Dr. Torres-Berrío is a Robin Chemers Neustein postdoctoral fellow at the Friedman Brain Institute at Mount Sinai and an International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) scholar. She received her PhD in Neuroscience from McGill University (Canada) under the supervision of Dr. Cecilia Flores, studying the role of microRNAs in depression. She then started her postdoctoral training with Dr. Eric J. Nestler. Her research is focused on understanding how early life stress leads to enduring epigenetic alterations in the brain’s reward system. Dr. Torres-Berrío is also a scientific advisor of “Fundación STEM sin Fronteras” (STEM Without Borders Foundation), a Colombian organization that seeks to provide young students in rural areas with opportunities for a better future in science.

Swetha received her MSc and Ph.D. from National Brain Research Centre, India, under the guidance of Dr. Nihar Ranjan Jana, where she studied the role of ubiquitin proteasome system, specifically E3 ligases, in Huntington’s disease and Angelman Syndrome. With a keen interest in neurodevelopment and wanting to understand the mechanism of self-organisation of brain into functional circuits, she joined Nick Spitzer’s laboratory in the Department of Neurobiology at University of California San Diego for her postdoctoral work where she is using Neurotransmitter Switching, a novel, reversible form of plasticity in the nervous system, to study the mechanisms that mediate the targeting of the appropriate synaptic partners and the function of external stimuli in shaping neural circuits.

Dr. Martha Streng obtained a BA in Neuroscience and Behavior from Mount Holyoke College before completing her PhD in Neuroscience in the laboratory of Tim Ebner at the University of Minnesota, where she studied encoding of limb movement information by Purkinje cell simple and complex spike firing. As a postdoc with Esther Krook-Magnuson, she employs viral approaches and on-demand optogenetics to examine cerebellar interventions in temporal lobe epilepsy. More recently, in collaboration with Tim Ebner and Suhasa Kodandaramaiah, she has developed a novel technique for widefield Ca 2+ imaging of the cerebellar cortex, which she uses to investigate cerebellar network dynamics in healthy behavior and chronic epilepsy.

Dr. Laursen obtained his PhD from Yale University, where he studied hibernating ground squirrels in the lab of Dr. Elena Gracheva to identify cellular and molecular adaptations that support mammalian nervous system function at extreme body temperatures. As a Charles A. King Trust postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Paul Garrity at Brandeis University, Dr. Laursen’s research is focused on understanding the sensory mechanisms that guide damaging behaviors of vector mosquitoes and other pest insects. He is particularly focused on the attractive heat, humidity, and gustatory cues that are detected in close proximity to hosts, food sources, and egg-laying sites. Dr. Laursen takes a comparative physiological approach combining cutting-edge genetic techniques with behavioral and physiological recordings to investigate how sensory adaptations enable a species to thrive in their niche, with ultimate goal of exploiting these systems to prevent the spread of human disease and the destruction of agricultural crops.

Dr. Fernando C. Alsina obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. He studied how negative signaling induced by neurotrophic factor receptors controls neuronal development in peripheral and central nervous system. Then he joined Dr. Debra Silver lab at Duke University as a postdoctoral researcher to investigate the role of RNA-binding proteins in brain development. His current research shows how a central RNA regulator non-canonically binds and stabilize microtubules to control neuronal maturation and brain wiring. He has received fellowships from the Argentinian National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) and the Ruth K Broad Foundation. To support his future work, he has obtained an award from The Joe W. and Dorothy Dorsett Brown Foundation, and the NARSAD Young Investigator Grant from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (BBRF). His long-term goal is to understand how neuronal differentiation, maturation and connectivity are controlled by RNA and microtubule regulators.

Dr. Rakotomamonjy is a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. She earned her PhD in Neuroscience at the University Paris XI in France, focusing on the neuroprotective mechanisms of the synthetic steroid RU486 in the developing cerebellum. She then moved to the U.S. for her postdoctoral fellowship. Under the mentorship of Dr. Alicia Guemez-Gamboa, Dr. Rakotomamonjy is now investigating molecular bases of cellular recognition that control cell fate and circuit assembly during human brain development and disease. Combining human genetics with disease modeling, her goal is to elucidate the cellular and molecular pathways that, if disrupted, contribute to neurodevelopmental disorders. Alongside her research work, Dr. Rakotomamonjy also volunteers yearly to train underrepresented postbaccalaureate and undergraduate aspiring PhD students to make the path to become a neuroscientist more welcoming for scholars of all backgrounds.

Dr. Amelia Cuarenta obtained her PhD from the University of Wisconsin in the lab of Dr. Anthony Auger. She investigated the effects of psychological and physiological stressors on juvenile social behavior and the retrotransposon, Line 1, in the developing rodent brain. She is now doing her postdoc in the lab of Dr. Debra Bangasser. Her current research investigates neurobiological mechanisms that contribute to stress-induced vulnerability and resilience to addiction. Dr. Cuarenta has received numerous awards and honors, including the 2022 Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology Lyn Clemens Award, an ACNP 2022 Travel Award, and is a current Society for Neuroscience NSP Fellow. In 2020, she was awarded a NIDA Diversity Supplement to support her postdoctoral research and most recently received an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology.

