Clarissa Henry
When life gets you down, make snow angels!
Professor, School of Biology and Ecology, University of Maine
Director of the Center of Biomedical Research Excellence: Extracellular Regulation of Cellular Behavior
Lab Mascots
Everett
Everett is our dear friend who you can find taking naps in Clarissa's office. His favorite time is Saturday morning at the farmers market where he enjoys swimming with his friends in the river. He is always looking forward to meet new friends!
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Tam
Tam is the youngest member in Henry's lab. You can always find him sneaking around for generous petting and treats, and if you see him goofing around in Hitchner halls please take him back to our lab. His favorite time is playing with his brother Everett, and oh yeah he loves meeting new people!
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Graduate Researchers
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Ahmed Almaghasilah
PhD Candidate
Ahmed is a fifth-year Biomedical Engineering PhD candidate in the Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering program at University of Maine. His current research focuses on understanding the relation between Duchenne Muscular Disease and the heterochromatin structure in nuclei. He also study the impact of the NAD on the muscle regeneration using time lapse confocal imaging.
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Mary Astumian
PhD Candidate
Mary is a fifth-year, Biomedical Science PhD candidate in the GSBSE program at University of Maine. She is using zebrafish models to investigate changes to integrin and dystroglycan transmembrane proteins in muscular dystrophies and dystroglycanopathies
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Amanda Ignacz
PhD Candidate
Amanda is a fourth-year, Biomedical Science PhD Candidate in the Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering program at the University of Maine. Her interests lie in neuromuscular disease research and muscle development. Her current research focuses on characterizing disease progression in a zebrafish model for dpm3-associated dystroglycanopathy.
Kodey Silknitter
PhD Candidate
Kodey is a fourth-year, Biomedical Science PhD Candidate in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering and the University of Maine. He uses both bioinformatics and molecular approaches to investigate cellular mechanisms involved with several forms of muscular dystrophy. His current research works towards understanding how the development and homeostasis of motor neurons is impacted by muscular dystrophy. Aside from research Kodey enjoys mentoring undergraduate and high school students.
Lab Technician
Spot for Stephen
Lab Alumni
Mia Corradi
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Mia is a third-year undergraduate student in the School of Biology and Ecology and the Honors College at the University of Maine. She is interested in expanding her knowledge of biomedical research and currently works with graduate student Kodey to better understand and characterize muscular dystrophies.
Grace Hodgkin
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Grace is a Sophomore majoring in Biology with a Pre-Medical Concentration at the University of Maine. She is working with Ahmed as an undergraduate research assistant and she is investigating muscle regeneration with/without the presence of NAD+ via DanioVision, birefringence, and brightfield. Her favorite thing to do outside of the lab is scuba dive.
McHenna Martin
Undergraduate Research Assistant
McHenna is a third-year undergraduate student majoring in Molecular and Cellular Biology at UMaine. In her current research, she works with Kodey Silknitter and Mia Corradi to investigate secondary dystroglycanopathies and their impact on neuronal and muscular development. Outside of her research, her interests include general disease heritability, genetics, and cancer biology. In her off time McHenna enjoys fiber arts, collecting rocks and minerals, and playing Legend of Zelda.
Jayson Tatcher
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Jayson is a second year undergraduate student majoring in biology. His work in the lab focuses on studying the effects of cell transplantation in mutant and wild type zebrafish. In his free time I enjoy playing guitar, playing tennis, swimming, and hanging out with animals.
Undergraduate Researchers
Lab Alumni
Claire Schaffer
Claire graduated from the UMaine School of Biology and Ecology with a BS in biology in 2021 and was the lab's research technician from 2021 to 2023. Her research focused on classifying the phenotype of DPM3-related secondary dystroglycanopathies. She is currently hiking the Appalachian trail with her brother.