BOSS

Mark Frye PhD University of Washington

GRADUATE STUDENTS

Lesly Palacios Castillo BS MS California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
PhD Candidate Molecular Cellular Integrative Physiology
2019 Cota-Robles Fellow, UCLA Division of Graduate Education
Project: multisensory and neuromodulatory control of neural circuits and behavior
Hometown: Guatemala City Guatemala
Talent: singing and guitar
Contact: lmpalacios|ucla|edu

Karina Keus BS UCLA
PhD Student Neuroscience
2023 Graduate Research Fellow (GRFP), National Science Foundation
Project: functional analysis of neural circuits controlling visual navigation
Hometown: Andover MA
Talent: Guitar hero, IKEA furniture assembly
Contact: kkeus|ucla|edu

POSTDOCS

Martha Rimniceanu

Martha Rimniceanu PhD UCLA Molecular Cellular Integrative Physiology
short term postdoc
Project: mechanosensory circuits for active damping of visual tracking behavior
Hometown: Bușteni Romania
Talent: salsa (the dance, not the food)
Contact: mrimni05|ucla|edu

Giovanni Frighetto

Giovanni Frighetto PhD University of Padova
ResearchGate
ORCID
Project: neural circuits supporting object vision in flight
Hometown: Arzignano Italy
Talent: drumming, juggling, climbing
Contact: gfrighetto|ucla|edu

David Bertsch PhD Case Western Reserve University
ORCID
Project: neuromodulation of visual processing
Hometown: Cleveland OH
Talent: Cooking, particularly beef wellington
Contact: dbertsch|ucla|edu

Pablo Currea PhD Florida International University
ResearchGate
ORCID
LinkedIn
IMDB
Project: visual control of flight navigation
Hometown: Miami FL
Talent: independent movie production, drawing, and painting
Contact: pablocurrea|ucla|edu

RESEARCH STAFF

Bitmoji Avatar of Sara Wasserman

ASSISTANT RESEARCHER

Sara Wasserman PhD Brandeis University
Associate Professor Wellesley College
ResearchGate
Project: comparative physiology of internal state-dependence on behavior
Hometown: Brentwood CA
Talent: violin, wit
Contact: swasserm|wellesley|edu

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCHER

Athena Coates Art major, UCLA
Project: neurogenetics and neuroanatomy of aminergic circuitry in the fly brain
Hometown: Miami FL
Talent: scribbling and spelling
Contact: athenacoates1129|gmail|com

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCHER

Isabelle Reike-Wey Neuroscience major, UCLA
Project: influence of navigation circuits on the control of odor plume tracking in flight
Hometown: Seattle WA
Talent: flute, soccer, unicycling
Contact: isabellerw18|ucla|edu

VISITING STUDENTS

Giulia Pellegrini, undergraduate at UCSB, working summers in the lab, most recently on a comparative behavior project, and is acknowledged in Martha’s recent paper

Chris Meredith is a first year PhD student in MCIP
He is rotating in the lab in Fall 2024 and will work with Lesly and Giovanni on optogenetic modulation of visual flight control

FUNDED COLLABORATIONS

Jean-Michel Mongeau, Bio-Motion Systems Lab, Penn State University. Project: AFOSR A gyroscopic control loop for active target vision

Volker Hartenstein, UCLA Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology. Project: NIH Developmental and functional analysis of neural circuits controlling navigation in Drosophia

Sara Wasserman, Wellesley College. Project: NSF RUI: State dependent modulation of visuomotor reflexes across Drosophila species , and also with our high school outreach

LAB ALUMNI

Postdocs
Ben Hardcastle, now Project Scientist, Allen Institute
​Carola Städele, now Group Leader, Institute of Neurophysiology, University of Göttingen
Jean-Michel Mongeau, now Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Penn State University
Sara Wasserman, now Associate Professor, Neuroscience, Wellesley College
Jessica Fox, now Professor, Biology, Case Western Reserve University
Jamie Theobald, now Associate Professor, Biology, Florida International University
Partha Krishnan, now Deputy Director of HSE (Vaccine Business Unit), Sanofi Pasteur
Yan Zhu, now Associate Professor, Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Biophysics

Graduate students
Martha Rimniceanu (PhD, MCIP), now postdoc Lisa Fenk lab, Max Planck. dissertation
Karen Cheng (PhD, NS), now postdoc Ilona Grunwald Kadow lab University of Bonn. dissertation
Ivan Lopez (MS, IBP), now Data Science PhD student, MD student Stanford Medical School. thesis
Mehmet Keleş (PhD,  MCIP), now K99 postdoc Mark Wu’s lab Johns Hopkins University. dissertation
Jacob Aptekar (PhD, NS, MD MSTP program), now Senior Director, Acorn AI. dissertation
Ross Kelley (MS, Physiological Science), now MD University of Arizona thesis
Dawnis Chow (PhD, MCIP), now Senior Data Scientist, Box. dissertation
Brian Duistermars (PhD, MCIP), now Assistant Professor UC Riverside dissertation

Undergraduates, high school students, technicians
Daniela Limbania research technician, now enrolled at Harvard Medical School
Sarah Fatkin undergraduate researcher and then lab manager, now enrolled in MCIP PhD program at UCLA
Giulia Pellegrini undergraduate summer researcher at UC Santa Barbara
Penny Suarez undergraduate summer researcher at Wellesley College
Rachel Colbath undergraduate researcher, lab tech, now attending USC Medical School
Natalie Boyd undergraduate researcher, now preparing for graduate school
Rachel Mernoff undergraduate researcher, now attending MD/MPH program at UCSF/Berkeley
Nina Fukuma undergraduate researcher, MD
Austin Wang undergraduate researcher and co-author, earned PhD from UCSF
​Patrick Lu lab tech, now Co-Founder CEO Playfull
Farhaad Kahn undergraduate researcher, now unknown
Asma Sodager high school student, NIH STEP-UP program, now attending UC Irvine
Conway Ou undergraduate researcher
​Elliot Layne SWIRLSS program high school student
Noam Ringach high school student, now attending Stanford University
Emmett Krantz high school student, now attending UCSB
Nadya Zolotova undergraduate, MD, UC Irvine
Nelson Nunez high school researcher,  NIH STEP-UP program, now unknown
Ryan Tsiao undergraduate researcher, now unknown
Delaine Quaresma undergraduate researcher, Dr. of vet. medicine UC Davis
Jade Nguyen undergraduate researcher and co-author, MD Chicago Medical
Allie Salomon high school volunteer and co-author, now biomedical engineer
Rachel Care undergraduate researcher, earned PhD UCSF , now at Career Center
Ivan Rodriguez-Pinto undergraduate researcher, earned his PhD from Florida International University
Victoria Choi undergraduate researcher, now optometrist
Jasmin Hu undergraduate researcher, now optometrist
Portia Bautista undergraduate researcher, now MD
Manish Padhiar undergraduate researcher, earned PhD from Princeton University
Jennifer Rhodes the lab’s first summer undergraduate researcher, BS in Bioengineering from UC Berkeley