Position: PhD Student, Neuroscience Program

Education: B.S. Neuroscience, Baylor University, Waco, Texas

Contact: zpranske@brandeis.edu

Hometown: Coppell, Texas

Research Interests: I am studying the cellular processes which underlie inhibitory synapse formation in the brain. As our lab has previously shown that Sema4D promotes the formation of inhibitory synapses, I use Sema4D as a tool to rapidly induce synapse formation in vitro and study their assembly in real time using a variety of live and fixed imaging approaches. I am also interested in how GABAergic synapse formation onto inhibitory interneurons is regulated and am evaluating the translational potential of Sema4D for the treatment of epilepsy disorders. 

Personal Interests: I enjoy playing ultimate frisbee, weightlifting, and occasionally pretending to be outdoorsy. Much of my time at home is spent playing city planning games and hanging out with my cats.

If I weren't a scientist I'd be... an urban planner or coffee shop/brewery owner.