FLAVIO FROHLICH, PH.D. – PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
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Flavio’s goal is to revolutionize how we treat psychiatric illnesses. His vision is that understanding cortical state dynamics will enable the development of novel non-invasive brain stimulation paradigms that directly target pathological network dynamics. Flavio is convinced that such rational design of neurotherapeutics will open the door for individualized, highly effective brain stimulation in psychiatry. Flavio is passionate about combining different methodological approaches to scientific problems and hopes to establish the field of network neuroscience. Flavio's personal website is here and he maintains tacs.academy, an online resource about tACS. When Flavio is not busy in the lab (ever?), he enjoys being with his wife Anita and his four children (and future lab members).
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AMBER MCFERREN – UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANT
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Amber McFerren is a first-year undergraduate student at UNC Chapel Hill. She is pursuing a B.S. in Neuroscience with a minor in Chemistry. As a Research Assistant in the Frohlich Lab, she is interested in the connection between neural oscillations and cognition. She is particularly fascinated by the implications of this connection in regards to potential psychiatric treatment. In her free time, Amber enjoys dancing, biking, and baking desserts.
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ANITA FROHLICH, LL.M. - PROJECT MANAGER & SCHOLAR
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Anita loves to plan and organize. She (mostly) manages to convert her husband’s passions and the kids’ energy into a reasonably structured routine. As a homeschooling mom, Anita knows how to see things through from the beginning to the end. And her background as a comparative lawyer helps Anita to build bridges and find creative solutions to apparently unsurmountable obstacles. Anita’s wish is to help the Frohlich lab achieve its goal by optimizing the use of time and resources. In addition, Anita is on a journey to understand the neuroscience of conflict transformation in the context of psychiatric illnesses; she is a human translational and social neuroscience researcher in training. In her “free time” (an oxymoron for a mother of four kids!), Anita likes to play the cello and spend time in the garden.
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CHRIS WALKER - POSTDOCTORAL SCHOLAR
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Chris Walker earned his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. He is interested in understanding how cortical oscillations develop during adolescence in support of cognition and how disruptions in these processes contribute to mental illness. His long-term vision is to establish novel methods to identify adolescents who are at risk for developing mental illness so that we can intervene before the onset of major symptoms. Outside of the brain, Chris enjoys biking, experimenting with food through various cooking projects, and consuming all things speculative fiction.
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DAVIN RAMMANI – UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANT
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Davin Rammani is a first-year undergraduate student at UNC. He is pursuing a B.S.P.H in Biostatistics with a double minor in Chemistry and Computer Science. As a research assistant, he is interested in the relationship that exists between neural oscillations and cognitive functions. In his free time, Davin enjoys playing the piano, running, and cooking.
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DJ PASSEY - GRADUATE STUDENT
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DJ Passey is a first year PhD Student studying applied mathematics. He works for Oak Ridge National Lab developing deep learning algorithms and just finished his master's where he focused on network growth models applied to learning problems.
During his PhD he hopes to do research the intersection of complex networks, machine learning and neuroscience. He is especially motivated by the potential to use neuroscience models over complex networks to solve learning problems. Outside of school he likes eating Ben and Jerry's while watching the NBA. |
EYRAM BOSSIADE - UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTAN
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Eyram Bossiade is a sophomore at UNC, majoring in Psychology with minors in Neuroscience and Philosophy. As a current Research Assistant in the BRANE Lab, he is interested in the neurological mechanisms underlying craving within addiction, and their implications on the development of long-lasting treatments for Substance Use Disorder. In the Frohlich lab, he is interested in the role of neural oscillations in cognitive control and the potential for noninvasive brain stimulation to be used in therapy to alleviate the negative effects of craving in SUD. He hopes to pursue a career in psychiatry and in his free time he enjoys running, listening to music, spending time with friends, and cooking.
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GRACE ROSS - GRADUATE STUDENT
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Grace recently graduated from the Honors Biochemistry and Molecular Biology program Oregon State University and is very excited for her big move to NC! Grace is a first year Biological and Biomedical sciences PhD student, with a strong interest in understanding the neurobiology underlying human behavior. Outside of lab, Grace enjoys spending her time outdoors, grabbing food with friends and the occasional craft.
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JUSTICE ROBINSON - UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANT
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Justice Robinson is a third-year undergraduate student pursuing a B.S. in Neuroscience and Biology and a minor in Chemistry. She graduated with an Associate degree in Biology from Tulsa Community College in Tulsa, Oklahoma as an Honors Scholar and Barry Goldwater recipient. Her research interests involve human neurobiology, biomedical innovation, and cognitive neuroscience. Outside of the lab, Justice likes listening to music of all genres, meeting new people, and exploring her new home in North Carolina.
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JUSTIN RIDDLE, PH.D. - POSTDOCTORAL SCHOLAR
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Justin Riddle graduated with a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. He is studying the mechanistic role of neural oscillations in cognition. He uses noninvasive brain stimulation concurrent with neuroimaging to analyze the network level organization of the brain as human subjects engage in cognitive control. Justin hopes that his research will provide crucial scientific groundwork for the development of new brain stimulation treatments in psychiatry. In his free time, Justin is an avid yoga practitioner, board gamer, and consciousness enthusiast.
