Mentor: JaeKyoon Kim (Abel Lab)

Luke Zaabel grew up on a farm outside of the small town of Kellogg, Iowa. He will be a fourth-year undergraduate studying at the University of Iowa and is on track to complete a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience alongside minors in biology and chemistry. During his time at the University of Iowa, he has worked as a nursing assistant in the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics (UIHC) as well as an undergraduate research assistant in the Iowa Neuroscience Institute (INI). He is currently affiliated with the Parker Lab under the guidance of Krystal Parker and Jessica Purnell, in addition to volunteering at UIHC. He is also a member of the university band, the Phi Beta Kappa national honors society, and is a beekeeper with the Iowa Honey Producer Association. He is currently interested in studying autism and will be finishing a project examining the relationship between the cerebellum and autism in a rodent model. He intends on continuing to conduct research and is open to other areas, but also plans to pursue the field of medicine in the near future.