I am a postdoc in Dr. Lisa Giocomo’s lab at Stanford University. I designed an electrode implantation technique that allows recording of hundreds of neurons simultaneously from multiple brain regions in freely moving mice. With this technique, I observed that neurons in the medial entorhinal cortex frequently represent remote sensory experiences during immobility. These representations are independent of both SWRs and other CA1 activity and reflect task-relevant associations between locations at pertinent times. This work, which was recently released as a preprint, suggests a novel role for MEC in encoding task-relevant spatial associations beyond the context of movement and SWRs.
Previously, I completed my PhD at UCSF in the lab of Dr. Yadong Huang and co-mentored by Dr. Loren Frank. My thesis work measured hippocampal sharp-wave ripples as a biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease and as a readout for input drive as modulated by different interneuron subclasses.
As part of my research, I enjoy teaching and mentoring. I specifically direct my time towards mentoring and creating resources and opportunities for marginalized scientists. I previously co-chaired the 2023 Inhibition in the CNS GRS.
My future research program will dissect how the hippocampal circuit can flexibly perform distinct computations to support spatial memory and how these computations degrade in aging and Alzheimer’s disease. This work will be funded by my NINDS K99/R00 Career Transition Award. I am currently applying for tenure-track positions at R1 universities in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, and Midwest.
Recent Updates
I will be giving a talk at Winter Brain in Lake Tahoe, CA in late January.
October 2024: John Wen and Ben Sorscher’s thesis work, One-shot entorhinal maps enable flexible navigation in novel environments, on which I am second author, is published in Nature.
July 2024: My main postdoc work, Entorhinal cortex represents task-relevant remote locations independent of CA1, is released as a preprint.
June 2024: A new study discovering hippocampal signatures of epilepsy in Alzheimer’s model mice, on which I am middle author, is released as a preprint.
April 2024: I gave an invited seminar at Yale University’s Department of Neuroscience.
February 2024: Data from my 2 PhD papers was used to develop a method to identify dentate spikes by waveform in a new paper by Rodrigo Santiago.
November-December 2023: I gave invited seminars at Georgetown University’s Department of Pharmacology and Physiology and Stony Brook University’s Department of Neurobiology and Behavior.
October 2023: Kei Masuda’s thesis work, Ketamine evoked disruption of entorhinal and hippocampal spatial maps, on which I am second author, is published in Nature Communications.
September 2023: I was awarded an NINDS K99/R00 Career Transition Award to complete my postdoctoral studies and start my own lab. I was also selected to be a mentor coach, designing and teaching curriculum on culturally inclusive mentorship for Stanford postdocs.
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