Principal Investigator

Katherine M. Serafine, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience
​ACNP/AMP BRAD Fellow (2019-2020)

Dr. Serafine earned her B.A. in psychology from Norwich University in Northfield, VT., and her M.A. in psychology as well as her Ph.D. in Behavior, Cognition, and Neuroscience from American University in Washington, DC. Her dissertation research focused on the neurochemical mediation of the aversive effects of cocaine, using classical conditioning procedures. Dr. Serafine completed a postdoctoral fellowship in behavioral pharmacology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, TX. Her research interests include the impact of diet and drug history on abuse vulnerability. Recently, Dr. Serafine's research has also focused on sex differences in drug sensitivity, and the neurochemical and behavioral overlap between drug abuse and food-related conditions, such as obesity and binge eating disorder. Dr. Serafine was appointed as a tenure track Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Texas at El Paso in 2015, and was selected to be the 2018-2019 ACNP/AMP Biomedical Research Awareness Day Fellow. In 2019, she was also named one of NIH's "Future Research Leaders". In September 2021, Dr. Serafine was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor with tenure. 

Graduate Student

Nina Beltran

Nina is a second year PhD student at UTEP, but has been working in the lab since spring 2017 and became a UTEP RISE undergraduate scholar in 2018. As an undergraduate, Nina earned a competitive Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) through the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) for summer 2019, and was the very first person to graduate from UTEP with a B.S. in Neuroscience in December 2019. Nina is an active volunteer for Biomedical Research Awareness Day (BRAD) initiatives in El Paso, and recently presented her first year research project to the Department of Psychology. Nina is currently working on her master's thesis proposal .

Medical Student

Sanjana Mada
Medical Student Research Assistant

Sanjana is a 3rd year medical student at the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine in El Paso. Sanjana graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a minor in Chemistry. Sanjana participated in pharmacology research in the past at UT Health San Antonio, examining the behavioral effects of benzylideneoxymorphine on opioid receptors. This summer Sanjana is contributing to an ongoing research collaboration between the Serafine laboratory and two faculty in Sociology/Anthropology at UTEP to examine stress among immigrant women seeking maternal health care in the Border region. Sanjana hopes to use these research experiences towards applications in addiction medicine as a practicing physician. 

Undergraduate Students

Jazmin Castillo
2022 BUILDing Scholar Summer Student

Jazmin is a junior majoring in Psychology at Western New Mexico University who joined the lab through the BUILDing Scholars Summer Research Program in 2022. Jazmine will be working on investigating the impact of diet on sensitivity of rats to withdrawal from opioid drugs. 

Isabella Castro
​Undergraduate Research Assistant
​2021 SMARTMIND Student

Bella is sophomore majoring in neuroscience. Bella joined the lab in the Fall of 2019 and completed a large conditioned place preference project in 2021 while participating in the UTEP SMARTMIND summer training program. Bella is getting ready to. begin a senior thesis project this fall. 

Madeline Elsey
UTEP BUILDing Scholar

Madeline joined the lab when she was a Coronado High School senior in Fall of 2018. She graduated from Coronado and decided to continue her education at UTEP as a neuroscience major and began her appointment as a UTEP BUILDing Scholar in Fall 2019. Maddie mastered several techniques in the lab fairly quickly, and is currently leading her own project studying the impact of ketogenic diets on drug sensitivity. In 2022 Maddie was selected to participate in the ASPET SURF Program! 

Natalia Martinez
Undergraduate Research Assistant

Natalia joined the lab in summer 2022 just after graduating 7th in her class at Americas High School in El Paso. Natalia is an incoming freshman at UTEP who will be studying psychology. She hopes to pursue a graduate degree in psychology after finishing her studies at UTEP. This summer Natalia will be helping with ongoing projects.

Ana Paulina Serrano
2022 SMARTMIND Undergraduate Research Assistant

Ana Paulina is a native El Pasoan who graduated as valedictorian from Coronado High School in 2021. She is currently a rising sophomore at Harvard University majoring in neuroscience on the Pre-Med track. She hopes to attend medical school upon graduation on her way to becoming either a neurologist or neurosurgeon. Ana Paulina was selected for the UTEP SMARTMIND program for the summer of 2022, during which she will be studying the impact of diet on some of the adverse effects of moprhine. 

Alyssa Parra 
2022 SMARTMIND Undergraduate Research Assistant 

Alyssa is a senior majoring in psychology at UTEP. She joined the lab through the UTEP SMARTMIND summer research program in 2022, and she will be working on a project with a focus on the impact of diet on the antinociceptive effects of drugs. Alyssa has been previously involved in research and looks forward to expanding her skills and experience in the lab.

We're looking for students like you!

We are currently recruiting graduate students!
​For more details on applying for graduate studies at UTEP please click the below link! For more info on how to join the lab as an undergraduate, please click visit the "join the lab" tab on our website.