Allison Bourd

Allison received her B.S. in Biopsychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a minor in Music in June 2024. During her time at UCSB, she joined Dr. Craig Montell’s laboratory and studied the role of opsins in behaviors of the mosquito vector, Aedes Aegypti, which is responsible for the transmission of dengue, Zika virus, and other harmful diseases. In her two years in the lab, she helped generate novel mosquito mutant lines using CRISPR as well as designed and executed behavioral assays for investigating circadian rhythms, host seeking, and threat avoidance. Joining Dr. Chudasama’s lab in August 2024, Allison looks forward to learning about how neural circuits within the prefrontal cortex develop and how they may contribute to behaviors associated with psychiatric illness.