Members

Marc Fuccillo, MD, PhD

Lead Investigator
fuccillo@mail.med.upenn.edu
215-898-8744

Shortly after beginning my dissertation work in the lab of Gordon Fishell at New York University School of Medicine, I was drawn towards understanding the consequences of abnormalities in early brain development for mature circuit function. I focused on mechanisms of neuroepithelial patterning and the transcriptional specification of cortical interneurons in the developing mouse forebrain. Through my doctoral work, I gained a deep appreciation both for the power of combining mouse genetics and electrophysiology, as well as the breadth of cellular diversity in the mature mouse brain.

After forgoing further medical training, I went to Stanford University to do postdoctoral work in the labs of Robert Malenka and Thomas Südhof. I was convinced that molecular dysfunction at the synapse would be a key component in understanding the pathophysiology of many neuropsychiatric disorders. I spent my postdoc studying the biophysical function of synapses and neural circuits, as a stepping stone towards understanding how changes in neural circuit output produce altered behavior — a pursuit which continues in my own lab.

In my free time, I enjoy practicing violin, cooking foods of all nationalities and going on "urban adventures" with my family.

My Pokémon: Psyduck

Edgar Diaz-Hernandez, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow
edgar.a.diaz.h@gmail.com

I grew up in Mexico City and studied Pharmaceutical Chemistry. After that I decided to perform a Ph.D. in neuroscience in the lab of Fatuel Tecuapetla at UNAM. There I studied the contributions of cortico-thalamic-basal-ganglia loops to initiation or execution of action sequences. I have joined the Fuccillo lab to study how these same circuits generate abnormal motor behaviors in the context of pathologies like obsessive-compulsive disorder or autism. In particular, I am interested in amygdalar-basal ganglia interactions mediate the integration of positive and negative reinforcement. In my free time, I love playing with my dogs, play Fronton and listening to good rock music.

My Pokémon: Mew

Saurabh Pandey, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow
saurabh.iiserm@gmail.com

I completed my PhD in Dr. Samarjit's lab at IISER Mohali, India, where my research focused on the cellular and molecular mechanisms governing the trafficking of metabotropic glutamate receptors. Following my doctorate, I pursued postdoctoral research in Dr. Wei Lu's lab at NINDS/NIH, where I explored the effects of chronic stress in the development of stress and anxiety disorders.

In September 2024, I joined Dr. Fuccillo's lab to further enhance my technical expertise. My current research focuses on investigating neural circuit dysfunctions associated with social and repetitive behaviors in autism spectrum disorder.

Outside of research, I cherish spending quality time with my family and staying active through various physical activities.

My Pokémon: Emolga

Luigim Vargas Cifuentes, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow
luigim@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
215-898-8741

I grew up in Queens, NY and went to Brown University from 2013-2017, graduating with a BS in Neuroscience. Early in my undergraduate career, I became interested in neuroscience and started volunteering in labs in my spare time. I was very curious about the neural mechanisms behind our daily experiences as humans and was in awe throughout my training. During my PhD in the Fuccillo lab, I studied roles of striatal neuromodulation in decision-making, particularly in regulating transitions between exploitative and explorative states. I also examined roles of the anterior and posterior dorsomedial striatum in value-based decision-making. I successfully defended my dissertation in June 2025, and will transition to a post-doctoral position in Isaac Chen's lab at UPenn in January 2026.

My Pokémon: Charizard

Luigim's research in the lab was funded by an NIMH F31 (2021-2024).

Laura McGarry, MD, PhD

Instructor (postdoc)
MCGARRYLM@chop.edu

As an undergraduate in the lab of Dr. Rafa Yuste at Columbia University, I identified a novel subtype of cortical GABAergic interneuron and developed advanced computational approaches to cell type classification. I followed my interest in the role of diverse inhibitory neurons in shaping the activity of neural circuits during my PhD in the lab of Dr. Adam Carter at NYU. Using a combination of electrophysiology, imaging and optogenetics in the mouse, my work revealed striking specificity of connections between the prefrontal cortex and amygdala and identified two distinct pathways of feed-forward inhibition in the prefrontal cortex. With a growing interest in striatal circuits, I also investigated cocaine-induced plasticity in the striatum. As a pediatric neurology resident at CHOP, I joined the labs of Dr. Ethan Goldberg and Dr. Marc Fuccillo to investigate the cellular and circuit abnormalities of striatal inhibitory interneurons in a mouse model of Dravet Syndrome. Understanding how a specific genetic disorder affects neuronal circuitry to result in both epilepsy and autism, and what cell types or circuits might represent convergent sites of pathophysiology across different genetic disorders, are the fundamental questions driving my current and future research. I completed residency in 2024, a fellowship in epilepsy neurogenetics in 2025 and am currently an Instructor of Neurology at CHOP. When not in lab or the clinic, I enjoy urban gardening, hiking and spending time with my family.

