Welcome Eliah Djedjro and Ronak Patel!
August 2025 – Both have joined the Herberholz Lab as undergraduate research assistants!
New publication in Royal Society Open Science
June 2025 – Interactions between CNS regulation and serotonergic modulation of crayfish hindgut motility This new paper explores the effects of serotonin on gut motility in crayfish with and without central nervous system control. The work is the product of a collaboration with the Losert Lab in Physics and first-authored by graduate students from both labs.
Welcome Ha-Yeon Jeon!
May 2025 – Ha-Yeon Jeon will join the Herberholz Lab this summer as an undergraduate research assistant!
New grant awarded to the Herberholz Lab (Co-PI)
March 2025 – The Herberholz Lab is Co-PI on a new R01 grant from the National Institute of Aging. The PI of this grant is Dr. Peter Nemes in the Biochemistry Department at UMD.
Congratulations to our graduating seniors!
May 2025 – Earlier this month, senior undergraduate research assistants Nandita Gupta, Ethan Tucker, and Matthew Williams each graduated from UMD. Congratulations to the three of you!
New bioelectronic “CrayPack” featured on ACS Sensors cover
May 2024 – Simultaneous Dopamine and Serotonin Monitoring in Freely Moving Crayfish Using a Wireless Electrochemical Sensing System – A recent paper demonstrates a new device to monitor dopamine and serotonin in vivo in freely behaving crayfish underwater.
Congratulations to Jasper Coles Hood
February 2024 – Jasper, an undergraduate student researcher in the Herberholz Lab, has been awarded a BSOS Summer Scholars Award.
Congratulations to Matthew Williams
October 2023 – Matthew, an undergraduate student researcher in the Herberholz Lab, has been awarded an Honors College Research Grant.
Selected Press Mentions
Alcohol research promoted on The Economist cover
Apr 2017 – Crayfish may help researchers understand drunkenness – In a paper just published in Experimental Biology, Matthew Swierzbinski, Andrew Lazarchik and Jens Herberholz of the University of Maryland have shown that a sociable upbringing does indeed increase sensitivity to alcohol. At least, it does if you are a crayfish.
New Scientist spotlights Herberholz lab alcohol research
Apr 2017 – Drunken crayfish show that loneliness raises alcohol tolerance – For crayfish at least, a more sociable life makes booze work quicker. When crayfish were put in water containing a little alcohol, the ones who had been kept on their own over the preceding week took longer to show signs of alcohol exposure – such as tail flips – than those who had been living with others of their kind.
Journal of Experimental Biology highlights paper on alcohol
Apr 2017 – Sociable crayfish get drunk more easily than loners – Inebriated crayfish tail-flip animatedly while under the influence and become heavily intoxicated after lengthy exposures.
Dominance research featured on Biological Bulletin cover
Apr 2016 – Effects of Different Social and Environmental Conditions on Established Dominance Relationships in Crayfish – A paper featured on the cover of Biological Bulletin further identifies the mechanisms underlying the destabilization of crayfish dominance relationships.