Our team
Lab Manager / Professional Research Assistant
Kestle Koeninger
Zachary Mayer is an evolutionary biologist interested in the intersection of genetics and neuroscience. He received his B.A. in Neuroscience with honors from the University of Colorado Boulder and an M.A. in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology from Columbia University. Zach is excited to return to Boulder, where he is now working with a team at the forefront of genetics and functional neuroscience research.
Professional Research Assistant
Zachary Mayer, M.S.
Kestle Koeninger is a Professional Research Assistant with an interest in all aspects of
biological development. She earned her B.S in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from CU Boulder in 2024 and stayed to work there as a PRA. Throughout her
undergraduate career and subsequent work, Kestle has participated in a wide variety
of studies examining various stages of neural development, from embryonic neurulation in mice to adult neural circuitry associated with pair bonding in prairie voles. Outside the lab, Kestle enjoys birding, reading, knitting, and participating in community science programs
biological development. She earned her B.S in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from CU Boulder in 2024 and stayed to work there as a PRA. Throughout her
undergraduate career and subsequent work, Kestle has participated in a wide variety
of studies examining various stages of neural development, from embryonic neurulation in mice to adult neural circuitry associated with pair bonding in prairie voles. Outside the lab, Kestle enjoys birding, reading, knitting, and participating in community science programs
Dr. Mark Dombrovski is a molecular and systems neuroscientist driven to understand how genetic programs define the precise wiring of the brain. He earned his B.S. and M.S. in Biochemistry with honors from Moscow State University in Russia and completed his Ph.D. in Biology at the University of Virginia with Dr. Barry Condron, where he studied the neuroethology of visually guided social behaviors in Drosophila.
As a postdoctoral researcher with Dr. Larry Zipursky at UCLA, Mark combined molecular genetics, connectomics, single-cell genomics and behavior to uncover how neuronal recognition molecules specify synaptic connectivity in the Drosophila visual system. His work integrated multimodal perspectives to reveal how neurons acquire distinct wiring identities during circuit assembly in the developing brain.
Mark's research has been supported by a Jefferson Fellowship during his Ph.D., a Helen Hay Whitney Fellowship during his postdoctoral training, and recently a K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award. Mark is excited to begin assembling a team that will use genetic, genomic, and functional approaches to investigate basic principles logic of brain.
In his free time, Mark enjoys traveling, running, hiking, and exploring non-canonical animal model systems. 🐧
As a postdoctoral researcher with Dr. Larry Zipursky at UCLA, Mark combined molecular genetics, connectomics, single-cell genomics and behavior to uncover how neuronal recognition molecules specify synaptic connectivity in the Drosophila visual system. His work integrated multimodal perspectives to reveal how neurons acquire distinct wiring identities during circuit assembly in the developing brain.
Mark's research has been supported by a Jefferson Fellowship during his Ph.D., a Helen Hay Whitney Fellowship during his postdoctoral training, and recently a K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award. Mark is excited to begin assembling a team that will use genetic, genomic, and functional approaches to investigate basic principles logic of brain.
In his free time, Mark enjoys traveling, running, hiking, and exploring non-canonical animal model systems. 🐧
Assistant Professor
Mark Dombrovski, PhD
We are hiring at all levels!
If you are interested in joining, click here!
If you are interested in joining, click here!
Our Values
🔍 We believe that curiosity matters more than expertise, and that potential is measured not by what someone already knows but by what they are eager to learn.
💡Our lab will be a place where ideas are shared freely, questions are valued as much as answers, and discipline coexists with imagination and creativity.
🤲 We see science as a collective process — one that is based on openness, kindness, and the ability to rethink assumptions.
🚀 We learn together, fail together, and discover together.
💡Our lab will be a place where ideas are shared freely, questions are valued as much as answers, and discipline coexists with imagination and creativity.
🤲 We see science as a collective process — one that is based on openness, kindness, and the ability to rethink assumptions.
🚀 We learn together, fail together, and discover together.
