Our Lab!

Amber Nolan, MD PhD

Principal Investigator

Joyce Opara

Neuropathology Fellow

Joyce was born and raised in Houston, Texas. She earned her BBA in Marketing from the University of Texas at San Antonio. After graduating, she spent a joyful year working at The DoSeum, a children's museum focused on sparking curiosity in STEM. Her journey then led her to teach 8th grade science at Sugar Grove Academy Middle School, where she discovered a deep love for education and science. Inspired to take her passion even further, Joyce attended St. George’s University for medical school spending two years living on the beautiful island of Grenada, followed by two years of clinical training in Florida. She then matched into a pathology residency at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine in New York City, where she completed two years of anatomic pathology training. Now, Joyce is the Neuropathology Fellow at the University of Washington, where she’s diving into research on traumatic brain injury and neurodegenerative diseases. When she’s not peering through a microscope, you can find Joyce binge watching Chinese dramas, solving Rubik’s cubes, or hopping on a plane to explore a brand-new country full of adventures!

Alicia Feichtenbiner

Research Scientist I

Alicia is from the suburbs of Philadelphia and moved to Seattle in 2019 for undergrad. She graduated from University of Washington in December 2022 with a BS in Neuroscience and a BA in Classical Studies. Her work includes performing whole-cell patch clamp electrophysiology experiments in both mice and neuronal cultures, analyzing confocal images with Imaris, and investigating the prevalence of astrocytic tau in TBI and early-onset Alzheimer's Disease (EOAD). In her free time, she enjoys sporcle quizzes, spider solitaire, and running.

Karinn Sytsma

Research Scientist I

Karinn was born and raised in Washington, but left to attend the University of Chicago for undergrad, where she graduated with a BA in Biology and a minor in Computational Neuroscience. She has worked for the Nolan lab for three years, focusing on immunofluorescent tissue staining and confocal imaging, image analysis with HALO, and whole-cell patch clamping in mice. Her work has focused mainly on investigating the role of microglia in traumatic brain injury and analyzing diffuse axonal injury associated with microhemorrhages post-acute TBI. When not in the lab, you can find Karinn playing ice hockey, trying out new recipes, or honing her spider solitaire skills.

Undergraduates

Sam Husarik

Jenny Jang

Tony Louangrath

Leah Travis

Alumni

Ryan O'Boyle (Miami Miller School of Medicine MSTP Candidate)

Nicole Stan

University of Washington

Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology

300 9th Ave
Seattle, WA 98104
Email: nolanam@uw.edu