As an undergraduate at Florida State University, I majored in Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, with a minor in Psychology, receiving my Bachelor of Science in December of 2022. Pursuing a Ph.D. in Neuroscience at Florida Atlantic University was a natural next step for me, given the program’s outstanding faculty, cutting-edge research, and collaboration with the Max Planck Institute.
Currently, I am conducting research under the supervision of Dr. Rodrigo Pena at his Computational Neuroscience lab, focusing on modeling the interplay between hippocampal place cells, parvalbumin interneurons, and theta and gamma rhythms. By developing computational models that simulate the activity of these neural components, we aim to understand how they contribute to the encoding and retrieval of spatial memories and the enhancement of plasticity within the hippocampus. In addition, understanding the role of place cells has far-reaching implications, which include developing new strategies for the treatment of neurological disorders that affect spatial navigation and memory, such as Alzheimer’s Disease and age-related cognitive decline.