Sarah Ferrigno

NGG Student
sarfer@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

For my undergraduate, I attended the University of Connecticut where I double majored in Psychology and Molecular & Cell Biology. From early on, I was interested in understanding neuropsychiatric disease and during my undergraduate research I studied the neuropharmacology underlying motivational dysfunction in rodent models of Major Depressive Disorder. For my graduate work, I am interested in elucidating how dysfunction of neural circuits in the basal ganglia play a role in neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. I am currently examining how the direct and indirect pathways in the tail of the striatum contribute to attention.

My Pokémon: Togetic (formerly Togepi 2019-2021)

Sarah's research in the lab was funded by an NINDS F31 (2023-2025).

Jamie Galanaugh

NGG Student
jamiegal@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

I was born and raised in Philadelphia and attended undergrad here at Penn from 2016-2020. I obtained my BA in the Biological Basis of Behavior in the College of Arts & Sciences and am now working toward a PhD in Neuroscience in the School of Medicine. While in undergrad, I trained in cellular and molecular methods at the bench and computational and clinical methods in the classroom. Now as a graduate student in the Fuccillo Lab, I study the mechanistic underpinnings of striatal cholinergic interneuron dysfunction in autism-related genetic variants using acute slice electrophysiology.

My Pokémon: Espurr

Evan Iliakis

MD/PhD NGG Student
evan.iliakis@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

I grew up in Düsseldorf, Germany and went to Pomona College near Los Angeles, CA, graduating with a BA in Linguistics and Cognitive Science in 2018. From there, I went on to spend two years working with Lois Choi-Kain at the Gunderson Personality Disorders Institute at McLean Hospital near Boston, MA, working on clinical research projects to improve understanding of personality disorders, especially borderline personality disorder, and increase access to affordable care for them. My experience working with individuals with personality disorders, coupled with the relative lack of clarity about the pathophysiology and mechanisms of treatment of these disorders, led me to become increasingly interested in neuroscience research on neuropsychiatric disorders during medical school. Currently, I am working on a project that aims to elucidate the role of striatal interneurons in value-based decision-making. I successfully defended my dissertation in October 2025 but will continue this work throughout my remaining time in the MD/PhD program. In my free time, I enjoy playing the piano, learning languages, taking care of my plants, and reading.

My Pokémon: Umbreon

Evan's research in the lab is currently funded by an NIMH F30 (2024-2028).

Wenxin Tu

Research Associate
wenxint@sas.upenn.edu

I am a former undergraduate student at Penn, where I majored in Neuroscience and minored in Music and Chemistry. Currently, I work as a lab technician in the Fuccillo Lab, focusing on the mechanisms of neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders, particularly Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. As an undergraduate honors student, I completed my thesis on brain-wide neuronal ensembles involved in positive and negative reinforcement.

My research experience includes participation in the Undergraduate Neuroscience Honors Program, and I was awarded the Ernest M. Brown, Jr. College Alumni Society Undergraduate Research Grant in Fall 2022 and the Alumni Fellowship for Neuroscience Research in Summer 2023. Presently, I study neural circuits related to reinforcement in the striatum and other brain regions.

In my free time, I am an avid musician, playing piano and cello. I participate in the Penn Marian Anderson Soloist Performance Program and the Penn Chamber Music Society.

My Pokémon: Eevee

Yuzhou Hong

UPenn Master's Student in Biotechnology
yuzhuo@seas.upenn.edu

I was born and raised in Foshan, China. I got my degree in Biological Sciences from the University of California, Davis. My primary research interests lie in the field of brain-machine interfaces, with a particular focus on decoding signals recorded from the brain. Currently, I am pursuing a Master's degree in Biotechnology at the University of Pennsylvania, where I am working on projects involving striatal circuits, positive and negative reinforcement, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Outside of my academic and research pursuits, I enjoy golfing and snowboarding.

Jonibek Muhsinov

Undergraduate Vagelos
Jonibekm@sas.upenn.edu

I was born and raised in Key West, FL, with family roots in Uzbekistan. I am currently an undergraduate student at Penn majoring in biophysics and biochemistry. I previously worked in the Mallouk Group where I studied Z-scheme photocatalytic water splitting. In the Fuccillo Lab, I study striatal interneurons and their contributions to value-based decision-making, and am particularly interested in their potential implications for autism research. Outside of the lab, I enjoy food, playing basketball, and quality time with friends and family.

