People

Jeanne T. Paz, PhD
Associate Investigator
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Dr. Paz studies epileptogenesis, the process by which a normal brain develops epilepsy. Epilepsy occurs in a number of neurological diseases; however, the underlying mechanisms of the condition are not well understood.
Annie Dalton (2022-present)
Administrative Assistant
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Annie received a BS in Cognitive Science with an emphasis in Neuroscience from UC Davis in June of 2022. She works as an administrative assistant to Dr. Paz. Annie has been locally in the Bay Area her whole life, and is looking forward to new adventures with Gladstone. She spends her free time running, reading, or baking.
Seydi Sanchez (2023-present)
Administrative Assistant
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Seydi is currently attending San Francisco State University in which she plans to receive a BA in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance in June, 2024. She currently works as an administrative assistant in the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease. Seydi was born and raised in San Francisco and enjoys going on road trips to different areas of the country as well as spending time at home with her two cats.

Postdoctoral Scholars


Agnieszka Ciesielska, PhD (2018-present)
Postdoc
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Agnieszka received her Ph.D. degree from Warsaw Medical University, Poland. Her Ph.D. thesis was focused on the influence of age and gender on the neuroinflammatory processes in Parkinson’s disease. Before joining the Paz lab, she worked as a postdoctoral fellow in Bankiewicz Lab at UCSF, where she mostly evaluated the factors that are critical in achieving the clinical success with different vectors, such as transduction efficiency, injection accuracy, cell-specific transduction, transport and neuroimmunotoxicity. In Paz lab she is studying the role of the immune system in network dysfunction and epileptogenesis after stroke and traumatic brain injury.
Jeremy Ford, PhD (2020-present)
Postdoc
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Jeremy received his B.E., M.S., and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Vanderbilt University. His graduate research with Dr. Duco Jansen involved optimizing the laser-tissue interactions to minimize the temperature rise during the application of “infrared neural inhibition”, a technique to apply laser-induced neural heat block. In his post-doctoral research with the Paz lab, Jeremy is interested in applying in vivo optical imaging techniques to understand the role of neuro-vascular coupling in epilepsy and chronic headache/migraine.
Britta Lindquist, MD, PhD (2021-present)
UCSF/SFGH Neurocritical Care Fellow
NINDS R25 Postdoctoral Fellow
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Britta received her A.B. in Biochemistry from Harvard College and earned her M.D./Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico, where her graduate work in the laboratory of Dr. Bill Shuttleworth elucidated the role of adenosine accumulation and A1 receptor activation underlying synaptic depression following spreading depolarization, with relevance to migraine, stroke, and acute brain injury. She completed residency training in Neurology at UCSF, where she is continuing as a Fellow in Neurocritical Care. In Dr. Paz’s lab, she investigates mechanisms of seizure termination and why they fail in status epilepticus. When she is not in the hospital or the lab, Britta enjoys cycling, trail running, cooking, and travel.
Clare Timbie, MD, PhD (2021-present)
Pediatric Epileptologist, NIH/NINDS R25 Post-doc Fellow
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Clare received her MD/PhD at Boston University, and is now a pediatric neurology resident at UCSF. Her graduate research with Dr Helen Barbas focused on pathways activated by emotion, connecting the amygdala, thalamus, and prefrontal cortex. In the Paz lab, she is studying the role of the amygdala in thalamic circuits, including the reticular thalamus and thalamocortical loops, which are relevant for epilepsy.
Reshmi Tognatta, PhD (2022-present)
AARF Fellow
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Reshmi received her Dr. rer. nat./PhD degree at the University of Bonn, Germany. Her graduate research focused on oligodendroglial-lineage development and maturation, as well as OPC-synapse interactions in health and disease. In the Paz lab, she is studying the contribution of promyelinating strategies in rescuing network hyperexcitability and behavioral alterations in AD-relevant mouse models.
Yuliya Voskobiynyk, PhD (2021-present)
Postdoc
F32 NIH/NINDS Fellow
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Yuliya Voskobiynyk, born and raised in Ukraine, received her BS in Neuroscience from the University of Illinois at Chicago working with Dr. Daniel Nicholson in the Rush University Medical Center studying cognitive aging and Alzheimer’s disease. Yuliya received her PhD under the supervision of Dr. Erik Roberson in the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Center for Neurodegeneration and Experimental Therapeutics. Yuliya’s dissertation focused on the Tau-dependent contribution of BIN1, one of the leading genetic risk factors, to network hyperexcitability in Alzheimer’s disease. In her postdoctoral work in the Paz Lab, Yuliya focuses on the thalamocortical circuit’s contribution to epileptiform activity in neurodevelopmental epilepsy, stroke, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Graduate Students


