Hillel Adesnik

Manar Chaaban

My scientific interests and pursuit developed at UCLA. In my senior independent research project, I investigated the allelic specificity of the MHC (major histocompatibility complex) molecule in axonal outgrowth. I have become interested in pursuing graduate work that examines 1) the molecular basis of neuronal growth and 2) synaptic transmission and plasticity. Ultimately, my career objective is to contribute to the development of models and therapies for the many neuro-degenerative diseases as well as to gain a profound understanding of neuronal development. However, experience has taught me to be open to all exciting scientific endeavors. I look forward to making SF my home in every way. I have always longed to live in a city where one can gain a greater appreciation for the arts in its multiple forms. Growing up I wanted to become a dance choreographer. Today, I still find in me a great urge to cultivate my artistic amateur skills. The most gratifying job I have had as an undergraduate was an instructor position at Pace Academy in LA during my junior and senior years. I not only taught math and science to middle and high school students but I have become a mentor to these students. The rewards of delivering education and making a difference in a student's life motivate me to pursue a lifetime career in academia. I think a doctoral training will qualify me to encourage youth to invest their creativity in science and to contribute to scientific advancements. Being of Lebanese decent, I am fluent in Arabic and can manage a decent French conversation as well. Whenever time permits, I like to learn more languages and educate myself of different cultures and beliefs. SF is a wonderful place to do so. All in all, I enthusiastically look forward to meeting and learning about the great feats of the faculty and students of the Neuroscience and scientific community at UCSF!

Amanda Codd

I'm from Morrisville, Pennsylvania, where my parents raised me and my 2 older sisters, Deb and Jenn. I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2001, where I majored in Biological Basis of Behavior. For my senior research project, I studied the state-dependent coordination of neural activity in zebra finches. Because I spent most of my life in Pennsylvania, when I graduated I decided to venture outside the state, and even the country, to the UK. I am currently at the University of Cambridge, where I am working toward a research-based Masters of Philosophy degree, studying mechanisms of axonal regeneration throughout development. In my spare time, I enjoy reading, travelling, nature, movies, and spending time with friends and family.

Amy Delpolyi (MSTP)

I grew up and went to school out on the east coast, and have moved out here for graduate school. I have been here for two years in medical school, and have rotated with Jenny LaVail and Bruce Miller, and am currently in the Merzenich lab. I like to read science fiction and fantasy books, snowboard, hike, and draw.

Dan Engber

Marta Gaglia

I was born in Italy, and lived there until I was 18. After attending an international high school in Italy, I moved to London to study for a bachelor in Molecular Biology at University College London, which I have just completed. I stumbled upon neuroscience while working in a developmental neurobiology laboratory in the summer of my first year and have since become more and more interested in it. When I move to San Francisco, it will only be my 4th time in the United States, including the interview trips. I am rather excited about the change. In my free time, I like reading, travelling, learning languages and doing martial arts (I am an orange belt in ju jitsu).

Friederike Haass

I grew up in Homburg, a small town in South-west Germany. I studied Biology at the University of Wuerzburg, Germany. In September 2000, I joined Ed Kravitz's lab at Harvard Medical Schoool, Boston where I worked on the effects of the drug Fenfluramine on monoamine levels and serotonergic neurons in lobsters. Part of this work constituted my thesis for the Diplom degree (similar to a master's degree) I received from the University of Wuerzburg. Apart from Neuroscience, I like playing the violin (classical music), biking, hiking/walking, visting theatre, concert, and opera performances and pets. I grew up among many animals (dogs, cats, iceland ponies, chicken, peacocks, a parrot, fish, ducks, ants, …). At the moment I have a pet lobster named Crusher and a pet crab named Little Crab.

I am excited to study Neuroscience in a city where trees are green and flowers bloom in February.

Marc Heiser (MSTP)

I was born in Inglewood CA (former home of the LA Lakers), moved to San Diego around 5 years old and stayed until college. I went to UC Berkeley for undergraduate - spent 5 years there and got a degree in English and Molecular and Cell Biology. I took a year off to do biochemistry research at the Scripps Research Institute while applying for med. school. I did my first two years of med school here at UCSF with a summer of research at the UCLA Brain Mapping Center in between. My main research interests are yet to be defined, but I am working in Michael Merzenich's lab right now and really digging it.

Mattias Karlsson

I grew up in San Jose and went to school at UC Davis, so coming to UCSF wasn't too hard of a trip. I guess you can say I'm outdoorsy-- my favorite hobbies are backpacking, snowboarding, surfing and biking. After changing majors too many times as an undergrad, I realized that I didn't want to commit to any field that's too narrow in subject matter. When I stumbled apon neuroscience, I loved how physics and biology were rolled up into one field. So here I am. I'd like to think that I'm a pretty fun guy, but I'm shy as hell. My motto is: I'll try anything twice. That way, if I didn't like it the first time, I'll have one more chance to change my mind.

