Ezgi Hacisuleyman, assistant professor, Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation and Technology, University of Florida
Lab start date: February 2024
What are your lab’s aims and major research questions?
My lab focuses on uncovering how synapses—specifically those located far from the soma—respond to stimuli. To do that, we investigate activity-dependent synaptic RNA localization, translational control and metabolic regulation. By uncovering how these processes differ across cells, we aim to identify the unique molecular mechanisms that set neurons apart. I am particularly excited to expand on the tools I developed during my postdoc and to create new methodologies to investigate mitochondrial regulation at synapses in response to neuronal activity.
What is the best advice you’ve gotten from colleagues or mentors prior to opening your lab?
Keep your lab small and be on the bench all the time at the beginning. One of my postdoctoral mentors, Robert Darnell, emphasized this approach. It’s not just because your hands will likely be the best in the lab at that point, but also because working directly at the bench is vital for shaping a lab’s culture. It allows you to establish a collaborative and engaged environment while building meaningful interactions with your students and trainees. This has been working very well for me so far.
Aran Nayebi, assistant professor of machine learning, Carnegie Mellon University
Lab start date: September 2024
What do you study? What part of your research are you most excited about?
In my lab, we aim to uncover the fundamental principles of intelligence by reverse-engineering the brain’s computations and using those insights to build life-long learning agents. We ask: How do animals transform continuous sensory inputs into meaningful physical actions, and how can we translate that into better artificial intelligence? I’m excited about using neuroscience to push AI beyond static benchmarks—toward real-world, embodied intelligence. The idea that understanding the brain’s algorithms could unlock more autonomous and adaptive robots is what drives me.
What is the best advice you received from a mentor or colleague before opening your lab?
Don’t chase trends—work on the problems that truly excite you. It’s easy to get caught up in what’s hot in AI or neuroscience, but long-term impact comes from following deep, fundamental questions based on first principles, rather than current, short-term hype.
Vlad Ayzenberg, incoming assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience, Temple University
Lab start date: July 2025
What are your lab’s research aims?
The goal of my lab is to understand how the human brain is organized at birth to support the rapid development of cognitive and perceptual abilities, and to use this understanding to create more human-like artificial-intelligence agents.
Are there any traditions or practices from the labs you trained in that you will implement in your lab?
I’ve always worked in very tight-knit, social labs, and I hope to foster that dynamic in mine. There is already a big-screen TV and a Nintendo Switch in the lab, so I am looking forward to resolving debates over some Mario Kart. On a more technical note, our research requires increasingly more complex coding skills. So I plan to implement intermittent code reviews as a lab.
Marissa Scavuzzo, assistant professor, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Lab start date: August 2024
What are your lab’s aims and major research questions?
My lab is interested in understanding how a cell maintains its functional identity. The gut is a highly fluctuating and complex environment. We know glial cells are highly plastic and glia in the enteric nervous system interact with a multitude of cell types. We aim to understand how enteric glial cells in the gut function and how these functions are maintained amidst this vacillating milieu.
Are there any traditions or practices from the labs you trained at that you will bring over and implement in your lab?
I like Kara Marshall’s onboarding survey and Leslie Vosshall’s anonymous survey for lab culture feedback, so I modified these to use in my lab. Both Kara and Leslie made these surveys into freely available Google forms that others can use. I am grateful to them both. We have anonymous feedback forms after interviewing personnel or student rotations, as well as QR codes around the lab to send in anonymous feedback on how to make things more inclusive or efficient in the lab. It helps me know what is going on and make sure everyone feels their voice is heard.
Sergio Hidalgo Sotelo, incoming assistant professor of integrative physiology and neuroscience, Washington State University
Lab start date: July 2025
What do you study? What part of your research are you most excited about?
Biological rhythms are ubiquitous, which means there is an endless array of potential research questions to explore—each one more interesting than the last. In my lab, we aim to understand the molecular origins of structural and functional differences observed in circadian circuits under different seasonal conditions. I’m particularly excited about this work because I believe it will advance our understanding of seasonal affective disorder and how circadian rhythms affect other illnesses, such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease.
Are there any traditions or practices from the labs you trained at that you will bring over and implement in your lab?
I trained in three different labs across three countries: with Jorge Campusano in Chile, James Hodge in the United Kingdom and Joanna Chiu in the United States. Each of these labs had unique practices, traditions and cultures. But one common element across all of them was that the principal investigator was always available to provide feedback—whether to celebrate successes or address challenges. They taught me that openness and clearly outlining expectations for your lab members are key parts of being a principal investigator. I plan to incorporate this approach in my lab.
Arielle Keller, assistant professor of cognitive neuroscience, University of Connecticut
Lab start date: August 2024
What do you study? What part of your research are you most excited about?
I’m particularly excited about studying attention. In my lab, we aim to understand how the brain focuses on what’s important amid constant distractions. We use noninvasive neuroimaging tools such as functional MRI and EEG to understand how attention changes in the context of mental illness, and how it develops adaptively throughout childhood and adolescence. I’m excited to use person-specific brain mapping to better understand what makes each of our individual brains unique.
Are there any traditions or practices from the labs you trained at that you will bring over and implement in your lab?
Our lab will use the “reproducibilibuddy” system, developed by Ted Satterthwaite at the University of Pennsylvania. (Satterthwaite wrote about the system and its inspiration last year in an essay for The Transmitter, “How scuba diving helped me embrace open science.”) For each new project conducted in the lab, the lead author will be matched with a reproducibility buddy who will conduct an internal replication of the key results, earning them co-authorship and ensuring that our results are replicable before new manuscripts are submitted for peer review.
Lauren Faget, assistant professor of neurosciences, Boise State University
Lab start date: August 2024
What are your lab’s research aims?
My lab’s research goals are to identify the neural basis of reward and motivated behaviors and to investigate the adaptation and dysregulation of these neural circuits in neuropsychiatric disorders associated with reward function deficits.
What part of your research are you most excited about?
I’m excited about starting my own research on brain pathways driving motivated behaviors, as this research could uncover new treatments for conditions such as addiction and depression.
I am actively hiring a full-time technician and looking for students interested in pursuing an M.S. or Ph.D. Interested candidates can reach out to me at [email protected].