive undergraduate honors thesis! Megan is pictured here presenting her poster at the undergraduate research symposium, and next to her mentor in the lab, Dr. John Hernandez.

Congratulations to Sam Stea, who successfully defended his Masters of Science in Biotechnology thesis entitled "Characterizing Choice Behavior in Drosophila Olfactory Classical Conditioning". Sam did a fantastic job presenting his research and fielded some great questions from his committee consisting of Dr. Kate O'Connor-Giles and Dr. Carlos Aizenman. Sam will be finishing up his M.Sc. research this summer, and then working on the mechanistic basis of relative reward signali