People
Carlos Portera-Cailliau, MD-PhD - Principal Investigator
Professor
Email: cpcailliau@mednet.ucla.edu
B.S. in Biochemistry & Cell Biology, 1990
University of California, San Diego
MD-PhD (Neuroscience), 1997
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Mentors: Lee Martin and Donald Price
Neurology Residency, 1998-2001
Massachusetts General Hospital,
Brigham & Women's Hospital
Movement Disorders Fellow, 2001-2004
Columbia University Medical Center
Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2001-2003
Columbia University
Mentor: Rafael Yuste
Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2003-2004
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Mentor: Karel Svoboda
Nazim Kourdougli, PhD - Postdoctoral Fellow
Email: n.kourdougli@ucla.edu
B.S. in Technology and Health Sciences, 2009
M.S. in Molecular and Cellular Neurosciences, 2011
Aix-Marseille University, France
PhD in Neurosciences, 2015
Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France INMED-INSERM UMR901, Marseille, France Neuroscience Center, Helsinki, Finland
Mentor: Dr. Claudio Rivera
Postdoctoral Fellow, 2015-2016
INMED-INSERM UMR901, Marseille, France
Mentor: Dr. Claudio Rivera
Anand Suresh, PhD - Postdoctoral Fellow
Email: anandsuresh@ucla.edu
B.Pharm in Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2009
Rajiv Gandhi Health University, Bangalore, India
PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 2017
University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, U.S.A.
Mentor: Dr. Anna Dunaevsky
Postdoctoral Fellow, 2016-2017
University of Nebraska Medical Center, U.S.A.
Mentor: Dr. Anna Dunaevsky
Irma A. Tello García, PhD - Postdoctoral Fellow
Email: irma.tellog@gmail.com
B.S. in Biotechnology Engineering
Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM)
Querétaro, México
PhD in Biomedical Sciences (Neuroscience)
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
Querétaro, México
Mentor: Miguel Condes-Lara
Carlos A. Sánchez-León, PhD - Postdoctoral Fellow
Email: carlos_leon_bio@hotmail.com
B.S. in Biology, 2012
Universidad de Extremadura, Spain
PhD in Neurosciences, 2019
Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla, Spain
Mentor: Dr. Javier Márquez-Ruiz
Postdoctoral Fellow, 2020-2022
Dept. of Psychology and Neurosciences Ifado, Germany
Mentor: Dr. Michael Nitsche
Michelle Wu - Graduate Student
Email: MWWu@mednet.ucla.edu
B.S. in Brain and Cognitive Sciences, 2018
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Neuroscience Interdisciplinary PhD Program, UCLA
UCLA-Caltech Medical Scientists Training Program
Jaylin Hsu - Undergraduate
Email: jaylinhsu@ucla.edu
Undergraduate student UCLA
Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology Major
Expected grad: 2025
Lauren Wall - Undergraduate
Email: ltwall36@g.ucla.edu
Undergraduate student UCLA
Neuroscience Major
Expected grad: 2026
David Song - Undergraduate
Email: davidsongxyz@g.ucla.edu
Undergraduate student UCLA
Mathematics of Computation Major
Expected grad: 2026
Akash Khotari - Undergraduate
Email: akash.j.kothari@gmail.com
Undergraduate student UCLA
Neuroscience Major
Expected grad: 2025
Alumni
Name
Years in Lab
Current Position
Madison Dietz
Undergraduate Student
2024
Trishala Chari
Graduate Student
2019-2024
Zoe Dobler
Graduate Student
2019-2024
Ariana Hernandez
Undergraduate Student
2020-2023
Sunny Mula
Undergraduate Student
2020-2023
Research technician, Anna Molofsky Lab, UCSF
Ashley Lin
Undergraduate Student
2020-2023
Medical student at Duke University
Jorge Salcedo
Medical Student
2022-2023
Ritu Gaikwad
Undergraduate Student
2021-2022