Dr. Daniel L. Gonzales, is a HHMI Hanna Gray postdoctoral fellow in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering at Purdue University. He currently works in the Nano-Neurotechnology Laboratory under Dr. Krishna Jayant, developing tools to probe neural activity at the nanoscale. He received his PhD in Applied Physics from Rice University, where he worked with Dr. Jacob Robinson to integrate bioelectronics and microfluidics to study millimeter-sized model organisms. He is also a first-generation college student and received his BS in Physics from Angelo State University. His scientific goals are to further our understanding of neural circuits and cognition by developing creative tools that leverage fundamental principles of physics. In parallel, he believes the definition of scientific excellence encompasses empowering mentorship and advocating for groups that have been historically excluded in science and academia.

Dr. Pittolo has a degree in Medical Biotechnology and Neuroscience from the University of Trieste, Italy. During her PhD in the Gorostiza lab at the Institute of Bioengineering in Barcelona, Spain, she characterized small molecules to control neurotransmitter receptors with light. She then moved to the Poskanzer lab at the University of California, San Francisco, where she studied how dopamine influences the activity of an understudied glial cell type, astrocytes. Now she’s back to Europe in the Lohse lab at the Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin, Germany, where she wants to understand how different neuromodulators interact with each other in the context of psychiatric disorders. 

Dr. Malvaez graduated from the University of California Irvine with a B.S. in Neurobiology where she worked with Dr. John F. Marshall evaluating how addictive substances altered striatal function. She continued at UCI, where she received her Ph.D. in Neurobiology & Behavior under the mentorship of Dr. Marcelo A. Wood. Melissa’s Ph.D. focused on exposing the role of chromatin modifying mechanisms in the development of drug-associated memories. Melissa then joined the lab of Dr. Kate Wassum at the University of California Los Angeles for her postdoctoral work, where she is currently investigating the neural substrates of goal-directed and habit behavior. 

Dr. Simmie Foster is a practicing psychiatrist and research scientist in Depression Clinical and Research Program (DCRP) at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Dr. Foster graduated with honors in molecular and cell biology from the University of California at Berkeley, then completed her MD and PhD at Yale School of Medicine with Dr. Ruslan Medzhitov. Subsequently, she completed medical internship at MGH, psychiatry residency at the University of Pennsylvania, and a postdoctoral research fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Clifford Woolf, Director of the Kirby Center for Neurobiology at Boston Children’s Hospital, before joining the staff at the DCRP in 2016. Dr. Foster’s research studies the complex relationship between the immune system and the nervous system in inflammatory diseases, such as depression. Most recently, she has started to investigate the temperature dependence of neuro-immune interactions, taking a translational approach to investigate the anti-inflammatory and proteostatic effects of hyperthermia. Ultimately her goal is to develop a better understanding of the basis of inflammatory disease and point the way to making more effective treatments for patients.

Nathaniel G. Harnett, PhD, is an assistant neuroscientist in the Neurobiology of Fear laboratory at McLean Hospital, led by Kerry J. Ressler, MD/PhD. Dr. Harnett earned his PhD in Psychology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham under the mentorship of David C. Knight, PhD. Dr. Harnett’s research investigates the neural mechanisms that mediate susceptibility to trauma and stress-related disorders such as PTSD. To this end, Dr. Harnett leverages multimodal neuroimaging techniques with individuals recently exposed to trauma to elucidate neural circuitry linked to acute and long-term posttraumatic stress. Ultimately, the goal of his research is to develop predictive and preventative neuroscience-based techniques to reduce the prevalence of trauma and stress-related disorders.

Dr. Castro is an Acting Instructor at the University of Washington in the Department of Anesthesiology. He received his PhD in Psychology from the University of Michigan under the guidance of Dr. Kent Berridge in 2016, studying the neuroanatomical mechanisms of motivation versus affect in cortical and subcortical brain circuits. He then began his postdoctoral training with Dr. Michael Bruchas at Washington University in St. Louis, and later at the University of Washington. His research has sought to understand the biological features underlying opioid reward in mesocorticolimbic circuits, as well develop next-generation wireless optofluidic technologies for in vivo pharmacology and optogenetics. Daniel has received numerous awards and honors, including the 2021 Wake Forest Early Career Scientist in Physiology and Pharmacology Award, Vanderbilt University Discovery Sciences Emerging Scholars honor, and ACNP 2020 Travel Award. Dr. Castro is currently funded by a K99/R00 Pathway to Independence award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Caroline Palavicino-Maggio is a Research Fellow in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School in the laboratory of Dr. Ed Kravitz. Caroline seeks to elucidate the neural circuitry that governs female aggression. Caroline earned her PhD with honors from Rutgers University, at the New Jersey Medical School and her BS degree from Rider College. Shortly after she began graduate school, she created her project independently, while performing lab rotations with experts in the field of intestinal nutrient transporters and dopamine receptors, respectively. As a result, she was awarded the NIH Independent Dissertation Research R36 Grant to carry out her thesis project. Caroline has also been selected for many prestigious awards from the Rutgers Society Foundation, New York Academy of Sciences, and the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship . Most  recently, she was acknowledged by Cell Press in their “100 most Inspiring Hispanic/Latinx scientists in America” list. She is also a strong advocate for social justice and encouraging young people from underrepresented backgrounds to pursue STEM careers.