Researchers

PhD Students, Postdocs & Research Scientists

Ela Dulko

I'm a PhD student and I joined the lab in 2022. I'm currently developing tools to simultaneously record hundreds of neurons in the brain so that I can determine how seizures start and propagate.

Dr. Scott Kilianski

I'm a postdoc in the Beenhakker lab. As a grad student, I worked with Bruce McNaughton to resolve basic mechanisms of memory consolidation. I'm now developing imaging methods to determine how metabolism regulates seizures.

Dr. Yajun Zhang

I'm a research scientist in the lab. I'm developing optical approaches to resolve noradrenergic signaling, particularly in the context of arousal and attention.

Guzel Naik

I'm a PhD student and I joined the lab in 2023. I'm using several mouse models to understand how mutations in Glucose Transporter 1 cause epilepsy.

Suning He

I'm a PhD student and I joined the lab in 2023. I'm currently developing optogenetic tools resolve brain structures responsible for starting and propagating seizures.

Elyssa Pereyra

I'm a PhD student and I joined the lab in 2025. I'm using spatial metabolomic approaches to determine how metabolism affects epilepsy.

Ben Buckley

I'm a PhD Student. I joined the lab in 2025. I love neurons so much!

Molly Gerding

I'm a research specialist. I create mouse models for the lab to investigate.

Anna Grace Carns

I graduate from UVA in 2025 and now work in the lab. I work with Ela on single unit recordings.

Sakina Lashkeri

I graduated from UVA in 2025 and now work in the lab. I'm performing mesoscopic imaging experiments!

Undergraduate Scholars

I joined the lab in 2022. I build electrophysiology gadgetry. I'm also learning how to perform EEG experiments to measure seizure activity.

I just joined the lab!

I just joined the lab!

The Lab Elders

Dr. Serapio Baca

I develop computational pipelines for image analysis. Also, I whisper to fishfish.

Dr. Nick Gaugliardo

I like science.

Dr. Mark Beenhakker

I'm the lab wrangler. When I'm not working with the great folks in my lab, then you can find me wandering in the forest or floating down a river.

PhD Alumni

Dr. Katie Salvati

I earned my PhD in 2021. I combined patch clamp electrophysiology, EEG recordings and imaging techniques to resolve how glucose metabolism and respiration trigger absence seizures. I'm currently a post-doc in Kevin Bender's lab at UCSF.

Dr. Adam Lu

I earned my PhD in 2020. I coupled brain slice physiology with computation tools to determine how GABA transporters regulate absence seizures. I'm currently a pediatric neurology resident at the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles.

Dr. Lise Harbom

I earned my PhD in 2019. I developed novel assays to speed up the maturation process of neurons generated from induced pluripotent stem cells. I currently work in a biotech company in New Orleans.

Dr. Pete Klein

I earned my PhD in 2018. I combined patch clamp electrophysiology and calcium imaging to resolve how thalamic neurons regulate intracellular concentrations of chloride. I'm currently an Instructor working in Ivan Soltesz's lab at Stanford.

Undergraduate Alumni

Maria Teresa Varela (Cognitive Psychology, 2024)
Ellen Wu (Cognitive Psychology, 2024)
Caitlin Shaub (Cognitive Psychology, 2024)
Deepika Sahoo (Biochemistry, 2024)
Robert Hutchinson (Biology
Isabella Lesmana (Neuroscience, 2023)
Rithvik Gundlapalli (Neuroscience, 2023)
Rebecca Franks (Biology, 2022)
Finnegan O’Dell (Neuroscience, 2022)
Katerina Silis (Neuroscience, 2021)
Brett Goerl (Human Biology, 2020)
Sarah Watkins (Economics/Health, 2020)
Alexa Gracias (Neuroscience, 2019)
Priyashma Joshi (Biology, 2019)
Aman Kapadia (Neuroscience, 2019)
Vignesh Sastri (Biology, 2019)
Brian Truong (Biomedical Eng., 2019)
Viktoria Usova (Neuroscience, 2019)
Simar Chawla (Neuroscience, 2017)
Prashanth Fenn (Biology, 2017)
Layla Ghuzlan (Biochemistry, 2017)
Vashali Jain (Neuroscience, 2017)
Mital Lavani (Neuroscience, 2017)
Hanna McKown (Cognitive Sciences, 2017)
Navin Naik (Neuroscience, 2017)
Jacopo De Rossi (Biology, 2017)
Pasha Davoudian* (Neuroscience, 2016)
Megan Harper (Neuroscience/Computer Science, 2016)
Michelle Lim (Neuroscience, 2015)
John Marshall (Biology, 2015)
Isela Pierce (Biology/Religious Studies, 2015)
Jennifer Ballard (Cognitive Science/Spanish, 2015)
Vivian Chan (Economics, 2014)
Nikolas Hayes (Biochemistry/Psychology, 2014)
Michael Lerhner, (Chemical Eng., 2014)