News

Dissertation defenses, new papers, and lab life.

Muhammad Elsadany Successfully Defends PhD Dissertation

Wednesday, October 14, 2026
Muhammad Elsadany, a Michaelson Lab graduate student, recently defended his thesis titled "Mechanistic Triangulation Across Molecular, Circuit, and Behavioral Scales"
Color-mapped MRI brain scans in two rows

Language ability traces back to DNA older than the human–Neanderthal split

Friday, April 24, 2026
A Science Advances study from the lab links ancient, fast-evolving regulatory DNA to differences in spoken language ability today.

New preprint on the genetics of migration

Friday, February 6, 2026
A genome-wide study of 250,000 people finds 20 regions linked to how far people move from home, with signals traceable in ancient DNA.

Lucas Casten successfully defends PhD dissertation

Friday, December 5, 2025
Lucas Casten, one of the Michaelson Lab graduate students, recently defended his thesis titled "What Makes us Human: Genomic Insights into Cognition, Language, Migration, and Mental Health"

Not all sleep problems in autism are the same

Sunday, April 6, 2025
Using reports from 5,686 SPARK families, a new preprint describes eight distinct sleep archetypes in autism and their genetic underpinnings.
Portrait of Courtney Ries

Courtney Ries, undergraduate research assistant alumna, on the Michaelson Lab and life afterwards

Friday, March 21, 2025
In this spotlight of Courtney Ries, undergraduate research assistant alumna (graduated May 2024), she reflects on her time in the Michaelson Lab and how it prepared her to enter the biotechnology industry.
Muhammad Elsadany does research at a computer

UI psychiatry graduate student Muhammad Elsadany decodes mental health data and his own identity

Wednesday, February 19, 2025
In this spotlight of Muhammad Elsadany, graduate research assistant in the Michaelson Lab, learn how he unravels the molecular and genetic basis of mental health, while also unraveling the meaning in his own personal identity.
brain neurons lit up

Closer: Exceptional Processing

Wednesday, February 12, 2025
The lab of Jake Michaelson, PhD, uses advanced neuroimaging to learn more about brain function with twice-exceptional individuals.
photos on wall

Snapshot into the Michaelson Lab

Saturday, January 18, 2025
Man with birthday cake

Ashton's Birthday Celebration

Tuesday, December 17, 2024