Department welcomes new faculty Mario Dipoppa

The Department of Neurobiology welcomes new faculty Mario Dipoppa, Ph.D. as an Assistant Professor effective February 1, 2023.

Dr. Dipoppa received his B.Sc. in Physics in 2006 from the Università di Roma I La Sapienza in Italy.  In 2008, he received his M.Sc. theoretical physics from the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon in France.  His Ph.D. was in theoretical neuroscience from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in France.  From 2013-2018, Dr. Dipoppa was a postdoctoral fellow working on integrating experimental and theoretical approaches with Ken Harris and Matteo Carandini. In 2018, he joined Ken Miller’s Laboratory at Columbia University in the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience as an Associate Research Scientist.

Dr. Dipoppa’s research interest is to understand the mechanisms underlying neural computations in the cerebral cortex. He has extensive experience developing computational models of the mammalian cortex and leverages machine learning algorithms to analyze large-scale neural data. He has been focused on understanding the function of cortical cells in the visual cortex namely, how neural circuits implement computations that have potential long-term applications for understanding neurological disorders. Most recently, Dr. Dipoppa, using machine learning decoding methods he developed, demonstrated the relationship between vision and behavior by showing that the geometry of neural representations of visual stimuli were altered by locomotion.

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Dipoppa to the faculty.

 

Department welcomes new faculty Lydia Daboussi

The Department of Neurobiology is pleased to welcome Lydia Daboussi, Ph.D. as an Assistant Professor of Neurobiology.  Dr. Daboussi’s research is focused on the question of nervous system regeneration – a central challenge in neuroscience is how to promote nervous system regeneration. Most research strategies for understanding and preventing neurodegeneration are ‘neuron-centric.’ This approach overlooks the interplay between neurons and glia that facilitate neuronal function. Dr. Daboussi has focused on Schwann cells, a type of peripheral glia that engage conserved intracellular pathways to promote axonal myelination, and neural regeneration after injury. As a postdoc, Dr. Daboussi identified intrinsic cellular responses induced by Schwann cells that promote axonal maintenance and regeneration. – microphthalmia transcription factor (MITF). The nexus between injury and disease, demonstrated by MITF function, has broad implications for understanding and treating axonal loss in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) and metabolic diseases like diabetic peripheral neuropathy. For this work, Dr. Daboussi was awarded fellowships from the George E. Hewitt Foundation and the Salk Institute (Women & Science from Salk and Jonas Salk).  Dr. Daboussi was recruited as a Rising to the Challenge faculty hire, which was a joint effort with Bunche Center.  Please join us in welcoming her to our ranks.

Josh Trachtenberg to give 33rd H.W. Magoun Distinguished Lecture

Please join us on Tuesday, October 18, 2022 at 12:00 pm in the NRB auditorium for our special 33rd H.W. Magoun Distinguished Lecture featuring Dr. Joshua Trachtenberg from the Department of Neurobiology

“The Evolution and Development of Experience-Dependent Cortical Plasticity in Early Postnatal Life”
Joshua Trachtenberg, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

https://uclahs.fyi/3rSqnLO