Group Members
Abid Hussaini
Associate Professor
PhD Neurobiology
(Freie Universitaet Berlin)
I am an Associate Professor of Neuroscience and the Director of Laboratory for Systems Neuroscience of Cognition and Dementia at the Burke Neurological Institute at Weill Cornell Medicine. My postdoctoral training was at Columbia University under Dr. Eric Kandel studying the role of h-channels on hippocampal place cell firing and spatial memory in HCN1 knockout mice. Having worked on the entorhinal cortex grid cells in the Moser group (NTNU), I became interested in how entorhinal cortex neurons are affected in Alzheimer’s disease. My lab aims to understand the mechanism underlying neuronal and network dysfunction in neurodegenerative diseases such as AD. Prior to Burke, I worked as an Assistant Professor at the Taub Institute at Columbia University Medical Center.
Gustavo Rodriguez
Associate Research Scientist
PhD Neuroscience
(Georgetown University)
My research is focused on understanding how neuronal populations in the entorhinal cortex (EC) and hippocampus (HIPP) are affected by amyloid-beta (Aβ) and tau pathology, which are hallmark features of Alzheimer’s disease. I employ optogenetics / chemogenetics and in vivo electrophysiology in my research, and am interested in how neuronal modulation can effect Aβ accumulation and pathological tau in the entorhinal cortex – hippocampal (EC-HIPP) network.
Radha Raghuraman
Postdoctoral Research Scientist
PhD Neuroscience
(National University of Singapore)
I am investigating early signs of neuronal vulnerability in AD mouse models using in vivo recordings in the neurons of the entorhinal cortex (EC) and the hippocampus (HPC). I will additionally explore if (and how) pathology in the Locus Coeruleus (LC) triggers AD by assessing sleep and memory performance in relevant behaviour tasks. By recording from the LC-HPC circuit, I aim to pin down the electrophysiological biomarker(s) of neuronal dysfunctional prior to the manifestation of behavioural perturbations.
I am investigating how the neurons of MEC and LEC are affected in Alzheimer’s disease.
Anurag Sharma
Computational Research Scientist
MS Biomedical Engineering
(Columbia University)
I develop and maintain software for data analysis obtained from single-unit electrophysiology experiments.
Cristina Vargas
Research Scientist
BS Env. Science. (SUNY College)
I work closely with Alyssa to investigate brain regions involved in Alzheimer’s disease. I help with immunohistochemistry, electrophysiology and behavior experiments.
Andrew Aoun
Computational Research Scientist
BS Neuroscience (Brown University)
I focus on computational tools to analyze large scale data sets from electrophysiology and behavioral experiments in AD mouse models. I incorporate modeling and machine learning approaches to better understand and decode neural data. I also work on data pipelines and software to support general lab analysis tools. Currently pursuing PhD at NYU.
Oliver Shetler
Senior Data Scientist (Contractor)
MA Statistics and Applied Mathematics
(City University of New York, Hunter College)
I developed techniques for making sense of neural data using statistics and machine learning. I am currently working on NeuronTracker algorithm to track neurons across several days.
Alumni
Hande Yuceer Korkmaz
International Graduate Student (2023-2024)
PhD Neuroscience
Istanbul University
I worked on the role of NMDA receptors in aging and disease as part of my PhD thesis funded by Fulbright Scholarship. Currently at Istanbul University.
Helen Figueroa
Research Technician (2014-2024)
BS Biology
I performed animal husbandry of several transgenic lines and helped with behavioral experiments. Currently at Columbia University.
Thomas Tedesco
Research Technician (2022 - 2024)
BS Neuroscience (Fordham University)
I worked closely with Dr. Radha Raghuraman and work on optimizing immunohistochemistry protocols and their visualizations. Currently at Montclair University.
Eva Rothenberg
Senior Research Technician (2020 - 2023)
BA Biology (Skidmore College)
I worked closely with Dr. Rodriguez, doing in-vivo electrophysiology recordings in mouse models of AD, and performed tissue sectioning, IHC and IF staining. Currently at Regeneron.
Joshua Cho
PhD student (2018 - 2022) (co-mentored by Dr. Ismael Santa-Maria)
MA Cell, Molecular, and Biomedical Studies
(Columbia University)
I graduated in 2022. I studied the role of, and possible treatments for, miRNA dysregulation in tau pathology. Currently a postdoc at University of Washington.
Alexandra Petrache
Research Consultant
PhD Neuroscience
(University College London)
I assisted with analysis of electrophysiology data from the lateral entorhinal cortex in AD, contribute to manuscript writing and academically mentor students who are interning in the lab. Worked at IQVIA in London. Currently a freelance behavioral scientist.
Linda Forsell
Research Consultant (2017-2021)
Medical Doctor
(Stockholm, Sweden)
I worked on the research and design of BrainWiki- a comparative neuroanatomy tool (BrainWiki.org). I am currently a Medical Doctor in Stockholm.
David Vaughan – NeuroScikit 2.0 backend consultant (2023), Dilip Rajeswari – ML & DS consultant (2021-2022), Alice Zambon- Visiting graduate student (2019), Aisha Kazeem- Research assistant (2018-2019), Valerie Savage- Research technician (2016-2017), Eden Nahmani- Research technician (2015-2016), Eliana Goldberg- Bachelor’s student (2015-2016).
Interns– Matthew Spence, Alaa Ali, Nikhil Ramavenkat, Ella Wilson, Julia Wu-Oswald, Nava Himelhoch, Soham Bafana, Ray Muroi, Sandhya Senthilkumar, Deeksha Kommireddi, Jessica George, Matthew Hou, Jessica Hui, Kaelin Main, Xavier Cambi, Talya Waxenburg, Matthew Hou, Adithi Jayaraman, Lisa Shah, Shaunice Grier, Michael Kim, Keerthi Jayaraman, Surya Krishnamurthy, Sarah Rogers, Hannah Straus, Ken Gjoni, Alejandro Capote, Masayuki Yanagiba, Yagiz Meric Altun, Arjun Gupta, Mark McNulty, Peter Salamon and Kyle Peter.