Hi all, I'm Mark, and I just started my postdoc in the Basu Lab in April 2025. I grew up around Schenectady and then moved to Rochester in western New York for my undergraduate and then later graduate school at the University of Rochester.  As an undergrad I studied neuroscience, and then went on to study regional microglial circuit interactions for my PhD. with Dr. Ania Majewska. I was a lab tech for two years in there as well. I graduated in 2024 and moved myself and the cat to New York City to join the lab of Dr. Jayeeta Basu at NYU this past spring. In my postdoc I will focus on dendritic integration and imaging voltage in the hippocampus in health and in neurodegeneration. Finally, this summer I took a brief detour to Massachusetts and the Marine Biological Laboratory to take the Neurobiology Course learn some try some new techniques and chill by the beach (ask me about the MBL, I highly recommend it, it was super fun)!

Outside the lab I am really just trying to explore this new place I find myself in. Some of this is artistic, I love going to little movies, concerts, museums, bookstores, you name it. I love biking around the city, it gives me a vibe and a feel for many places all at once that I could never see from the train. I enjoy a good board game or even something more adventurous like D&D! The key to my heart is my cat, Birdie. Mostly though, (and this applies in and outside the lab) is building a real sense of community and solidarity within the space around me. Which brings me to.....

I am very excited to join the PDA this fall! As a graduate student at the University of Rochester I helped found the Neuroscience Student Solidarity Organization as a way to maintain social ties during the COVID pandemic and improve our department. We organized virtual meetings, town halls, workshops happy hours, all toward the goal of maintaining and strengthening the community within our department. When I arrived at NYUGSOM I was so excited to learn that such an organization existed for postdocs on an institutional level. As a PDA member I would continue this spirit of intentional community building and advocacy for my fellow postdocs.