2015 SNI Interdisciplinary Scholars
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Lei Cai
Materials Science & Engineering
Faculty Advisors: Sarah Heilshorn (Materials Science & Engineering), Giles Plant (Neurosurgery), and James Weimann (Neurosurgery)
Dr. Cai's research focuses on developing hydrogel materials to provide mechanoprotection for injected stem cells for treating spinal cord injuries.
Audrey Fan
Radiology
Faculty Advisors: Greg Zaharchuk (Radiology), Frederick Chin (Radiology), Dawn Banghart (EH&S), Gary Steinberg (Neurosurgery) and Michael Marks (Radiology)
The proposed research exploits a simultaneous MR-PET scanner to establish methods for noninvasive imaging of cerebral blood flow. Such a technique would enable better diagnosis and treatment of patients at high risk for stroke.
Whitney Heavner
Biology
Faculty Advisors: Susan McConnell (Biology), and Gill Bejerano (Computer Science and Developmental Biology)
The goal of Dr. Heavner's research project is to discover gene regulatory elements specific to neuronal subtypes in developing neocortex. The work also seeks to determine how disease-associated human genetic variants affect such regulatory loci.
Rupa Lalchandani
Neurosurgery
Faculty Advisors: Jun Ding (Neurosurgery) and Lu Chen (Psychiatry)
The work of Dr. Lalchandani investigates the relationship between dopamine and GABA synthesis, vesicular packaging, and co-release in basal ganglia neurons in mice. The work involves a novel biosynthetic pathway for GABA in these cells and involves genetic dissection, electrophysiology, and optogenetics.
Christoph Leuze
Radiology
Faculty Advisors: Jennifer McNab (Radiology) and Karl Deisseroth (Psychiatry and Bioengineering)
Dr. Leuze's proposed research will apply the CLARITY technique to human brain tissue that is analyzed in parallel by 3D dMRI with the goal of deciphering the structural resolution achievable with dMRI.
Kevin Mann
Neurobiology
Faculty Advisors: Thomas Clandinin (Neurobiology) and Dan Fisher (Applied Physics)
Dr. Mann's proposed work focuses on deciphering the cellular and physical basis of magnetosensation in animals, using fruitflies as a model system and focusing on the light-dependent cryptochrome protein as a molecular magnetomer.
Honorable Mention
Honorable Mention status was accorded to one applicant because of his impressive proposal and qualifications.
Gregory Corder
Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine
Faculty Advisors: Greg Scherrer (Anesthesia) and Mark Schnitzer (Applied Physics, Biology)
The research project leverages the applicant’s training in materials science and electrical engineering to enable functional (calcium) imaging with high spatial resolution in deep brain areas of freely-moving animals.