Michelle Lee

Hello, I'm Michelle. I can't seem to leave California, or even the Bay Area. I received my BS/MS degrees in Biological Sciences from Stanford University ('01/'02). I am excited about attending UCSF (living in a big city!), and would like to concentrate on developmental neuroscience. When I am not being studious, I like eating, sleeping, languages, IMing, crossword puzzles, video games, and more eating.

Lei Lei

Before I was born, the doctors encouraged my mother to abort me because I would be deformed, retarded, and a boy. I turned out to be a perfectly normal girl, although some of my friends claim that I'm all three of the above. The most notable thing that's happened in my life so far is that I've been born. But I've also gone to school etc. etc. just like everybody else. The easiest way to irritate me is to put down China or confuse the University of Washington (in Seattle) with Washington University in St. Louis. There's a BIG difference. It's Udub vs. WashU, so get it right The primary focus of my life consists of reading science fiction (mostly trashy), playing computer games (kill kill kill!) and exploring anime (drool, bishounen!).

Peter Li

I've done a pretty wide range of things in Neuroscience over the last few years, starting with work at the Cambridge MRC-LMB on synaptic vesicle endocytosis. I've also worked with TEM tomography, single-cell recording, and neural networks, and I did my undergraduate honors thesis on event-related potentials and spectral dynamics. At UCSF I think I would like to start out focusing on research in electrophysiology as a potential thesis topic. Outside of science, music is probably my biggest interest, in particular orchestral music and opera. I've played the trumpet off and on for 12 years, plus I can almost hack out some Woody Guthrie on the guitar ("This Land is Your Land," anyone...?). I'm also pretty into Classical and Russian literature and I'm a sucker for Hitchcock and all sorts of cheesy old movies. For exercise I'm partial to Soccer, Volleyball, and Ultimate Frisbee. I love backpacking and have recently gotten into bird watching (field work I like to call it...). I was born in Boston, but I grew up in Palo Alto, California and I'm happy to be returning to the San Francisco Bay Area after my recent stint back in Massachusetts where I paid $130K+ for a piece of paper that says 'Harvard' on it. Oh, and I'm also a computer dork: http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~pli/

Florian Merkle

In case my name doesn't give me away, I'm not a native Californian. I was born in Germany but moved to the Midwest at the tender age of 2 1/2. I did most of my growing up in Minnesota, where three out of four seasons are winter and the state bird is the mosquito. When I was old enough, I escaped to California only to find myself trapped at Caltech (a feindish institution) for several years. Despite this, I managed to graduate with a degree in biology and a desire to continue studying neuroscience. I am interested in development and plasticity, but my interests are broad. When I'm not in lab, I enjoy traveling, hiking, raquetball, soccer, catching up on world events, eating and drinking and sitting on my ass watching TV. You know, the finer things in life.

Divakar Mithal

Guillermo Munoz-Elias

I was born in Peru, an interesting country south of the equator, where I grew up on a strict diet consisting almost entirely of home-grown avocados (Fig. 1a). From a very young age I dreamt of becoming a professional soccer player (Fig. 1b) so that one day I could play in the World Cup against the invincible Brazilians, Germans, and Italians. Simple enough, that was my raison d’etre until I was 12, when I learned that playing in the World Cup often entails remaining celibate for the duration of the tournament (30 days) plus the two weeks preceding the event, a total of 44 days! Even at that young age something told me that 44 days of celibacy would be too much to bear. So, I decided to become a professional scientist instead, unbeknownst to me, as it was, that things wouldn’t be much different in that respect (or so current grad students and postdocs warn me). Well, c’est la vie! So, I moved to New Jersey and began my professional training at Rutgers University. After a very inspiring research internship at CSHL studying synaptic plasticity I traded my soccer cleats for a lab coat indefinitely (Fig.1c). I have continued doing research on brain plasticity ever since, on stem cells most recently at RWJM, in search of understanding how brains change in response to experience to represent reality as we know it. I am looking forward to my graduate school days and to moving back to the West Coast. Perhaps the warmer weather will allow me to play soccer more frequently, though I don’t plan on doing it professionally. Well, not at the World Cup level anyway.

Ken Park

Bhavana Visnubhotla

Matt Wanat

Mel Wohlgemuth

I was born in the Steel City: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Although I haven't lived there since I left for college, I am a Yunser at heart, and a die-hard Steelers Fan. After high school, I went across the state to Haverford College, majored in behavioral ecology, and researched the migration patterns of neotropical warblers. I stayed in Philadelphia after college, and continued working with birds in a laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania. The research I became involved with was interested in the role of nucleus HVc during song learning. I really enjoyed neuroscience, but still felt that I needed a better understanding of bird song as a behavior. I decided to pursue a Master's degree at the University of St. Andrews, and conduct field biology on the evolution of bird song. My Master's research is concerned with the conservation of syllable repertoires in the chaffinches (Fringilla coelebs) of the Orkney Islands. At UCSF, I hope to use what I have learned this year about the function of song to study how a bird understands the information being conveyed in its vocalizations.

Joshua Woolley (MSTP)