Members

FACULTY


Dr. Martin Paré is an Associate Professor of Physiology and Psychology at Queen's University. He is a member of Queen's Centre for Neuroscience Studies and Biological Communication Centre, which includes a group of researchers from both Queen's University and University of Toronto. He is also a member of the CIHR Group in Sensory-motor Systems at Queen's University.

Born in Montréal, Dr. Paré graduated from Université de Montréal with a B.Sc. degree in Biology. He then moved to McGill University, where he completed a Ph.D. at the Montréal Neurological Institute in the Department of Neurology & Neurosurgery under the supervision of Daniel Guitton. Before becoming a Queen's faculty member, he took postdoctoral training with Robert H. Wurtz in the Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research at NIH after a short fellowship with Douglas P. Munoz at Queen's University.

STAFF


Rebecca Craham is the laboratory's technician. She is a graduate from the Registered Veterinary Technology Program at St-Lawrence College (Kingston).



POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS


Kevin Johnston joined the laboratory in January 2008 after having completed a postdoctoral position at the University of Western Ontario with Dr. S. Everling. His current research projects focus on the neural basis of action control and visual working memory.

GRADUATE STUDENTS


Kelly Shen is a PhD candidate in the Neuroscience Program at Queen's University. She first joined the laboratory to do a research thesis while completing her B.Sc.H. in the Life Sciences Program at Queen's University (2004). She then completed her M.Sc. degree in Neuroscience at Queen's University in August 2006. Her current work examines the neural basis of visual selective attention.

Jonathan Beuk is a Ph.D. candidate in the Neuroscience Program at Queen's University. He first joined the laboratory after completing his B.Sc.H. from the Psychology Program at Queen's University (2006). He then completed a M.Sc. degree in that same Program in September 2008. His research project is co-supervised by Dr. Richard Beninger (PSYC) and it examines the neural basis of action control.


Celina Nahanni is a Ph.D. candidate in the Neuroscience Program at Queen's University. She just joined the laboratory after completing a M.Sc. degree from that Program (2009). Her research project examines the integration of audiovisual communicative signals.



Evelien Heyselaar is a M.Sc candidate in the Neuroscience Program at Queen's University. She joined the laboratory after completing her B.Sc.H. from the Life Sciences Program at Queen's University (2009). Her research project examines the capacity limits of visual working memory in animal models.



Michael Warfe is a M.Sc. candidate in the Neuroscience Program at Queen's University. He joined the laboratory after completing his B.Sc.H. from the Life Sciences Program at Queen's University (2007). His research project is co-supervised by Dr. Michael Dorris (PHGY) and it examines the multiplexing of sensory and non-sensory decision variables in decision-making.

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS


Jason Chan is completing an undergraduate research project while enrolled in the B.Sc.H. Life Sciences Program at Queen's University (2010). His project examines the relationships between the shape of action potentials of sensory-motor neurons and their roles in visual attention.


OPPORTUNITIES

We are actively recruiting skilled and motivated Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows to work specifically on projects using animal models. This is a unique opportunity to join a dynamic group of investigators doing sophisticated research on sensory, cognitive, and motor systems in state-of-the-art facilities.

Graduate students joining the Paré lab are guaranteed a minimum annual stipend of $20,000, with opportunities to supplement their stipend by up to $8,000 if successful in obtaining external awards (e.g., Ontario Graduate Scholarship, NSERC Studentship). This level of support is provided to ensure that students concentrate on their research work and are neither distracted by financial worries nor sidetracked into taking on Teaching Assistantships.

Postdoctoral fellows are offered competitive salaries, especially when considering the low cost of living in Kingston, and the opportunity to develop the skills that will enable them to become independent researchers. Besides being nurtured so that they are productive and publish high-quality work in top journals, fellows are invited to participate in reviewing papers, writing grants, and supervising younger trainees as well as encouraged to design their own experiments and elaborate their own line of inquiry.

Trainees in the lab are given several occasions to travel and present their work at National and International conferences. In the past, trainees have attended conferences in Washington (DC), Chicago (IL), New Orleans (LA), San Diego (CA), Atlanta (GA), Naples (FL), Toronto (ON), and Montreal (QC).

For further information, prospective candidates are invited to send a statement of research interest and CV to Dr. Paré at pare@biomed.queensu.ca

ALUMNI

Post-doctoral Fellows

Emiliano Brunamonti joined the laboratory in Spring 2005 after obtaining his Ph.D. degree in Neurophysiology from the Universita` “La Sapienza” in Rome (Italy) under the supervision of Drs. S. Ferraina and R. Caminiti. His research projects focused on the controlled and ballistic processing of eye movements. He left us in March 2009 and return to a position in Rome.