My Pokémon: Snivy (and Alolan Exeggutor)

Joy Lin

Undergraduate Vagelos

I was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and spent my high school years in Los Angeles, California. At Penn, I am currently an undergraduate majoring in Biochemistry and Biophysics, with a minor in Neuroscience and Healthcare Management. I joined the Fuccillo Lab to develop further my interests and understanding of the brain and neuroscience research. I am working with Edgar, focusing on neural tracing and performing stereotaxic procedures in conjunction with fluorescence microscopy, as well as reconstructing anatomy to describe circuits related to the amygdala and the basal ganglia. Outside of the lab, I like spending time with my friends and family, taking long walks in nature, and finding quiet moments to reset and reflect.

My Pokémon: Fennekin

Aarav Chandra

Undergraduate
aarav.chandra@gmail.com

I grew up in San Diego, CA for most of my life and am currently an undergrad at Penn studying neuroscience. In high school, I worked with a neurobiologist at UCSD studying how neural networks involved in behavior are developed during embryogenesis in flatworms. I have been interested in molecular and behavioral aspects of neurological disorders like autism and Tourette’s and wanted to explore more through this lab. In my spare time, I enjoy playing basketball with friends and exploring center city, especially new restaurants.

My Pokémon: Snorlax

Ryan Lee

Undergraduate
rjylee@sas.upenn.edu

I grew up on Long Island, New York, where my interest in the brain began while observing patients with neurodegenerative diseases at the Margaret Tietz Nursing & Rehab Center in Jamaica, Queens. I am currently an undergraduate at Penn studying cognitive neuroscience, with additional interests in philosophy. In the Fuccillo lab, my work focuses on uncovering the neural circuits underlying cognitive processes implicated in conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and autism spectrum disorder. More broadly, I’m interested in how reinforcement is represented and regulated across neural networks. Outside of the lab, I’m an avid rock climber, philosophy-ponderer, and (failed) baker!

My Pokémon: Gible

Marilee Hernandez

Undergraduate
marileeh@sas.upenn.edu

I am from Los Angeles, California, and I study neuroscience and economics. My interest in neuroscience began in high school, when I interned at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) studying the retina. I am particularly interested in how disruptions in neural circuit activity contribute to conditions such as autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). In Dr. Fuccillo’s lab, I work with Edgar on projects investigating neural circuits related to reinforcement in the striatum and other brain regions, where I focus on training mice and performing histological analyses.

My Pokémon: Spheal

Elizabeth Holly, PhD

Assistant Professor at Rutgers University
elizabeth.holly@rutgers.edu
Elizabeth Holly, PhD Website

I am currently an Assistant Professor in the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience at the Rutgers University - Newark.

I grew up in Oklahoma, then attended Northern Michigan University in Michigan's Upper Peninsula for undergrad. At Northern, I first got involved in research investigating the neurobiological basis and treatment of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia, which I continued at Pfizer. I completed my PhD at Tufts University in Medford, MA, where I combined neurochemistry, behavior, and psychopharmacology to investigate how dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area are activated by stress, and how this activation during stress increases later drug self-administration. I joined the Fuccillo lab in June 2016 to expand my current technical repertoire with molecular neuroscience tools and further explore the role of dopamine in reward, stress, and psychiatric diseases. My work in the lab focused on the relevance of local striatal circuits in the formation and modulation of goal-directed behaviors.

My Pokémon: Eevee

Elizabeth's research in the lab was funded by an NIMH F32 (2017-2020) and an NIMH K01 (2021-2026).

Nathan Henderson, PhD

Senior Research Specialist (ENDD) at UPenn Prosser Lab
Nathan.Henderson@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

I am now a staff scientist at the Center for Epilepsy and Neurodevelopmental Disorders (ENDD), a UPenn/CHOP collaborative effort to develop genetic therapies for neurodevelopmental disorders.

For my undergraduate degree I attended Temple University, majoring in Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience and graduating in 2012. In the summer of 2012 I began graduate school at Thomas Jefferson University where I studied molecular mechanisms of excitatory synapse development in cortical neurons, as well as the molecular nano-organization of excitatory synapses in the laboratory of Matthew Dalva. I received my Ph.D in neuroscience in the summer of 2018, then joined the Fuccillo lab in the fall of 2018 to expand my repertoire of experimental techniques and to study the development of corticostriatal synaptic connections. In the Fuccillo lab I primarily focused on the role of Zswim6, a novel epigenetic regulator, in the development of striatal circuits. I also developed viral CRISPR tools and carried out an in vitro CRISPR-based screen to identify novel synapse-associated proteins important for the development of cortico-striatal synapses.

