People
Brendon Watson, MD-PhD
Physician-scientist with an interest in both basic neuroscience and translational neuroscience
PhD with Dr. Rafael Yuste studying cortical microcircuit dynamics using calcium imaging (Columbia University)
Postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. György Buzsaki studying cortical circuits in sleep and wake cycles of freely behaving animals using silicon probes (New York University)
Practicing general psychiatrist at University of Michigan (website). MD from Columbia University. Psychiatry residency at Cornell University Medical Center / New York Presbyterian Hospital
Simeone Marino, PhD - Research Scientist
Big Data: The theoretical foundations of Big Data Science remain a wide open field. We investigate a new Big Data theory for high-throughput analytics and model-free Inference. Specifically, we explore the core principles of distribution-free and model-agnostic methods for scientific inference based on Big Datasets and we call it Compressive Big Data analytics (CBDA).
Data Sharing, Privacy and Utility: Sharing of Big biomedical data, including millions of records with thousands of complex features, provides enormous opportunities for disruptive healthcare innovations. However, the process of data sharing is currently impractical without compromising data value and utility while simultaneously protecting sensitive information. We are proposing a multidisciplinary approach to develop a novel statistical technique (DataSifter) that solves this data-sharing challenge.
Systems Biology: mathematical modeling of immune response to pathogens (mathematical modeling of Mycobacterium tuberculosis) and host-microbiome interactions. Infection data are are from human, primate and mouse.
Mathematics: representing cell populations dynamics and interaction by various mathematical modeling techniques, e.g. deterministic Ordinary Differential Equation (ODE) and Delay Diffferential Equation (DDE) systems, as well as Stochastic models (Agent Based Models– ABM)).
Statistics: Parameter estimation and statistical techniques for uncertainty and sensitivity analysis in complex mathematical models (for example, statistical and computational techniques are used to model the effect of antigen dose on the early events in the immune response during Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection).
Bioinformatics: Data Mining and Biochemical System Network discovery
Lezio Soares Bueno-Júnior, PhD - Research Investigator
Biologist with Psychology MSc and Neuroscience PhD (University of Sao Paulo in Ribeirao Preto, Brazil, University of Pittsburgh and University of Michigan).
Expertise in electrophysiology and behavioral monitoring in multiple rodent species. Experienced in the analysis of human electroencephalography and polysomnography.
Past/present research involve collaborations with biologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and neurologists in a range of neuroscientific topics, including operant conditioning, interval timing, synaptic plasticity, drug sensitization, cholinergic modulation of brain states, sleep, psychiatric comorbidities in epilepsy, animal models of depression, social bonding, behavioral rhythms, somatotopy, and neural activity in forebrain (hippocampus, thalamus and neocortex).
Skills include programming, brain recording/stimulation, electrode making, whisker/pupil videography, pose estimation, sensory stimulation, histology, 3D printing, video editing, and figure making.
Current interests: temporal structure of REM sleep, behavioral and physiological markers of social bonding, impact of both learning and arousal states on neocortical activity, and sleep architecture alterations in psychiatric disease
Jeremiah Hartner, PhD - Research Ivestigator
PhD in Neuroscience from Tulane University with Dr. Laura Schrader: studied the effects of stress hormones on cell circuitry in the entorhinal cortex using patch clamp electrophysiology.
Expertise in rodent behavior, electrophysiology, entorhinal anatomy and entorhinal-hippocampal connectivity
Nicolette Ognjanovski, PhD - Gilmore Fellow
PhD from University of Michigan studying sleep-dependent hippocampal network dynamics associated with memory.
Marie Curie Leading Postdoctoral Fellowship for Chronobiology at Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands. Focused on circadian electrical properties in the suprachiasmatic nucleus and hippocampus across the light-dark cycle.
Current interests include expanding electrophysiological baseline signatures brain regions associated with stress, understanding the biological meaning of ‘time’, and groaning over processing 2TB data files.
Maxwell Ruckstuhl - Doctoral Student, Neuroscience
BS in Physiology & Neuroscience from UCSD
Additional studies in Cognitive Science and Philosophy
Studied gene expression in the Sejnowski lab at the Salk Institute
Guanha Sun - Doctoral Student, Applied Interdisciplinary Mathematics (primary mentor Daniel Forger)
Current research: Modeling and simulation of synaptic dynamics between sleep and wake
Past Research: Fluid-structure Interaction and applied mechanics
BA in Mathematics, Minor in Physics from NYU
Josh Ghimire - Doctoral Student
Michigan State University Class of 2015
Masters in Physiology, University of Michigan, 2020
Background in microbial ecology and bioremediation, MSU Center for Microbial Ecology
Antwan Green - Lab manager
Behavioral Neuroscience B.S.
