The Sainsbury Wellcome Centre invites four early career neuroscientists to present exciting discoveries about the neural underpinnings of social behaviour, learning of novel skills and actions, and the effects of stress on brain function.

The Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour is proud to announce the speakers for the second annual Emerging Neuroscientists Seminar Series (ENSS). The series highlights the best and brightest young neuroscientists and provides an opportunity for them to engage with SWC faculty, postdocs, students, and the broader neuroscience community in London.

The 2019 winners are:

• Dr Mark Wagner, Luo Lab, Stanford University
• Dr Millie Rincón-Cortés, Grace Lab, University of Pittsburgh
• Dr Dhananjay Bambah-Mukku, Catherine Dulac Lab, Harvard University
• Dr Elizabeth Holly, Fuccillo Lab, University of Pennsylvania

The winners were chosen from a broad and impressive field of applicants.

Dr Mark Wagner is a postdoctoral researcher in Luo Lab at Stanford University where he is investigating the function of cortico-cerebellar loops. His research combines Ca2+ imaging and behavioural approaches to understand neocortex-cerebellum dynamics during novel skill acquisition.

Dr Millie Rincón-Cortés is a postdoctoral researcher in Grace Lab the University of Pittsburgh where she is investigating sex-dependent effects of stress on the dopaminergic system. She is particularly interested in how stress during the postpartum period influences dopamine function and behaviour.

Dr Dhananjay Bambah-Mukku is a postdoctoral researcher in the Dulac Lab at Harvard University. He contributed in the development of Multiplexed Error Robust Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (MERFISH) which he applied to study the molecular and cellular basis of social behaviour circuits in mice.

Dr Elizabeth Holly is a postdoctoral researcher in Fuccillo Lab at the University of Pennsylvania. She aims to understand how dorsomedial striatum orchestrates goal-directed learning.

Dr Andy Murray, a Group Leader at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre and ENSS convenor, welcomed the high level of interest in the series: “We were again astounded by the quality and number of applications that we received for the ENSS program. The winners are working on a variety of topics at the cutting edge of systems neuroscience research. They were chosen for the quality and clarity of their applications, the originality of their ideas and simply how much we wanted to hear about their work. I am looking forward to each of their talks, and I am sure they will be of great interest to the London neuroscience community.”

The ENSS selection committee comprised Dulcie Vousden (chair), Dario Campagner, George Dimitriadis, Sepiedeh Keshavarzi, Cristina Mazuski and Victoria Tung of the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre.

Dr Mark Wagner will give the first lecture of the series on 31 October 2019, entitled “Neocortex-cerebellum dynamics during skill acquisition”. For further details about this event, and for announcements of the dates of the other speakers, please see our events page.

We’d like to thank all the applicants for ENSS 2019. The 2020 ENSS application process will be announced early next year.

Contact:
Hallie Detrick
Communications Manager, Sainsbury Wellcome Centre
h.detrick@ucl.ac.uk
+44 (0) 20 3108 8028