Lab Members – Golshani Lab

Peyman Golshani, MD PhD
Principal Investigator
John Mazziotta Endowed Chair in Neurology
Professor-In-Residence, Department of Neurology

PGolshani@mednet.ucla.edu

Jiannis Taxidis
Associate Project Scientist

I use in vivo two photon calcium imaging and optogenetics to study how the hippocampus encodes information during learning of behavioral tasks requiring working memory.

jtaxidis@ucla.edu

Arash Bellafard
Postdoc

I use various techniques including optogenetics and calcium imaging to measure and manipulate neurons in cortical and subcortical areas to study neural circuits underlying working memory.

abellafard@mednet.ucla.edu

Pingping Zhao
Postdoc

I use miniscopes to understand how the nucleus accumbens, mPFC and their connected brain regions encode and drive social interaction

ppzhaoion@gmail.com

Sung Won Hur
Postdoc

I study of the cerebellum’s involvement in social behavior and how it affects cortical activity using the EScope (Miniscope + Ephys).

hurs0202@gmail.com

Ronen Reshef
Postdoc

I study the neural dynamics of spatial learning using miniaturized microscopes to record the activity of hundreds of neurons while animals are freely behaving and solving a spatial task.

RReshef@mednet.ucla.edu

Victoria M. Ho
Postdoc

I am using electrophysiology to understand cognitive dysfunction in epilepsy

VHo@mednet.ucla.edu

Karen Safaryan
Project Scientist

I use electrophysiology to explore abnormal brain oscillations and sleep in the Dup15q model of autism, intellectual disability and epilepsy.

karen.safaryan@gmail.com

Blake Madruga
Graduate Student

I design and develop a miniature multiphoton microscope to image calcium dynamics in large neuronal populations during free behavior.

blakemadruga@gmail.com

Conor Dorian
Graduate Student

I use in vivo 2-photon calcium imaging to understand how the brain encodes non-spatial information

conordorian@gmail.com

Stephanie Cheung
Graduate Student

I use two-photon chronic in vivo calcium imaging and optogenetics to investigate hippocampal CA3 time cells and to understand CA3’s role as a hub of temporal representations of memory.

stephanie.k.cheung@gmail.com

Mina Shahi
Graduate Student

I use Generalized Linear Models and network science to study learning and memory in hippocampal neural ensembles.

mi_shahi@gmail.com

Hesper Xing Chen
Research Assistant

I use miniscopes to better understand the encoding and expression of social memory in brain regions like the nucleus accumbens.

cx20122013@ucla.edu

Mauricio Vallejo Martelo
Research Assistant

I aim to identify neurophysiological mechanisms that give rise to cognition and social interaction, and how they are altered in of autism and intellectual disabilities

MVallejoMartelo@mednet.ucla.edu