Background in computational creation of teahing tools and teaching itself
Interest in mental illness and its long-term effects
David Kim - Masters Student and Technician
Masters program in Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, Class 2024
B.S.E. Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, 2021
Background in signal processing and analytical mathematics
Research interests in electrophysiology, circadian biology, and antidepressants
Mustaba Khan - Masters student and Technician
Masters in Robotics, University of Michigan, 2022
Background in embedded systems, Data analytics, problem-solving Algorithms
Research interests Electromyography, electrophysiology
Matthew Tong - Undergraduate Researcher
University of Michigan class of 2023
Pre-medical student working towards a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering
Deniz Kirca - Undergraduate Researcher
University of Michigan class of 2024
Working towards a double major in neuroscience and computer science
Background in studying neurobiological underpinnings of stress in mice, current interests involve studying the network properties of neurons from electrophysiology recordings. Please ask me about neural criticality.
kirca@umich.edu
Noah Muscat - Undergraduate Researcher
University of Michigan class of 2025
Pre-medical student working towards a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering
Ethan Goldiez - Undergraduate Researcher
University of Michigan class of 2026
Pre-medical student working towards a B.S. in Neuroscience with a minor in Gender and Health
Alumni
Paul Fitzgerald, PhD - Postdoctoral Fellow
Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University, studied somatosensory cortex with the late Dr. Steven Hsiao
Postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health studying fear circuitry with Dr. Andrew Holmes
Postdoctoral fellowship at Texas A&M University studying interactions of fear circuitry with neuromodulatory systems with Dr. Stephen Maren.
Interest in both basic and translational neuroscience
Expertise in rodent brain electrophysiology, behavior and limbic system function
Ivo Cerda - Masters Student, Biomedical Engineering
BS in Biology from University of Michigan
Pre-medical
Focused on multi-dimensional measurement of behavior and electrophysiology in mice over weeks
Mingxin Ding - Technician
Masters in Biology from New York University
Went next to the Brandeis University PhD program in Neuroscience
Pho Hale - Technician
BS in Computer Engineering with Honors from University of Kansas
Went next to UMich Neuroscience PhD program.
Personal Website: http://www.phohale.com/
GitHub profile: https://github.com/CommanderPho
Tangyu Liu, PhD - Postdoctoral Fellow
PhD in Biophysics, The Ohio State University, 2016 with Dr. Janet Best: Decoding and incorporating estrogen and pulsatile GnRH signals into a mathematical model of hypothalamus-pituitary-ovary system.
Expertise in mathematical modeling, analytical coding, quantitative approaches
MS in Electrophysics, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan
BS in Electrophysics, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan
Abheek Mukherjee - Undergraduate Researcher
University of Michigan Class of 2021
Pre-medical student working towards a B.S. in Neuroscience (BCN).
Background in studying mitochondrial movements in a LRRK2 mouse model
Andrew Polis - Undergraduate Researcher
University of Michigan Class of 2020
Tia Tsimpanouli, PhD - Postdoctoral Fellow
Researcher in the group of Jeff Iliff at University of Washington
PhD in sleep and memory consolidation in humans using EEG and psychological testing
Science Communication Fellow @UMMNH
Currently studying the impact of spinocerebellar ataxia mutations on sleep and behavior in mice
Priya Vijayakumar - Technician and post-bac student
B.S Mechanical Engineering, UC Berkeley 2021
Background in microfluidics for point-of-care cancer diagnostics and mechanical phenotyping of adipocytes
Research interests in control system applications in neuroscience and medicine
Aiswarya Saravanan - Undergraduate Researcher
University of Michigan class of 2026
Pre-medical student working towards a B.S. in CMBS with a minor in Applied Statistics
Ridge Weston - Undergraduate Researcher
University of Michigan class of 2022
Pre-medical student working towards a B.S. in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience
Co-President of Blood Drives United
Auditor and Treasurer-elect of Alpha Chi Sigma, U of M professional chemistry fraternity
Background in studying the effects of repeated ketamine dosing on rodents
Current activities: Mouse neurosurgery
Jessica Yen - Undergraduate Researcher
University of Michigan Class of 2021