Cagla Eroglu
Project 3 PI/Lead
Professor
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator
Duke University Medical Center
Departments of Cell Biology and Neurobiology
Lab website
E: cagla.eroglu@duke.edu
Phone: 919-684-3605

Lin Tian
Project 4 PI/Lead
Scientific Director
Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience
Lab website
E: Lin.Tian@mpfi.org
Phone: 561-972-9200

Yue (Joseph) Wang
Data CorePI/Lead
Professor
Virginia Tech
Lab website
E: yuewang@vt.edu
Phone: 301-281-3978

Guoqiang Yu
Project 1 PI/Lead
Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Lab website
E: yug@vt.edu
Phone: 571-858-3153

Daniel Quintero
Graduate Student
Project 3
E: daniel.quintero@duke.edu

Expertise

• Mouse handling
• EEG recordings
• Immunohistochemistry
• Imaging
• Data analysis

Dhanesh Bindu
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Project 3
E: dhanesh.sb@duke.edu

Expertise

• Molecular cloning
• CRISPR
• AAV-mediated bioengineering
• In utero electroporation
• Mouse surgeries

Dolores Irala
Senior Research Associate
Project 3
E: dolores.irala@duke.edu

Expertise

• In vitro neuron and astrocyte culture
• Confocal and super-resolution imaging and analysis
• Mouse genetics
• Biochemical assays

Leslie Vazquez
Graduate Student
Project 3
E: leslie.vazquez-rangel@duke.edu

Expertise

• Immunohistochemistry, including human post-mortem staining
• Live-imaging / Confocal Imaging
• scRNA-seq analysis
• Fiji analysis
• Cell culture

Jessica Moore
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Project 3
E: jess.moore@duke.edu

Expertise

• In vivo imaging
• Image Analysis
• Transgenic mouse lines
• Epithelial biology
• Immunohistochemistry

Justin Savage
Graduate student
Project 3
E: justin.savage@duke.edu

Expertise

• Genomics
• Image Analysis
• Primary Cell Culture
• Confocal Microscopy

Kristina Sakers Hays
Research Specialist III
Project 3
E: kristina.sakers@duke.edu

Expertise

• Primary astrocyte and neuron cell culture
• In vivo manipulation of astrocyte gene expression (AAV, lentivirus, plasmid electroporation)
• RNA-sequencing
• R programming
• Bioinformatics
• Unix/Bash scripting
• Shiny Apps

Leykashree Nagendren
Lab Research Analyst I
Project 3
E: leykashree.nagendren@duke.edu

Expertise

• Python
• Next generation sequencing
• Bioinformatics tools
• CRISPR
• Immunohistochemistry
• Cell culture
• Confocal imaging and analysis

Nimrod Elazar
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Project 3
E: nimrod.elazar@duke.edu

Expertise

• Confocal imaging techniques
• Biochemical analyses

Olivia Wirfel
Research Technician II
Project 3
E: olivia.wirfel@duke.edu

Expertise

• snRNA-seq
• Fluorescent in Situ Hybridization
• Molecular cloning
• R programming
• Immunohistochemistry stainin

Trisha Vaidyanathan
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Project 3
E: trisha.vaidyanathan@duke.edu

Expertise

• In vivo and ex vivo 2-photon imaging
• EEG/EMG recordings
• Imaging analysis (including AQuA)
• Electrophysiology data analysis (Matlab)
• Fiber photometry and optogenetics

Alessio Andreoni
Senior Research Scientist
Project 4
E: alessio.andreoni@mpfi.org

Expertise

• Molecular cloning
• Fluorescence microscopy
• Sensor design and screening
• Protein expression and purification

Akash Pal
Postdoctoral Scholar
Project 4
E: akash.pal@mpfi.org

Emily Wright
Postdoctoral Scholar
Project 4
E: emily.wright@mpfi.org

Jacob Roshgadol
Graduate Student Researcher
Project 4
E: jrosh@ucdavis.edu; jacob.roshgadol@mpfi.org

Expertise

• Python, Matlab, and Arduino programming
• 3D printing & rapid prototyping
• In vivo behavior experiments – fiber photometry and 2-photon experiments

Kiran Long-Iyer
Graduate student
Project 4
E: krlongiyer@ucdavis.edu

Kwun Nok Mimi Man
Postdoctoral Scholar
Project 4
E: kn.mimi.man@mpfi.org

Expertise

• Two-photon imaging using optical sensors in brain slices
• Genetically encoded sensor design, engineering, and high-throughput screening
• Patch-clamp electrophysiology in cultured cells, coupled with calcium uncaging and calcium microfluorimetry
• Stereotaxic injection of AAVs and cranial window surgery
• Confocal imaging
• Neuronal-astrocyte co-culture
• Immunolabeling and proximity ligation assay
• Co-immunoprecipitation and Western blotting
• Biotinylation to study surface proteins
• Morris water maze
• Flow cytometry
• Histology
• Gene and microRNA expression profiling
• Analysis of two-photon and confocal imaging data
• Analysis of electrophysiology data

