DEPARTMENT OF NEUROBIOLOGY

VINE Student Profiles

Daniel Bennett

Lab: Gallio
Program Entry Year: 2023

I am a fourth-year PhD student continuing my work in the lab of Dr. Marco Gallio. I grew up in St. Andrew, Jamaica and have always had an avid interest in neuroscience and psychology, leading me to pursue my BA in Biological Sciences at Cornell University. I am currently investigating the mechanisms underlying species-specific humidity preferences, with a particular focus on those of the desert fruit fly Drosophila mojavensis. By identifying and comparing the humidity-linked neuronal differences between Drosophilids occupying contrasting environmental conditions, I hope to shed light on how humidity preference evolved over time in Drosophila.

Erica Chavez

I'm a third-year PhD student in Dr. Tiffany Schmidt's lab. My hometown is Gurnee, Illinois, and I received my BA in Neuroscience from Northwestern University. My research interests lie in neural circuitry and sensory systems, for their importance in determining how we interact with our environment. Specifically, my focus is on studying the regulation of physiology and behavior via photoreception of light at the level of the retina and its downstream circuits. My research project will broadly focus on studying how retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) projecting to the basal forebrain (BF) influence BF mediated behaviors. With prior training in fluorescent microscopy and sex steroid hormone receptor characterization in the retina, I'm also interested in exploring the interplay between sex steroid hormones and the visual system. Additionally, I hope to investigate if there are sex differences within these circuits and the behaviors they direct.

Ashley Hsieh

I am a first-year PhD student in the lab of Dr. Andrew Fink. My research interests focus on understanding how the brain learns about the sensory world without explicit reinforcement. I am particularly interested in the neural circuits and mechanisms that enable unsupervised learning in the piriform cortex.

Emmanouela Karyampa

I am a first year PhD student in the lab of Dr. Fred Turek and Dr. Martha Vitaterna. I am interested in sleep, circadian rhythms, and neurodegeneration. In the Turek/Vitaterna Lab, I study how sleep disruption affects Alzheimer's disease pathology in mouse models. Using EEG recordings and behavioral testing, I examine how changes in sleep patterns relate to disease progression and behavioral outcomes.

Uju Kim

Lab: Dombeck
Program Entry Year: 2025

I am a second-year PhD student in the Dombeck Lab with a BA in Neuroscience from Northwestern University. My research explores the neurobiology of learning and memory with a specific focus on cognitive maps. Currently, I am investigating how the hippocampus organizes discontinuous experiences into coherent representations and flexibly integrates new knowledge into preexisting representations. By understanding these processes, I aim to uncover the biological foundations of how the brain is able to adapt to constantly changing environments.

Dom Pinke 

I am a third-year PhD student in the lab of Dr. Dan Dombeck. My primary interest is the research of imprinted, innate behavioral patterns. How is it possible that mice born in a lab are able to recognize and react to a predator coming from above, which they have never seen before? How do these circuits develop in the brain, and how do these ancient, hardwired functions influence memory formation? I seek answers to these questions through 2-photon microscopy and immersive virtual environments, focusing on place and grid cells in the hippocampus.

Kyungho Seong 

Lab: Bozza
Program Entry Year: 2023

I am a fourth-year PhD student in the lab of Dr. Tom Bozza. Originally from Seoul, South Korea, I completed my BS in Biological Sciences at Seoul National University. With a longstanding interest in neuroscience and computational approaches, my research focuses on elucidating the genetic basis of diverse neuronal lineages during neurogenesis in the olfactory system and investigating mechanisms underlying olfactory gene choice. My work leverages single-cell transcriptomics and mouse genetics.

Peiyu Wang

I am a first-year PhD student in the lab of Dr. Andrew Fink. My research interests focus on how the brain constructs, interprets, and predicts reality based on experience and internal state, across both naturalistic and controlled experimental conditions.