Hadley Johnson

Hadley graduated from Colgate University (USA) in 2025 with high honors in Neuroscience and a minor in Music. Her undergraduate thesis project in the lab of Prof. Jason Meyers focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying regeneration in the zebrafish lateral line. Later that year, she began her MPhil studies at the Institute of Metabolic Science University of Cambridge (UK) with Dr. Laura Dearden investigating the impact of maternal obesity and GLP-1 agonist medications (semaglutide) on fetal neural development. Her lab explored the placental transfer of semaglutide to the fetus following gestational exposure, prompting further investigation of the potential neural effects on feeding circuitry driving long-term metabolic complications like childhood obesity and diabetes.

Through the NIH-Oxford Scholars program and member of St. Cross College in the University of Oxford, Hadley has joined the Brain Network Dynamics Unit under the supervision of Prof. David Dupret to examine how memory is influenced by obesogenic diets. Using in vivo network electrophysiology, she aims to investigate how repeated pairing of rewarding, highly palatable foods can produce robust hippocampal food-context population responses. Her project will also examine how these processes are affected following semaglutide administration. To complete her DPhil, she will transition to the lab of Dr. Michael Krashes at NIDDK (USA) to continue her studies of the motivation behind foraging and feeding behavior. In her free time, Hadley is a member of several choirs and enjoys traveling, baking, and spending time outside.