Medical student at California Northstate University College of Medicine
Isha Jagadish
High School Student
2021
High School Student, Saratoga High School
David Chung
Undergraduate Student
2019-2021
MSTP student Duke University
Assistant Researcher Doris Tsao's Lab, UC Berkeley
Anne Tran
Undergraduate Student
2019-2021
Medical student at UC Davis
Bo Wang
Postdoctoral Fellow
2017-2020
Post-doc researcher at UCLA
Natalie Noble
Undergraduate Student
2019-2020
Neuroscience PhD student, Harvard University
Assistant Researcher at Rockefeller University
Isa Samad
Undergraduate Student
2019-2020
Neuroscience PhD student at University of British Columbia, Canada
Sandhya Murugan
Undergraduate Student
2018-2020
Medical student at USC’s Keck School of Medicine
Class of 2026
William Zeiger
Postdoctoral Fellow
2015-2020
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Neurology
UCLA
Brandon Nanfito
Undergraduate Student
2018-2020
Graduate Student
Neuroscience PhD program
Johns Hopkins University
Carla Marin
Undergraduate Student
2018-2020
PhD student in Neurobiology at UC San Diego
Chloe Dupuis
Visiting Graduate Student
2019
PhD student at Sorbonne University, Paris
Nasir Ahmed
Undergraduate Student
2017-2019
Law Student
Arizona State University Law School
Class of 2023
Barbara Todisco
Undergraduate Student
2017-2019
Cindy Chen
Undergraduate Student
2017-2019
Graduate Student
Brain and Cognitive Science PhD program at MIT
Anubhuti Goel
Postdoctoral Fellow
2014-2019
Assistant Professor
Dept of Psychology at UC Riverside
Daniel Cantu
Graduate Student
2012-2019
Michael Le
Undergraduate Student
2017-2019
Medical Student
UCLA
Class of 2023
Gunvant Chaudhari
Undergraduate Student
2016-2019
Medical Student
UCSF
Class of 2023
Erica Arroyo, PhD
Graduate Student
working in the film industry in Hollywood
Anouk Heuvelmans
Masters Student
2018
PhD Student
Ype Elgersma's Lab
Erasmus MC, Rotterdam
Sheyda Mesgarzadeh
Undergraduate Student
2016-2018
Medical Student
University of Arizona College Of Medicine in Tucson
Class of 2024
Research Technician at UCSF
Aditi Newadkar
Undergraduate Student
2016-2018
Internal Medicine resident at USC
Medical Student
University of Southern California
Satvir Saggi
Undergraduate Student
2015-2018
Medical student
UCSF
Class of 2024
Summer Research Rotation at UCSF
Diego De Alba
Undergraduate Student
2017-2018
UCLA
Class of 2019
Gengming Liu
Undergraduate Student
2014-2017
PhD Student in Physics
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Cynthia He, PhD
MSTP Student
2013-2017
Psychiatry resident at UCSF
David Geffen Medical School
MSTP
Class of 2019
Mate Marosi, PhD
Post-Doc
2013-2017
Scientific Researcher
University of Texas Medical Branch
Steve Cohen,
Undergraduate Student
2015-2016
Undergraduate Student
Molecular, Cell and Molecular Biology Major
Class of 2018
UCLA
Shilpa Mantri,
Undergraduate Student
(Summer intern)
Summer 2015
Medical student at Rutgers RWJ
Undergraduate Student
Neuroscience and Biological Sciences major
University of Chicago
Peter Pellionisz,
Biomedical Engineer
2014-2015
David Geffen Medical School
MSTP
Class of 2023
Mona Chatrizeh,
Undergraduate Student
2015-2016
MSTP student at Univ. of Pittsburgh Sch. Of Medicine
Lab Technician for Willy Hugo's Lab at UCLA
Class of 2018
UCLA
Steve Hernandez,
Undergraduate Student
2014-2015
Undergraduate Student
Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology Major
Class of 2018
UCLA
Kaela Cohen,
Undergraduate Student
2014-2015
Undergraduate Student
Neuroscience Major
Class of 2018
UCLA
Grant Higerd,
Undergraduate Student
2013-2015
Yale Medical School
MSTP
Class of 2024
