Group Members
Abid Hussaini
Assistant Professor
PhD Neurobiology
(Freie Universitaet Berlin)
After my PhD in Neurobiology, my postdoctoral training was in Neuroscience with Dr. Eric Kandel at Columbia University. I studied the role of HCN1 channels on hippocampal place cell firing and spatial memory. Having worked on entorhinal cortex grid cells briefly, I became intrigued by the selective vulnerability of entorhinal cortex neurons in Alzheimer’s disease. My lab aims to understand the mechanism underlying neuronal dysfunction in neurodegenerative diseases such as AD.
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.
Eva Rothenberg
Senior Research Technician
BA Biology (Skidmore College)
I work closely with Dr. Rodriguez, doing in-vivo electrophysiology recordings in mouse models of AD to examine neuronal activity in the EC. I assemble tetrodes and microdrives in preparation for surgeries. I also perform immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescent staining on mouse tissue to visualize brain structure and pathology.
Oliver Shetler
Senior Research Data Scientist
MA Statistics and Applied Mathematics
(City University of New York, Hunter College)
I develop techniques for making sense of neural data using statistics and machine learning. My research agenda is centered on topics in neural coding, and on understanding how models of AD induce dysfunction in neural coding mechanisms. I also build and maintain software for data analysis, supporting open source and private sector products.
Andrew Aoun
Research Data Scientist
BS Neuroscience (Brown University)
I focus on computational tools to analyze large scale data sets from electrophysiology, optogenetic 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.
Thomas Tedesco
Research Technician
BS Neuroscience (Fordham University)
I work closely with Dr. Radha Raghuraman and work on optimizing immunohistochemistry protocols and their visualizations.
Helen Figueroa
Research Technician
BS Biology
I take care animal husbandry of several transgenic lines and help with behavioral experiments.
Alexandra Petrache
Research Consultant
PhD Neuroscience
(University College London)
During my PhD I worked on animal models of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in Dr Afia Ali’s lab at UCL. In Dr Hussaini’s research group, I assist 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.
Alumni
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.
Linda Forsell
Research Consultant (2017-2021)
Medical Doctor
(Stockholm, Sweden)
I helped with the research and design of BrainWiki- a comparative neuroanatomy tool (BrainWiki.org).
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, Nava Himelhoch, Sandhya Senthilkumar, Nikhil Ramvenkat, Deeksha Kommireddi, Jessica George, Matthew Hou, Jessica Hui, Kaelin Main, Xavier Cambi, Talya Waxenburg, Matthew Hou, Adithi Jayaraman, Lisa Shah, Ella Wilson, 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.