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LAUREN SIDELINGER - UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANT
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Lauren Sidelinger is a first-year undergraduate student at UNC Chapel Hill. She is pursuing a B.S. in Neuroscience with a minor in Chemistry. As a research assistant, she is interested in the role neural oscillations play in the development of psychiatric illnesses. Furthermore, she is fascinated by how neurostimulation works with neural oscillations in order to treat maladaptive cognition in these disorders. In her free time, Lauren likes to sing, play video games, and spend time with her friends and family.
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MENGSEN ZHANG, PH. D - POSTDOCTORAL SCHOLAR
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Mengsen Zhang earned her Ph.D. in Complex Systems and Brain Sciences from Florida Atlantic University and was trained as a postdoc at Stanford University in computational neuroscience. She works to unravel the mystery of complex systems – how complex function and organization of the brain and social systems emerge out of simple (but no simpler) interaction between the constituents. She is currently developing computational techniques for analyzing and modeling oscillatory brain dynamics across multiple spatiotemporal scales, bridging animal and human research. Learn more on her personal website: https://mengsenz.github.io/
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NIVI RAMASAMY - UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANT
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Nivi Ramasamy is a first-year undergraduate student at UNC Chapel Hill. She is pursuing a B.S. in Neuroscience with a minor in Chemistry. Nivi is a research assistant at the Frohlich Lab and is helping investigate the relationship between neural oscillations and animal behavior during an attentional task. Her research interests lie in cognitive neuroscience and she loves playing the violin, trying new foods, and spending time with family and friends.
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NUMAIR ATTAAR - UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANT
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Numair Attar is a first year undergraduate student at UNC pursuing a BS in biology and neuroscience with a minor in philosophy. In terms of research involvement, he is currently working on the animal behavior and attention task and is interested in how our understanding of neural networks can apply to novel treatment approaches. Outside of medicine, Numair loves to run, watch sports, and serve as an EMT/CNA.
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PEYTON SIEKIERSKI - UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANT
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Peyton Siekierski is a third-year undergraduate student at UNC Chapel Hill, pursuing majors in Neuroscience and Chemistry with a minor in Biology. As a research assistant, she is interested in neural networks and their oscillations, and how they relate to behavior. Furthermore, she is also helping investigate the effects of tACS in the brain. In the future, she hopes to focus more on the mechanisms of mental illness and possible treatments. In her free time, Peyton enjoys spending time with her friends and family, baking cookies, and playing field hockey.
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RACHEL FORCE - POSTDOCTORAL SCHOLAR
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Rachel dedicated her career to furthering our understanding of the brain mechanisms involved in the experience of mental illness. With a PhD in the Biology of Psychopathology from the University of Minnesota and 20 years of experience in clinical research Rachel is excited about furthering the development of novel non-invasive brain stimulation methods to reduce symptomology and expand our understanding of how brain oscillation patterns may indicate risk for future pathology. Rachel is the Director of Clinical Trials for the Carolina Center and also enjoys mentoring undergraduate research assistants. Outside of work, Rachel keeps her brain challenged raising two elementary aged kids, trail-running, and learning how to contra-dance.
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RITIKA KHOSLA - UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANT
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Ritika Khosla is a freshman at UNC planning to major in neuroscience and minor in computer science. Ritika is from India so is really looking forward to her time here in NC. In her free time, she enjoys dancing, listening to indie rock, and watching psychological thrillers. As of now, after college, she hopes to do research in cognitive neuroscience.
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ROHAN PATEL - UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANT
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Rohan Patel is a first-year undergraduate student at UNC Chapel Hill. He is pursuing a B.S. in Biology with a minor in statistics. Rohan is a research assistant at the Frohlich Lab and is interested in the extents tDACS and TACS can be used in top-down approaches to learn about neural circuits. In his free time, Rohan enjoys reading, playing video games, and contributing to troubleshooting forums for various open-source programs.
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SUSANNE RADTKE-SCHULLER, PH.D. - ASSOCIATE RESEARCH SCIENTIST
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Susanne focuses on the question how neuroanatomical structure is linked to neurophysiological function and especially what is the 'hardware' underlying behavior and cognitive processing in the brain. She is convinced that this is essential to understand brain processes in healthy and pathological states.
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TAYLOR MURRAY - UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANT
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Taylor is a second-year undergradute student at UNC Chapel Hill. She is pursuing a B.S. in Neuroscience and a B.A. in Chemistry. Taylor is a research assistant in the Frohlich Lab and is interested in the correspondence between neural mechanisms and cognitive function as it relates to neurological disorders. In her free time, Taylor enjoys yoga, reading and dancing.
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WEI (ANGEL) HUANG - GRADUATE STUDENT
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Angel received her MPA in Health Policy from New York University and did post-baccalaureate studies in Biological Sciences at Northwestern University. Her research focuses on studying brain oscillations that relate to higher cognitive functions such as attention. She is especially interested in how the disruption of these oscillations may result in cognitive abnormalities such as attention deficits in autism. She is currently working on developing computational models to simulate thalamo-cortical interactions that are important to attention modulation. Angel is interested in combining computational modeling, machine learning with animal behavioral and in-vivo electrophysiological experiments to study brain oscillations. In her spare time, Angel enjoys playing badminton, hiking, music, playing guitar, and studying artificial intelligence
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