Amaya Miquelajauregui, PhD
Post-Doc
2010-2015
Assistant Professor
University of Puerto Rico
Sahana Kribakaran
Undergraduate Student
2012-2014
Yale Medical School
MSTP
Class of 2024
Catherine Yunis
Undergraduate Student
2013-2014
Senior Research Associate, Neuroengineer
Digital Health Research at Biogen
http://neuralfashion.blogspot.com
Daniel Fiole, PhD
Post-Doc
2013-2014
System integration engineer at ALPAO, France
Investigator
French Armed Forces Biomedical Research Institute
(Paris, France)
Annasha Vyas
Undergraduate Student
2014
Internal Medicine Resident
USC
Medical Student
UC Irvine
Class of 2020
Claire Huang
High school Student
(Summer intern)
2013
Software Engineer
Twilio/VISA
Ricardo Rosales
Undergraduate Student
2012-2013
Medical Student
UCLA, Class of 2022
Lauren Wierenga
Undergraduate Student
(Amgen Scholar)
2012
Veterinary Resident
National Primate Research Center in Madison, Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin
School of Veterinary Medicine
Class of 2019
Ricardo Mostany, PhD
Post-doc
2006-2012
Associate Professor
Tulane University
New Orleans, LA
Luis Garza
Undergraduate Student
2010-2012
Medical Student,
Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NY
David Johnston
Graduate Student
2007-2012
Customer Success Manager at TetraScience
PhD UCLA 2011
Sales Associate at MilliporeSigma
J. Tiago Goncalves, PhD
Post-Doc
2007-2011
Assistant Professor
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Seanna Martin
Grad student on collaboration
2010-2011
Lecturer
UC Davis
Natalia Orlova
Engineer
2010-2011
Systems design engineer
Allen Institute for Brain Science
Seattle, WA
Phuc Hoang
Graduate Student on extended rotation
2010
Survivability and space radiation effects engineer at Boeing
Engineer at 'An Aerospace Giant'
Kerensa Crump
Undergraduate Student from SUNY Bighamton
(Amgen Scholar)
2011
Solarize Campaign Manager
Southern Tier Solar Works
James Anstey, MD
Lab Manager
2009-2011
Internal Medicine Fellow
University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, CA
Georgeann Sack (formerly O'Brien)
Graduate Student on collaboration
2006-2010
Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute
UC Berkeley
Berkeley, CA
Jessica Jimenez
Undergraduate Researcher
(also Amgen Scholar)
2008-2010
Neurology resident at UCSF
MD-PhD Student
(Rene Hen's Lab)
Columbia University MSTP
New York, NY
Kevin McEvoy
Graduate Student
2007-2010
MSTP student
UCLA
Expected grad: 2016
Alberto Cruz-Martin, PhD
Post-Doc
2006-2010
Assistant Professor
Boston University
Michelle Crespo
Undergraduate Researcher
(also Amgen Scholar)
2007-2010
Family Medicine Resident
University of Southern California
Tara Chowdhury
Lab Manager
2006-2009
Post-Doc Fellow
Oregon Health & Science University
Portland, OR
Sattar Khoshkhoo
Undergraduate Researcher
(also Amgen Scholar)
2006-2009
Neurology Fellow
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Jean-François Léger, PhD
Visiting Scientist
2009
Cortical Dynamics Team
Laboratoire de Neurobiologie
CNRS UMR 8544
Ecole Normale Supérieure
Paris, France
Peyman Golshani, MD-PhD
Post-Doc
2006-2008
Associate Professor
Department of Neurology
UCLA, West LA VA Hospital
Los Angeles, CA
Stelios Smirnakis, MD-PhD
Visiting Scientist
2008
Assistant Professor
Harvard Medical School
Associate Neurologist
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Abinav Baweja
Undergraduate Researcher
2008
Medical Student
UCLA
Los Angeles, CA
Rossen Badakov
Visiting Masters Student
2008
Masters Student
Kings College, London
Shiva Portonovo
Lab Technician
2004-2006
Senior Manager
Amgen
PhD 2012
Dept. of Bioengineering
UCLA