Erick Barrios, graduate student

Bacherlor's degree: Boston College

I am using CRISPRi to manipulate transcription factors in mammalian cortical neurons

Erin Clark, postdoc, recent alum, now a Principle Scientist in Pharmacology & Discovery Sciences at Sunovion 

PhD, Harvard Medical School, Boston; Bachelors, University of Texas at Austin

I am using transgenic mouse lines to characterize the regulatory networks that control adult neuronal identity.

Ryan Kirk, graduate student

Bacherlor's degree: Oberlin and University of Delaware

I am interested in new techniques for manipulating nuclear proteins in order to better understand transcriptional circuits in mammalian neurons

David Levitan, postdoc (jointly supervised by Don Katz), recent alum, now postdoc at Hebrew University

PhD, Bar-Ilan University, Israel. 

I am interested in uncovering the roles that specific cell types play in learning and memory by examining their gene expression patterns in response to varying memory related tasks.

Chenghao Liu, graduate student (jointly supervised by Don Katz), recent graduate, now postdoctoral fellow at MGH.

BS: Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

I am studying the cellular and molecular basis of conditioned taste aversion, a form of one-trial gustatory learning.

Zhe Meng, research technician

Huazhong University of Science & Technology at Hankou, China, B.S., Chemical Engineering

I joined the Nelson lab in 2004. I really enjoy working here at Brandeis. The people are enthusiastic about their work and a pleasure to work with.

Sacha Nelson, PI

B.A., B.S., Brown University; M.D., Ph.D., UCSD; Post-Doc, M.I.T. 

I love collaborating with this great group of people. Other interests include ultimate frisbee, politics, music and the future of scientific publication.

Vera Valakh, postdoc, recent alum, now a Senior Scientist at Cognesy Therapeutics

PhD, Washington University, St. Louis

I am studying the transcriptional regulation of homeostatic plasticity, and its role in seizure disorders

Derek Wise, graduate student (jointly supervised by Steve Van Hooser)

Graduated January, 2023.

B.A.: Colby College, Maine

I am using calcium imaging and visualization of synaptic proteins to monitor homeostatic regulation of network activity in cortical slice cultures.