The Latest News from the Lab
November 15, 2023
Chris is promoted to Professor with Tenure!
August 14, 2023
Julia Johnson joins the lab as our new Research Technologist. Welcome Julia!
June 16, 2023
Johanna is awarded a 2023 Postdoctoral Research Accelerator Award! Congrats Johanna!!!
June 15, 2023
Luca Finetti joins the lab! Welcome Luca!
May 12, 2023
Minh passes her Departmental Oral Exams in the Neuroscience Program! Congrats Minh!
April 13, 2023
Johanna’s pan-neuronal paper is officially accepted into iScience! Congrats Johanna! Link
February 28, 2023
Our R21 submission in collaboration with Karen Menuz to de-orphanize mosquito IRs using a new empty neuron system in flies gets a really good score! Fingers crossed it gets funded!
January 26, 2023
Josh’s paper exploring the anatomy and function if Ionotropic Receptors in Anopheles mosquitoes is officially accepted to Cell Reports! Congrats Josh! Link
December 29, 2022
Chris moves into the corner office down the hall! His address is now 431 Rangos.
December 16, 2022
Johanna aced her presentation and impressed the JHMRI Directors and Deputy Directors with her innovative project to explore biting behaviors in mosquitoes. She was just awarded a JHMRI Postdoc Fellowship! Congrats Johanna!!!!
November 22, 2022
Nick’s last day. 🙁 We’ll miss you Nick! Good luck as a genome engineer for Colossal Biosciences!
August 17, 2022
Kate’s last day in the lab. We’ll miss you Kate! Good luck in your next step as a Medical Writer!
July 1, 2022
Josh is awarded a HHMI Hannah H Gray fellowship! Congrats Josh!!!!!! Wooo-hooo!
June 14, 2022
Minh officially decides to join our lab to conduct her thesis work! Hurray! Welcome to the Potter lab!
April 20, 2022
Darya’s paper is now out at eLife!
Chemoreceptor co-expression in Drosophila melanogaster olfactory neurons.
April 4, 2022
Aditi decides to join the Graduate Program in Molecular Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine! Congrats Aditi!
March 8, 2022
Darya’s paper shattering insect olfaction dogma officially accepted into eLife! Happy dance! 
Feb 14, 2022
Sarah’s paper exploring OR expression in Anopheles mosquitoes has now been officially accepted at Cell Reports! A great Valentine’s Day present!
October 25, 2021
Kate passes her Departmental Oral Exam for the BCMB program! Congrats Kate!
July 1, 2021
We get final approval of our ACL1 room and can now rear mosquitoes in the lab. Hurray!
May 14, 2021
Two papers released today!!!
Josh’s paper counting the number of neurons in fly and mosquito brains is now out in PLOS ONE! Link News Release
Darya’s paper examining the neurodegeneration of Orco mutant neurons in the maxillary palp is out in microPublications Biology! Link
April 22, 2021
Our comprehensive review of Anopheles olfaction is now online at Chemical Senses! Click here for free access to the Accepted Manuscript.
Full Citation:
Joanna K Konopka, Darya Task, Ali Afify, Joshua Raji, Katelynn Deibel, Sarah Maguire, Randy Lawrence, Christopher J Potter, Olfaction in Anopheles mosquitoes, Chemical Senses, 2021;, bjab021, https://doi.org/10.1093/chemse/bjab021
April 6, 2021
Sarah Maguire aces her presentation at the Young Investigators’ Day Ceremony in recognition of her Daniel Nathans Award. Well done! You can read a Q&A with the award winners here.
April 5, 2021
Kelsey Duprey joins the lab as our new Research Technologist. Welcome Kelsey!
Feb 17, 2021
Sarah Maguire was selected to receive the Daniel Nathans Award, and will present her work at the Young Investigator’s Day Ceremony in April. Congrats Sarah!
Feb 1, 2021
Nick Matinyan joins the lab. Welcome Nick!
Dec 4, 2020
The Potter lab submits a review for publication on the topic of Anopheles olfaction. Stay tuned!
Nov 7, 2020
Darya publishes her work on polymodal chemosensory expression in Drosophila olfaction neurons on bioRxiv! Have a look!
October 1, 2020
Re-designed Potterlab website now live!
September 30, 2020
Josh wins the Academic Achievement Award for his graduate work! Congrats Josh!
July 23, 2020
Sarah publishes her work on odorant receptor regulation in Anopheles mosquitoes on bioRxiv! Have a look!
June 25, 2020
Dr. Potter is awarded a JHMRI Pilot Grant to study mosquito biting!
June 10, 2020
Phase 1 begins; labs partially re-opened.
April 19, 2020
Ali, Darya and Joanna’s symposium is accepted for the 2020 ESA meeting. The session is entitled: “Where Did You Come From, Where Are You Going? Insect Navigation: From Neurons to Behavior”. Everyone check it out!
April 16, 2020
Kate joins the lab! Welcome Kate!
April 1, 2020
Joanna is awarded a 2 year Canadian NSERC Postdoc Fellowship! Congratulations Joanna!
March 31, 2020
Ali’s paper is now out at Malaria Journal. View here.
March 27, 2020
Chris wins the Hamilton Smith Award for Innovative Research.
March 23, 2020
COVID19 precautions shutdown the lab. Only essential personnel
March 20, 2020
Ali’s paper is accepted to Malaria Journal!
March 17, 2020
The lab is 10 years old today! Happy birthday Potter lab!
February 17, 2020
Ali wins the Alfred Blalock Young Investigator Award ! Congrats Ali!
February 3, 2020
Josh joins the Potter Lab. Welcome Josh!
December 5, 2019
Ali receives the Drescher Travel Award from the Neuroscience Department!
October 1, 2019
Darya’s science image of a Drosophila brain and nerve cord wins a Junior Selection Award from Images in Science. Science is art! Beautiful!
September 17, 2019
Ali gives the Keynote talk at the annual meeting of the Greater Baltimore Society of Neuroscience Chapter (GBSFN). Nice job, Ali!
September 16, 2019
Darya gives her public Thesis talk. Congratulations, Dr. Task! Very well done!
August 12, 2019
Darya successfully defends her Thesis! Almost done!
July 10, 2019
Darya gives an invited talk at the Neuroethology: Behavior, Evolution, and Neurobiology Gordon Research Meeting. Nice job, Darya!
July 8, 2019
Joanna joins the lab. Welcome Joanna!
Jan 2, 2018
Sarah is awarded a JHMRI Postdoctoral Fellowship. Congrats Sarah!