Isaac Chang (2022-present)
Graduate Student, Croucher Foundation Scholar
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Isaac received his B.S. at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and is now a Neuroscience Ph.D. student at UCSF. During his undergraduate studies, he worked in the laboratory of Dr. Savio Chan at Northwestern University where he studied the basal ganglia circuit in the context of Parkinson's Disease. In the Paz lab, he is interested in exploring thalamic dysfunctions and how they connect to the basal ganglia in different disease contexts (eg. PD, TBI). Outside the lab, you can find Isaac in the boulder gyms and the great outdoors in SF. He also enjoys binge-watching TV shows and anime.
Audrey Magsig (2022-present)
Graduate Student
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Audrey received her BS in Computational and Systems Biology from UCLA where she worked in the labs of Dr. Stephanie Correa and Dr. Daniel Geschwind. In the Paz lab, she is interested in studying the role of sex and the immune system in neural dysfunction after brain injury and neurodegeneration. Outside of lab, you can find her exploring the Bay Area’s national parks, baking a sweet treat, doing various home improvement projects, picking up a random hobby and being goofy with her cat, Glia.
Deanna Necula (2020-present)
Graduate Student, F31 NRSA NIH/NINDS Scholar
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Deanna is a student in the neuroscience program at UCSF. She received her bachelor's in neuroscience at UCLA, working in the labs of Dr. Tom Carmichael and Dr. Alcino Silva. In the Paz lab, she is interested in homeostatic neuroplasticity after brain injury. Outside of the lab, she loves to read and explore natural spaces. She is also on the hunt for the best udon in the Bay Area.
Olive Tambou (2023-present)
Graduate Student
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Olive received her B.A. in Neuroscience from Macalester College and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in neuroscience at UCSF. In the Paz lab, she is interested in understanding how thalamic stroke impacts thalamocortical circuit function. Outside of the lab, she loves exploring new places, binge-watching reality TV shows, and playing softball.
Charlotte Taylor (2023-present)
Graduate Student
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Charlotte received her B.S. in biochemistry at University of Oregon and is now a PhD student in Neuroscience at UCSF. She is studying how astrocytes integrate neuromodulatory signals to regulate sleep and wake behavior and is currently co-mentored by Jeanne Paz and Kira Poskanzer. Outside of the lab, Charlotte loves to host dinner parties, is learning how to climb, and wishes she read more.
Drew Willoughby (2022-present)
Graduate Student
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Drew is a graduate student in the UCSF neuroscience program and belongs to both the Paz and Poskanzer labs. He graduated from Stanford with a BS in neurobiology, where he worked in the labs of Theo Palmer and Tony Wyss-Coray. In graduate school, he is interested in studying the role of astrocytes in regulating neural circuit activity in response to neuromodulators in the cortex and thalamus. Outside of academics, Drew was also a competitive gymnast for nearly 18 years and competed for Stanford's NCAA men's team. He still enjoys staying active and exploring SF with his miniature australian shepherd, Nova.

Research Associates


Vivianna DeNittis (2022-present)
Research Associate I
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Vivianna received her B.A. in Neuroscience and East Asian Studies from Austin College in Sherman, Texas. In her current work, she is investigating network dysfunction in various models of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disease. She will apply to PhD programs to begin in 2025. Some of her hobbies include: reading, journaling, drawing, sitting in the sun, and sipping an iced latte.

 

Past Lab Members

Master Students


Oumaima Aboubakr (2017-2018)
Oumaima did her Master thesis in the Paz lab. She worked with Stephanie Holden, graduate student in the Paz lab, on the role of the complement protein C1q in neuroinflammation after mild TBI and contributed to this study published in the journal Science.
Next Position: Medical Student at the Pierre et Marie Curie University in Paris. Oumaima is currently a Neurosurgery resident in Paris, France.
Marie Bukart (2019-2020)
Marie’s internship project focused on designing multi-site optrodes for long-term longitudinal assessment of epileptic activity in mice
Next Position: student at UC Berkeley.
Current Position: Medical Student, University of Leipzig
Ana Chkaidze (2017)
Ana did her Master’s degree internship in the Paz lab. She worked on the role of thalamocortical circuits in Dravet Syndrome and contributed to the study published in Cell Reports. Next Position: Graduate student at the University of California San Diego (UCSD), Cognitive Sciences