My Pokémon: confused Pikachu

Kyuhyun Choi, PhD

Assistant Professor at Hallym University
kyuhyun@hallym.ac.kr
215-898-8741

I am now assistant professor at Hallym University in Chuncheon, South Korea.

I attended Kyung Hee University in Korea for my undergraduate training and was granted a PhD degree in 2016. My dissertation research focused on defining neural circuits important for the interplay between learning and emotion. In particular, I used slice electrophysiology and in-vivo optogenetics to study intra-amygdala and septo-habenular circuits. I joining the Fuccillo lab in mid-2016 to extend my knowledge about the function of disease-associated molecules in neural circuit function. In the Fuccillo lab, I worked to understand the contribution of fronto-striatal sub-circuits to goal-directed behavior.

My Pokémon: Skiploom

Opeyemi Alabi, MD, PhD

MGH Neurosurgery Resident
oalabi76@outlook.com
215-898-8741

Since graduating, I have entered the neurosurgery residency program at Massachusetts General Hospital.

I started my MD/PhD at Penn in 2014 and joined the Fuccillo Lab in February 2016. I am currently focused on designing operant behavioral paradigms that allow us to assess value-based selection of actions in mouse genetic models for neuropsychiatric disease.

Ope's research in the lab was funded by an NIMH F31 Fellowship (2017-2019).

Felicia Davatolhagh, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow in the Churchland Lab at UCLA
mdavatol@gmail.com
215-898-8741

Since graduating, I have moved onto a postdoc in the Churchland lab at UCLA.

I am interested in studying striatal microcircuits and how they are altered in mouse genetic models for neuropsychiatric disease. Currently, my work in the lab uses multiple genetic models for autism that exhibit similar motor control abnormalities in an attempt to identify commonly altered striatal circuits. In my free time, I like to sit around with my psychopath cat, Misty Mo Mo.

My Pokémon: Charmander

Felicia's research in the lab was funded by an HHMI Gilliam Fellowship (2017-2020).

Alessandro Jean-Louis

AAV Production Lab Technician, Vector Biolabs
Alessandro.Jean-Louis@Pennmedicine.upenn.edu

I am now an AAV production lab technician at Vector Biolabs.

I attended Temple University and graduated in 2021 with a degree in Neuroscience as an undergraduate. While at Temple I worked as an undergraduate researcher in the lab of Debra Bangasser. The main focus of the work we did was to investigate how sex differences in stress responses bias males and females towards different pathology. In my free time I enjoy playing basketball and occasionally exploring Philly.

My Pokémon: Riolu

Myra Granato

Neuroscience Graduate Student at NYU
myra.granato@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

I am now at the Neuroscience PhD program at NYU.

I grew up in Philadelphia and graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 2022 with a BA in Behavioral Biology. In the Fuccillo lab, I worked with Dr. Edgar Diaz-Hernandez on two projects studying the role of neural circuits involved in behaviors relating to obsessive-compulsive disorder. Outside of the lab I enjoy listening to podcasts, playing squash, and cooking.

My Pokémon: Oddish

Alex Ramirez

Neuroscience Graduate Student at Mt. Sinai ISMMS
alex.ramirez@icahn.mssm.edu

I am currently pursuing a PhD in neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai.

I grew up in Colorado and received my BS in Psychology from the University of Colorado at Denver. There, I worked with Dr. Ethan Hughes establishing the safety of long-term in vivo 3-photon imaging of the mouse cortex. I was a postbaccalaureate scholar through the PennPREP program. In the Fuccillo lab, I was working on a project studying the role of various GABAergic interneuron subtypes in the striatum during value-based goal-directed behavior, and am interested in studying circuit mechanisms of motivation and decision-making. When not in lab, you can find me experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen, trying different restaurants around Philly, or hitting the gym.

My Pokémon: Gardevoir

Alexandria Cowell

Former Research Technician
Alexandria.Cowell@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
215-898-8741

I was born and raised in Texas by a small pack of grey wolves. I later moved to Philadelphia because someone told me the cheesesteaks were amazing. I graduated from Temple University in 2016 and have been working at UPenn ever since. My hobbies include playing with dogs, wearing loud sweaters and registering new vendors into the UPenn Marketplace.

My Pokémon: Squirtle