Christine Constantinople
Principal Investigator
Christine graduated from New York University with a B.S. in Neural Science in 2008, and earned her PhD in Neurobiology and Behavior in Randy Bruno’s lab at Columbia University in 2013. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute with David Tank and Carlos Brody. She joined NYU as an Assistant Professor in the Center for Neural Science in January 2019.
Maggie DeMaegd
Postdoctoral Researcher
Maggie graduated from Illinois Wesleyan with a B.S in Biology in 2015. She then earned her PhD in Biological Sciences in Dr. Wolfgang Stein’s lab at Illinois State University where she studied circuit and cellular mechanisms of neuromodulation in the crustacean stomatogastric nervous system. Her post-doctoral research focuses on characterizing the role of projection-specific orbitofrontal circuits in value-based decision making. Outside of the lab, she enjoys hiking, crafting and everything Lord of the Rings related.
Supported by an F32 award from the BRAIN Initiative.
Carla Golden
Postdoctoral Researcher
Carla graduated from Penn State University with a B.S. in Biology with a concentration in Neuroscience in 2013. She then earned her PhD in Neuroscience in 2019 in the labs of Joseph Buxbaum and Hala Harony-Nicolas at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where she studied transcriptional and neuroanatomical alterations associated with attention deficits in a rat model of Fragile X syndrome. For her postdoc, she is studying sex differences in neural circuits involved in decision making and the impact of reproductive hormones. In addition to doing research, Carla is passionate about advocating for science and bringing neuroscience to local communities.
Supported by a K99/R00 award from the NIH, an F32 award from the BRAIN Initiative and the Simons Foundation Society of Fellows.
Harsha Gurnani
Postdoctoral Researcher
Harsha earned a BS in Biology and Mathematics from Indian Institute of Science, and a PhD in Neuroscience from University College London. She then worked as a Schmidt Science Fellow with Bing Brunton at University of Washington. Harsha uses data-driven and computational approaches to identify neural dynamics that support flexibility on slow and fast timescales and study how these dynamics are learned via multiple forms of errors. She is also interested in developing statistical methods for designing and interpreting neural perturbations. In her free time, she enjoys all forms of contemporary art, poetry, petting dogs and (car-free) hiking.
Supported by an NYU Center for Data Science Faculty Fellowship. Harsha is jointly advised by Cristina Savin.
David Hocker
Postdoctoral Researcher
David graduated from Indiana University in 2009 with a B.S. in Chemistry and a B.A. in Mathematics and Italian. In 2016 he earned his PhD in Physical Chemistry in Herschel Rabitz’s group at Princeton University where he studied quantum control theory. David then completed a computational neuroscience postdoc with Il Memming Park at Stony Brook University where his work focused on utilizing control theory for the stimulation of neural dynamical systems. He is broadly interested in understanding and manipulating low-dimensional neural dynamical systems, with a particular interest in cognitive processes such as decision making. Outside of the lab, David is a competitive cyclist who also enjoys rock climbing and knitting.
Supported by a K01 from NIMH. David is jointly advised by Cristina Savin.
Aster Perkins
Postdoctoral Researcher
Aster Perkins (they/them) graduated from Cornell University in 2016 with a B.S. in Biology. After working from 2016-2018 in Yogita Chudasama’s lab at NIMH as a postbaccalaureate IRTA fellow, they then earned their Ph.D. in Neuroscience in 2024 in the lab of Erin Rich at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. In their Ph.D. thesis work, they studied the neural basis of decision-making in options with multiple attributes. Their postdoctoral research focuses on the mechanisms by which distributed neural circuits infer environmental states. Outside of research, Aster enjoys mending, playing the piano, and writing scary stories.
Adithya Rajagopalan
Postdoctoral Researcher
Adithya graduated from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Pune, India with a dual B.S.-M.S. degree in Biology in 2017. He then earned his PhD in Neuroscience in 2023 from Glenn Turner’s lab at the HHMI Janelia Research Campus via a joint graduate program with Johns Hopkins University. During his PhD he used Drosophila melanogaster to study value-based decision-making at the level of behavior, circuits and theory, leveraging the model system’s plethora of genetic tools to expand theories explaining decision-making under uncertainty. His post-doctoral research focuses on understanding how the activity of orbitofrontal circuits is constructed from its inputs in the context of value-based decision making. Outside the lab he enjoys football (refuses to call it soccer), board games and live music.
Supported by a Leon Levy Scholarship in Neuroscience.
Elliott Capek
Neuroscience Graduate Student
Elliott graduated from Oregon State University in 2018 with a B.S. in Physics and Biochemistry & Biophysics. He completed his thesis project on simulating the stepping mechanism of the dynein motor protein using Brownian dynamics. After graduation, he worked as a postbac fellow in the lab of Dietmar Plenz at the National Insititute of Mental Health, where he studied critical scaling of neural activity in awake mice. In his Ph.D. he is interested in using topological tools to study how prefrontal neural populations support decision making. In addition to research, he is interested in mental health advocacy and spending time in nature.
Elliott is jointly advised by Alex Williams.
Annie Liu
MD/PhD Student
Annie graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with B.A. in Neuroscience and Psychology in December 2022. She is currently an MD/PhD candidate at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Clinically, she is undecided about what specialty she would like to pursue. For her doctoral research, she is looking forward to investigating the neural mechanisms of belief updating in corticostriatal circuits. Outside of lab, she enjoys photography, biking, reading, and various arts and crafts.
Isso Trenard
Research Technician
Isso graduated from Oberlin College with a B.A. in Neuroscience and Psychology in 2025. During his undergraduate, he worked in the Comparative Neuromechanics lab at Georgia Tech researching grounded cognition. He is interested in neural circuitry, decision making and neurodegenerative diseases. Outside of the lab he enjoys good food, frisbee and playing with his dog.
Rat-mon y Cajal
Lab Mascot
Rat-mon is a stuffed rat.
Alumni
– Graduate Students –
Heejae Jang (data scientist, Via)
Shannon Schiereck (post-doc with Julia Cox)
Andrew Mah (post-doc with Alex Williams)
– Research Technicians –
Audrey Martin (PhD student in neuroscience at NYU)
Jonny Schindler (PhD student in neuroscience at UCSD)
Royall McMahon Ward (PhD student in Material Science and Engineering at Northwestern University)
Daljit Kaur (PhD student in neuroscience at Albert Einstein School of Medicine)
Mitzi Adler-Wachter (PhD student in neuroscience at Scripps Research)
Madori Spiker (Masters student in computer science at UCSB, industry)
Veronica Bossio (PhD student in neuroscience at Columbia University)