
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
Selected Lab Alumni

Tristan Shuman
Postdoc
Currently: Assistant Professor at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Daniel Aharoni
Postdoc
Currently: Assistant Professor at Department of Neurology at UCLA

Ahmet Arac
Clinical Instructor
Currently: Assistant Professor at Department of Neurology at UCLA

Pierre-Olivier Polack
Postdoc
Currently: Assistant Professor at Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience at Rutgers University

Michael Einstein
Graduate Student
Currently: Boston Consulting Group

Maria Lazaro
Graduate Student
Currently: AMGEN Inc.

Celina Yang
Lab manager
Currently: MD-PhD candidate at UCI

Duy Tran
Research Assistant
Currently: PhD candidate at Albert Einstein College of Medicine