Graduate Students


Frances Cho (2015-2023)
NSF GRFP and F31 NRSA NIH/NINDS Scholar

Frances received a B.A. in Neuroscience & Behavior from Columbia University and is now pursuing her PhD in neuroscience at UCSF. She joined the Paz Lab to study the mechanisms underlying mal/adaptive plasticity in neurological injuries and disorders. Outside of science, Frances enjoys playing squash, boxing, and making crafts. She is also very fond of jazz music and beaches.
Alexandra Clemente (2014-2018)
NSF scholar

Alex was the first graduate student in the Paz lab! Her PhD thesis work focused on understanding the cellular and circuit heterogeneity in the reticular thalamus. Alex did her PhD in 4 years with three first and co-first author manuscripts!
Next position: Life Sciences consultant at Putnam Associates
Current Position: Manager, Enterprise Professional Services at Benchling - cloud-based platform for biotechnology research and development
Stephanie Holden (2015-2021)
ARCS and Ford Foundation Scholar

Stephanie was the second graduate student in the Paz lab. Her PhD thesis work focused on understanding how traumatic brain injuries (TBI) impact corticothalamic circuits. Stephanie discovered a new role for the complement pathway in the chronic deficits that occur after TBI and her findings were published in the journal Science.
Next Position: Implementation Consultant at Benchling
Morgane Leroux (2019-2023)
FOXG1 Foundation Scholar
Morgane received her B.S. in Cellular Biology and Physiology from the Université Bretagne Occidentale (Brest, France) and her Master in Neuroscience at Sorbonne Université (Paris, France). Morgane is now pursuing her PhD in neuroscience at Sorbonne Université (Paris) and the Gladstone Institutes (San Francisco). Morgane is investigating the emergence of parametric working memory in the prefrontal cortex and how this is altered in neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders. Outside of research, Morgane loves hiking, travelling and going to music concerts and festivals.

 

Interns


Rahel Abraham (2022)
Rahel Abraham, born and raised in Eritrea, is currently a rising junior at the University of California, Berkeley. She likes hiking and listening to music outside of science. Rahel was a PUMAS intern in Paz lab in June-August 2022 and worked with Deanna Necula, graduate student in the Paz lab, to characterize motor deficits in a mouse model of TBI.
Next Position: student at UC Berkeley.
Trinidad Arceo (2017)
Trinidad was a PUMAS intern in the Paz lab. His project focused on assessing the effect of cell-based therapy in rats with ischemic stroke. Trinidad received a scholarship to attend the SACNAS conference to present this work.
Next Position: Undergraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley.
Current Position: Trinidad is now a scientist at Genentech
John Askins (2019)
During his summer internship in the Paz lab John learned how to analyze EEG recordings from a mouse model of epilepsy.
Next Position: Undergraduate Biology Student at the University of San Francisco
Henna Mohabbat
Henna did her PUMAS internship in the Paz lab in 2019. She participated in a study that aimed to characterize the effect of small molecule treatments on brain-injury induced inflammation and arteriogenesis. For her work in the Paz lab, she received the best presentation award at the ABRCMS conference.
Next Position: Undergraduate student at the University of California, Davis as a Biological Sciences major
Current Position: Medical Student
Allison Morningstar
Next Position: Undergraduate student at the University of Rochester
Charrel Sherman
Next position: Graduate student at University of California, Davis
Faye Tager
Next position: Undergrad student at University of California, Los Angeles

 

Rotation Students


Francisco Aparicio (2019)
Francisco’s rotation project focused on assessing seizure risk in a mouse model of thalamic inflammation and co-authored this study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Next Position: UCSF Neuroscience Graduate Student in the Ganguli lab at UCSF
Joshua Brenner (2019)
Joshua’s rotation project in the Paz lab focused on using miniature microscopes to assess neuronal activity in the cortex during seizures.
Next Position: UCSF Neuroscience Graduate Student in the Scanziani lab /div>
Jiapei Chen (2018)
During her rotation project, Jiapei worked on the role of Mafb and cMaf genes in the development of seizures in mice.
Next Position: Graduate Student in Eric Huang’s lab, UCSF Biomedical sciences graduate program
Naznin Jahan (2019)
In the Paz lab Naznin worked with Stephanie Holden, graduate student in the lab, to assess the epilepsy phenotype in mice with loss of function in the Scn2a gene.
Next Position:Graduate Student in Eric Huang’s lab, UCSF Biomedical Sciences graduate program
Sofia Lavrentyeva
Next Position: Graduate Student, UCSF Neuroscience
Megan Scantlen
Graduate Student, UCSF Biomedical Sciences
Yanilka Y. Soto Muñiz
Current Position: Graduate Student, UCSF Neuroscience
Chenyu Wang
Next Position: Graduate Student in Kevin Bender’s lab, UCSF Neuroscience

