Colin Lee

Dr. Colin Lee is a T32 postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Megan Mahoney’s lab, examining the effects of the neonicotinoid imidacloprid on learning and memory. Neonicotinoids are among the most commonly used pesticides, favored for their high affinity for insect nicotine receptors and comparatively low affinity for mammalian ones. Despite this property, neonicotinoids cause oxidative stress in mammalian tissues, and their mechanism of action-binding to nicotine receptors suggests they may affect cognition in mammals. Dr. Lee’s work seeks to test this hypothesis.

A former marine biology major, Dr. Lee received his MS in Zoology from the University of New Hampshire and his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Illinois. In both places, he examined the neuronal basis of behavior in sea slugs and octopuses.