People

Marshall G. Hussain Shuler

Associate Professor, Department of Neuroscience

Marshall G. Hussain Shuler joined the Department of Neuroscience as an Assistant Professor in 2008 after completing his post-doctoral research with Dr. Mark Bear at the Picower Institute for Learning Memory at MIT as a Howard Hughes fellow. He received a Ph.D. in Neurobiology from Duke University, Durham NC in 2001, working in the laboratory of Miguel Nicolelis, having received a NRSA fellowship. He received a B.A. with distinction in Neuroscience from the University of Virginia, working with Dr. David Hill, where he was a Howard Hughes Undergraduate Research Apprentice (1995).

he/him

Publications: Google Scholar | PubMed

Email: shuler [at] jhmi.edu

Twitter: @HuShuLab

Kurt Golcuk

Research Scientist

Kurt is working on characterizing the conjoint outcome prediction and reporting by ACh, DA, NE, and 5-HT in primary visual and auditory cortices. He uses fiber photometry and a dual-color wide-field imager to measure the release profiles of neurotransmitters in head-fixed mice performing decision-making tasks. Kurt has a Ph.D. in Physics. Before joining the lab, he worked as a Research Fellow at the IEECR at the University of Bonn, Germany.

Kavli NDI Postdoctoral Fellow

Publications: Google Scholar

kgolcuk1 [at] jhmi.edu

Elissa Sutlief

PhD Candidate, Department of Neuroscience

Elissa is a graduate student in the lab studying the optimized use of time during decision-making. Her work explores the contribution of neural activity in the striatum to learning algorithms implemented in the brain. She received her Bachelors of Science from the University of Washington, where she double-majored in Neuroscience and Biochemistry, with a focus in Neural Engineering. Outside of the lab, Elissa leads an after school coding club for young girls from underrepresented backgrounds.

Publications: Google Scholar | PubMed

esutlie1 [at] jhmi.edu

Charlie Walters

PhD Candidate, Department of Neuroscience

Charlie is studying the neural representation of time in the hippocampus during decision-making. Charlie graduated from UC Berkeley with a B.A. in Molecular and Cell Biology (Neurobiology emphasis) in 2017. From 2017-2019, Charlie designed and built 256-channel tetrode drives for hippocampal recording as the lab manager and research associate for the Foster Lab at UC Berkeley.

Kavli NDI Distinguished Graduate Fellow

they/them, he/him

ckwalters [at] jhmi.edu

Shichen Zhang

PhD Candidate, Department of Neuroscience

Shichen is a graduate student in the lab studying how the brain decides where to invest time. She uses fiber photometric imaging to explore how neuromodulators, such as acetylcholine, dopamine, and serotonin, contribute to the neural implementation of reinforcement learning algorithms. In her undergrad research, she participated in developing the neuromodulator sensors she is using now. In 2018, Shichen graduated from Nankai University, China, with a major in Biology and a minor in Math. In 2020, she received her M.S.E in Biomedical Engineering, with a focus in Neural Engineering.

Publications: Google Scholar

szhan107 [at] jhmi.edu

Rebekah Zhang

PhD Candidate, Department of Neuroscience

Rebekah is studying the passage of reward expectation in the visual corticostriatal circuit. Rebekah graduated from Boston University with a B.A. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2018. From 2018-2020, Rebekah worked as a technician studying the role of the striatum in decision making in the Sabatini Lab at Harvard Medical School.

Kavli NDI Pre-doctoral Fellow

yzhan485 [at] jhmi.edu

Ziyi Guo

PhD Candidate, Department of Neuroscience

Ziyi is studying the evolution of action-value signals over time in the anterior cingulate cortex. Ziyi graduated from Brandeis University in 2021 with a B.S. in Neuroscience, Computer Science, and Psychology. During her undergrad research, she developed analysis tools to explore hippocampal-prefrontal interactions during distinct local field potential patterns while rats navigated spatial environments.

Website

zguo46 [at] jhu.edu