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The Banghart Lab launched at UCSD in the Fall of 2016. UCSD graduate students should contact Matt by email to discuss rotation opportunities. Prospective graduate students should consider the graduate programs in Neurosciences or Biology (international students should apply to Biology). Postdoctoral candidates should email Matt their CV, a brief statement of research experience and interests, and contact info for 3 references.
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Matt originally trained as an organic chemist but then drifted into neuroscience during his PhD training. During his doctoral studies at UC Berkeley with Dirk Trauner and Rich Kramer, Matt developed methods for regulating ion channels with light, which initiated his transformation into a neuroscientist. Matt then pursued postdoctoral studies as a Helen Hay Whitney fellow with Bernardo Sabatini at Harvard Medical School to study the neurophysiology of striatal neuropeptides. This experience cemented his interest in how neuromodulators influence behavior. Outside of the lab you might find him running or cycling in the canyons around La Jolla, playing in the sand at the beach with his son, tending to his garden, or hovering over his Weber grill (year round). He also enjoys camping, hiking and snowboarding, and is always looking for excuses to be outside in the sun.
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Jing joins the lab with a background and interest in behavioral neuroscience, having completed her PhD at Nagoya University in Japan with Dr. Koyofumi Yamada, where she studied cognitive impairment in mouse models of schizophrenia. In the Banghart Lab she is investigating circuit mechanisms of opioid reward and the role of neuromodulation in placebo analgesia using in vivo imaging and in vivo photopharmacology.
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Hui is currently the Sr. chemist in the group. He joined the team after completing an outstanding PhD constructing multifunctional fluorogenic and near-IR fluorescent probes with Dr. Injae Shin at Yonsei University in South Korea. His current project involves optimizing caging groups for in vivo applications.
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Susan joined the Banghart Lab in 2018 through the UCSD Neuroscience Graduate Program. Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, she began her investigation of neural circuits with Katrina MacLeod at the University of Maryland College Park, followed by two years at NIH's National Institute on Aging in Baltimore under the mentorship of Henriette van Praag. Now at UCSD, she remains just as fascinated by how neural circuits are built and function to support sensory experience. In the lab, Susan is focused on understanding the physiology and gene expression of neurons in the midbrain and brainstem that are involved in modulation of pain, as well as the role of neuropeptides in defining these circuits. On the weekend, she loves to try new San Diego restaurants and breweries and cheer from afar for her favorite football team, the Baltimore Ravens.
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Giulia joined the lab with a formidable background in slice electrophysiology, having learned to record from up to three cells at a time during a stint in the Tolias Laboratory at Baylor. Before that Giulia spent two years studying LTP en route to a Masters degree in Neurobiology from La Sapienza University in her hometown, the great city of Rome. Having spent 2 years in the lab as a Sr. Research Scientist prior to starting grad school, Giulia has identified antinociceptive neurons in the midbrain and is studying their role in pharmacological and cognitive pain modulation. Giulia spends her free time exploring California's many wonderful destinations, many of which include waves, sand and sunshine. She is devoted to raising a happy and healthy kitten and also makes a mean tiramisu.
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Stan is the lab's newest full-time member. Armed with a M.S. in chemistry that he earned in Fleur Ferguson's lab at UCSD, along with considerable prior experience in the fume hood, Stan is taking in vivo photopharmacology to the next level. His primary goal is to develop new caging groups that are specifically designed to perform well in the nervous system. With these new caging groups in hand he will then apply them to several important drugs that exhibit complex temporal dynamics in the brain with poorly understood sites of action.
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Janie brings to the lab a broad background in neuroscience research and a quirky sense of humor that originates in her undergraduate days at Oberlin College. Although she supports many projects in many ways, she is currently honing in on the placebo analgesia project as her main focus in the lab. Janie will be applying to a graduate program near you in the future.
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