Our Speakers

Dr Mody’s research focuses on the physiology, pharmacology, and pathology of synaptic transmission in the mammalian brain, and the regulation of intracellular calcium homeostasis. The two themes ultimately converge in our quest for understanding how long-term alterations in the excitability of nerve cells and circuits are responsible for offsetting the frail balance between excitation and inhibition. Tipping this balance, either acutely or chronically, results in the nervous system showing signs of abnormal activity leading to specific brain disorders. His study focuses on synaptic transmission and the activation of extrasynaptic receptors in the healthy and the diseased brain.

Dr Südhof was a recipient of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his pioneering work on vesicle trafficking. His current research focuses on how synapses are established specifically between defined pre- and postsynaptic neurons, and how such connections are endowed with specific properties by these neurons. Addressing this fundamental question is essential for understanding how circuits are wired and how they process information, and the basic rules that govern synapse formation and specification are only now beginning to emerge. Elucidating these rules is the goal of Dr Südhof’s present work.

Dr Krook-Magnuson is a neuroscientist seeking to improve our understanding of how cells interact within
a network, how networks interact with each other, and the physiological roles of neuronal populations. Neuronal networks, diversity, and specificity of function are important to both physiological processes and neurological disorders. The Krook-Magnuson lab utilizes models of temporal lobe epilepsy and essential tremor, and a range of techniques including electrophysiology, optogenetics, imaging, and behavioral experiments to address fundamental questions in the field of neuroscience.

Dr Katona's laboratory aspires to elucidate novel physiological and pathophysiological forms of brain plasticity mechanisms with a specific focus on signaling pathways, cell types and brain circuits involved in addiction. To achieve this goal, they utilize a unique multi-disciplinary approach by combining state-of-the-art nanoscale molecular, anatomical and electrophysiological technologies with mesoscale functional brain imaging and behavioral models of addiction. Ultimately, this activity is envisaged to help gain a better understanding of the neurobiology of addiction and to contribute to the identification of novel treatment approaches.

Dr Santhakumar earned her MBBS in India and PhD in neuroscience at the University of California at Irvine. Following postdoctoral research at UCLA, she was a faculty member at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences before moving to UCR. Her research interests are in the areas of physiological mechanisms of pathology in traumatic brain injury and epilepsy with a focus on inhibitory circuits, synaptic physiology and network computational analysis. Her lab is pursuing novel directions examining the role of neuro-immune interactions and neurogenesis in development of neurocognitive dysfunction after brain injury.

The primary goal of Dr Szabadics’ laboratory is to better understand the underlying neuronal circuitry of the hippocampus, in particular the cellular machinery of the interface between the dentate gyrus and CA3 regions. The central methodology of the laboratory is in vitro patch clamp electrophysiology (including paired recordings of synaptically coupled neurons, and direct dendritic and axonal recordings), which is combined with correlated anatomy and immuno-histochemistry, calcium-imaging, computational modelling and virus labelling. 

Dr Ratzliff is a national expert on Collaborative Care and specifically, on training teams to implement and deliver mental health treatment in primary care settings. Her passion for translating complex research ideas into practical real-world applications began when she received her MD and PhD in Anatomy and Neurobiology as part of the Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of California at Irvine. She is currently a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington where she has developed additional expertise in suicide prevention training, mental health workforce development, adult learning best practices, and mentorship. She is also Co-Director of the AIMS Center and Director of the UW Integrated Care Training Program for residents and fellows.  

Dr. Golshani obtained his MD/PhD from UC Irvine and UC Davis where he trained under the mentorship of Dr. Edward G. Jones on the development of corticothalamic synapse. He then completed his Neurology residency at UCLA and obtained postdoctoral training with Dr. Felix Schweizer and Dr. Guoping Fan where he studied the role of DNA methylation in development of cortical circuits. He then became faculty and in collaboration with Dr. Portera-Cailliau and Dr. Stelios Smirnakis studied the developmental desynchronization of internally generated activity in the cerebral cortex. His independent laboratory now investigates how cortical microcircuits in the awake behaving animal encode sensory input and how disorders such as autism and developmental epilepsies disrupt functional cortical connectivity.

Dr Farrell aims to understand how basic mechanisms that support healthy brain functions become hijacked in epilepsy to drive pathophysiology. He discovered that a stroke-like event occurring after seizures is responsible for long-lasting behavioral impairments and is driven by the overproduction of blood flow regulating lipids, which has directly led to two clinical trials. His lab’s most recent focus is unravelling how local circuit and large-scale network mechanisms, which normally control memory processes, become substrates for hypersynchronous, pathological activity in epilepsy. 

Dr. Alexander earned a combined B.S./M.S. in Biological Science with a minor in Computer Science from Stanford University in 1999. Her academic journey continued with a Ph.D. at the University of California, Irvine, exploring hippocampal mossy cells' role in post-traumatic hyperexcitability. After an M.D. in 2008, she completed Neurosurgery residency at Stanford in 2015, dedicating two years to studying epilepsy's thalamocortical circuitry with Dr. John Huguenard. Returning to Dr. Soltesz’s lab from 2015-16, she concluded her education with a Pediatric Neurosurgery fellowship at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Joining the CU Department of Neurosurgery/Children’s Hospital Colorado faculty in 2017, she now leads a lab focused on understanding mechanisms behind seizures in cortical development malformations (MCD).

Dr Losonczy is a Professor of Neuroscience at Columbia University and the Principal Investigator at Columbia's Zuckerman Institute. His research is aimed at understanding how mammalian cortical circuits mediate learning and formation of declarative memories - our repository of acquired information of people, places, objects and events.