Dominic Standage joined the laboratory in Fall 2007 after obtaining his Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from Dalhousie University under the supervision of Dr. T. Trappenberg. His research consisted of developing models of decision-making and executive functions using the neural data collected in the laboratory. He left us in June 2009 to join the laboratory of Dr. M.C. Dorris.

Claire Boudet joined the laboratory in January 2003 after obtaining her Ph.D. degree in Clinical Research from Université de Caen (France) under the supervision of Drs. S. Dollfus and P. Denise. Her research projects focused on the controlled and ballistic processing of eye movements in  humans, including schizophrenia patients. She left us in April 2005 and since then completed an MBA at the HEC Paris, France.

Graduate Students

Ian Everdell completed a M.Sc. degree in the Neuroscience Program at Queen's University. He first joined the laboratory in the summer of 2005 to write analysis software, including codes to calculate the information content of neuronal signals. He then did a research thesis while completing his B.Sc.H. in the Biomedical Computing Undergraduate Program at Queen's University (2006). His thesis work was co-supervised by Dr. Kevin Munhall (PSYC) and it examined the spatio-temporal statistics of gaze fixations of humans viewing faces. He is now working at Enquiro Research in Kelowna (BC).

Amanda Wilson completed a M.Sc. degree in the Neuroscience Program at Queen's University in July 2006. She joined the laboratory after graduating from the Psychology Undergraduate Program at Queen's University (2004) and working at ATR International Institute in Kyoto, Japan. Her research project was co-supervised by Dr. Kevin Munhall (PSYC) and it examined the visual contributions to speech perception. She is now enrolled in the Medical Undergraduate Program at University of Toronto.

Neil Thomas completed a M.Sc. degree in the Neuroscience Program at Queen's University in August 2006. He had joined the lab after graduating from the Undergraduate Biology Program at Queen's University (2003) and spending a year travelling abroad. His graduate research thesis examined the neural mechanism of saccade target selection in parietal cortex. Neil is currently completing a Medical Degree at the University of Ottawa.

Gregg Day completed a M.Sc. degree in the Physiology Program at Queen's University in January 2006. He had joined the laboratory in 2002 after doing an undergraduate research thesis in the laboratory while enrolled in the Life Sciences Program at Queen's University (2003). His graduate research thesis examined the coordinated activation of neuronal ensembles during target selection. He has since graduated from the Medical Undergraduate Program at Queen's University and he is now doing his residency at the University of Toronto.

Jerome Valero completed a M.Sc. degree in the Physiology Program at Queen's University in August 2004. He had joined the laboratory in 2002 after graduating from the Undergraduate Biology Program at Queen's University (2002). His research thesis consisted of a study on the neural mechanisms of saccade target selection in superior colliculus. Jerome is now working as a senior research assistant at the Hospital for Sick Children.

COLLABORATORS 

Dr. Richard J. Beninger is a Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at Queen's University. Our collaborative work investigates the nature inhibitory control of action in animal models.

Dr. Clayton E. Curtis is an Associate Professor of Psychology at New York University (New York, NY). Our collaborative work investigates the nature of the inhibitory control of action in humans.

Dr. Michael C. Dorris is an Associate Professor of Physiology at Queen's University. Our collaborative work investigates the integration of visual and reward information in decision-making.

Dr. Kevin G. Munhall is a Professor of Psychology and Otolaryngology at Queen's University. Our collaborative work investigates the integration of audiovisual communicative signals.

Dr. Douglas P. Munoz is a Professor of Physiology at Queen's University. Our collaborative work investigates the inhibitory control of action in animal models and its dysfunction in human patients.

Dr. Martin ten Hove is a Professor of Ophthalmology at Queen's University. He is a member of the research team investigating the integration of audiovisual communicative signals.

Dr. Stefano Ferraina is a Professor in the Dipartimento di Fisiologia Umana e Farmacologia, Universita` “La Sapienza” (Rome, Italy). Our collaborative work investigates the neural basis of inhibitory control of action.

Dr. Jeffrey D. Schall is the E. Bronson Ingram Professor of Neuroscience at the Center for Integrative & Cognitive Neuroscience of the Vanderbilt University Vision Research Center (Nashville, TN). Our collaborative work investigates the neural basis of visual selection and action control.