Nikki Tjahjono
Graduate Student Researcher
Project 4
E: ntjahjono@ucdavis.edu; nikki.tjahjono@mpfi.org

Expertise

• Python, MATLAB, R
• Image analysis
• FACS
• Molecular biology/cloning
• RNA-seq
• Microscopy

Yihan Jenny Jin
Graduate Student Researcher
Project 4
E: yihjin@ucdavis.edu; yihan.jin@mpfi.org

Expertise

• Two-photon imaging using optical sensors in brain slices
• Genetically encoded sensor design
• Engineering and high-throughput screening
• Stereotaxic injection of AAVs
• Confocal imaging
• Neuronal-astrocyte co-culture
• Immunofluorescence
• Array tomography
• Imaris and Neurolucida
• Molecular cloning and sensor screening in HEK cells
• Analysis of two-photon and confocal imaging data

Daniela Duarte
Research Assistant II
Project 2
E: dcook@salk.edu

Expertise

• Immunohistochemistry – brain and spinal cord
• Confocal imaging on Zeiss 710, 780, and 880
• Imaris – quantification of confocal images
• Brain and spinal cord viral vector injections in mice
• In vivo spinal cord imaging in mice
• Excel, ImageJ, and Matlab for quantification of imaging data

Erin Carey
Research Assistant
Project 2
E: ecarey@salk.edu

Expertise

• • One photon microscopy –in vivo imaging
  • Mouse spinal cord surgeries
  • Mouse microprism spinal implantations
  • Mouse motor behavior testing
  • Stereotaxic viral vector brain and spinal cord injections
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Calcium imaging analysis
  • Matlab
  • IMARIS confocal imaging analysis

MK Duff
Graduate student
Project 2
E: mduff@salk.edu

Expertise

• Primary neuronal and microglia culture
• MEA assay
• Bulk RNA-seq
• HITS-CLIP
• P0 intracranial viral injections
• Tail vein injections
• Pilocarpine-induced epileptogenesis
• Behavior:
  • Fear conditioning
  • 3-chamber social interaction
  • Rotarod,
  • Open field
  • Elevated plus maze

Nicholas Nelson
Graduate student
Project 2
E: nanelson@ucsd.edu

Expertise

• Nociception behavioral testing:
  • von Frey, Hargreaves, and conditioned place preference
• Sciatic nerve injury (particularly partial sciatic nerve ligation [pSNL])
• Fluorescent immunohistochemistry and confocal microscopy
• Brain and spinal cord digestion for generating single-cell suspension
• Tissue collection and preparation for immunohistochemistry and FACS
• Basic competency in:
  • Cell culture
  • Spinal cord viral injection
  • RNA collection
  • Flow cytometry and sorting
  • Animal husbandry

Boyu Lyu
Research Assistant
Project 1
E: boyu93@vt.edu

Expertise

• Matlab, C++, Python, and R
• Cell and object detection (confocal, two-photon fluorescence microscopy images)
• Active region detection
• Analysis of electron microscopy data

James Cheng Peng
Graduate research assistant and Visiting Graduate Student at Salk Institute
Data Science Core
E: jameschengpeng@vt.edu; japeng@salk.edu

Expertise

• Mathematical modeling
• Spatial and temporal image analysis
• Optimization
• Uncertainty quantification
• Matlab, Python, and R
• Dynamical systems modelling and optimization
• Image analysis

Mark Bright
Graduate Student Researcher
Data Science Core
E: bmark21@vt.edu

Expertise

• Biomedical imaging analysis (calcium and fluorescent imaging)
• Computer graphics and vision
• Networked scientific computing
• Symmetric multiprocessing
• Matlab, AQuA, and WBSv, C++, Python, and Java
• Machine learning
• Electron microscopy analysis

Mengfan Wang
Graduate Research Assistant
Project 1
E: mengfanw@vt.edu

Expertise

• Matlab, Python, and C/C++
• Basic optimization techniques: linear/quadratic programming and network flows
• In-house software and framework: ConvexVst, Synquant, and muSSP/CINDA
• Basic understanding of popular deep-learning models

Songtao Wei
Graduate student
Project 1
E: songtaow@vt.edu

Expertise

• scRNA-seq, RNA-seq, and CRISPR-data
• C++, Matlab, R, and Python

Wei Zheng
Graduate student
Project 1
E: zhengw@vt.edu

Expertise

• Image processing
• Statistic test design
• Convex optimization
• Network flow
• Matlab and Python

Xuelong Mi
Graduate research assistant
Project 1
E: mixl18@vt.edu

Expertise

• Matlab, C++, Java, Python
• AQuA
• Imaging processing
• Unsupervised learning
• Convex optimization
• Graph theory
• Signal analysis
• Statistics

Zuolin Cheng
Research Associate
Project 1
E: zuolin8@vt.edu

Expertise

• Single-cell RNA-seq data analysis
• Driving transcription factors detection
• Machine learning