Jimmy Kelly

Lab Manager

My name is Jimmy, and I'm the lab manager in the Chen Lab. I completed my Bachelor of Science at the University of Oregon, where I worked in Chris Doe's lab and was introduced to Drosophila research and developmental neurobiology. I then moved to Paul Brehm's lab at the Vollum Institute, where I studied the molecular basis of differing synaptic properties between primary and secondary motor neurons in zebrafish using single-cell RNA sequencing. After seven years of working with zebrafish, I'm excited to get back to working with flies and their short generation times. I'm interested in using transcriptomic datasets to generate new insights into biological systems. Additionally, I'm excited by the opportunity to pay forward the tremendous mentorship and opportunities I received as an undergraduate to new generations of undergraduate scientists.

(Joined in October 2025)