 

Research Associates


Eric Bennet (2014-2016)
Eric was one of the first people to join the Paz lab in 2014. His work was instrumental in building the lab from scratch.
Next Position: Founder, Frontier Bio
Scott Brovarney (2015-2017)
Scott was the first lab manager in the Paz lab. He unpacked the first boxes and helped set up the lab from scratch.
Next position: Senior Research Associate II, LARC Rodent Nurse, University of California, San Francisco
Next Position: Medical student (veterinary medicine), Lincoln Memorial University
Andrea He (2020)
After graduating from UC Berkeley, Andrea worked as a research associate in the Paz lab and assisted with lab management and surgical procedures.
Next Position: Medical Student, Virginia Commonwealth University
Irene Lew
Next Position: Senior Research Associate I at Gilead Sciences
Zanib Naeem
Next Position: Research Associate, UCSF
Yinan Su
Next Position: Medical Student, University Southern California (USC)
Dale Tager
Next Position: Medical Student at Emory School of Medicine
Alexander Urry
Next Position: MBA student at Yale University
Next Position: Senior Policy Advisor, Leader Hakeem Jeffries at U.S. House of Representatives, Washington DC

 

Postdocs


Andrew Chang, PhD (2018-2020)

Andrew joined the Paz lab after graduating from Stanford from Kristy Red-Horse’s lab where he worked on heart development. His work in the Paz lab focused on studying the role of arteriogenesis in recovery of brain functions after stroke.
Next Position: Senior Associate Scientist at 23andMe
Bryan Higashikubo, PhD, AES Scholar (2017-2019)
Bryan did his PhD at MIT under the supervision of Chris Moore, and joined the Paz lab for his postdoctoral fellowship to study the role of the thalamic reticular nucleus in the modulation of physiological and pathological cortical rhythms. Bryan’s work on the role of somatostatin reticular neurons in regulating gamma rhythms was published in eLife. Bryan also contributed to multiple manuscripts as a co-author during his postdoc:
Science
Science Translational Medicine
Cell Reports
Next position: Senior scientist, Washington University St Louis
Stefanie Makinson (2016-2018) AES and Dravet Syndrome Foundation Fellow
Stefanie did her PhD at the University of Emory befoe joining the Paz lab for a postdoc. In the Paz lab, Stefanie studied the role of the reticular thalamic nucleus in Dravet Syndrome. Her work was published in Cell Reports
Next Position: Senior Scientist at Coda Biotherapeutics.
Next Position: Assistant Director of Research Development, Columbia University, NY.
Alexis Lupien-Meilleur, PhD
Alexis received his M.S and Ph.D in Neurosciences from Université de Montréal. His graduate research with Dr Elsa Rossignol consisted of working to understand the mechanisms leading to a higher seizure susceptibility and neurocognitive manifestations in a Cacna1a haploinsufficient mice model. In his post-doctoral research with the Paz lab, Alexis was interested in using in vivo electrophysiology techniques to understand the consequences of mild traumatic brain injuries on sleep mnesic functions, and the impact of seizures on sleep quality.

 

Administrative Assistants


Sean Dailey (2020-2022)
Next Position: Graduate Student, Human Genetics and Genetic Counseling MS Program, Stanford
Jordan Rosendorf
Next Position: Administrative Assistant to the Director's Office, Assay Development Core, and Behavioral Core
Stephanie Tuazon
Next Position: Ethics and Compliance at Kaiser Permanente

 

Scientif Project Manager


Jeannie Giacchino, MD, PhD (2021-2023)

 

Visiting Postdoctoral Scholar


Kristina Lippmann
Next Position: Faculty at Leipzig University focusing on understanding basic mechanisms of presynaptic release and how release alters during epileptogenesis.
Photo Credit: DanielCojanu_UnderCurrentProductions