Team - NeuroACT

People

Simons Aging Brain Fellows to Faculty Awardee
Assistant Professor - Reader F
National Center for Biological Sciences
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Bengaluru, India
‍
Google Scholar Twitter

Graduate Student

suprajab@ncbs.res.in

Growing up in the serene town of Mayiladuthurai, Tamil Nadu, Supraja was always fascinated by the mysteries of nature. This curiosity led her to pursue an undergrad and master's degree in zoology at Lady Doak College, Madurai. Her academic journey took an exciting turn when she had the opportunity to contribute to research studying dendrite regeneration in C.elegans at the National Brain Research Centre. This experience ignited her passion for understanding animal behaviour and the intricate neural circuits driving it. Now, as a PhD student at NCBS, she is excited to delve deeper into the neural mechanisms underlying spatial memory formation in the hippocampus and motor circuit plasticity. She would like to understand how these circuits are shaped by experience. When she is not playing with our rat buddies, you'll find her enjoying birdwatching, connecting with nature, or engrossed in a captivating novel.

Graduate Trainee

vardhamann@ncbs.res.in

Vardhamann grew up in Namma Bengaluru and completed his integrated master's at UM-DAE CEBS, Mumbai. His master's thesis focused on exploring patterns in cellular migration across viscotactic gradients. During his time there, Vardhamann worked on a variety of projects, including developing a benchtop colorimeter to analyze active components in turmeric and optimizing small CNC machines for PCB production. His fascination with neuroscience arises from the complex computations that emerge from seemingly stochastic phenomena, and he aims to integrate his experiences in electronics and his passion for computation to develop new tools and methods for understanding neural systems. Outside of research, Vardhamann is an avid enthusiast of 3D printing and electronics and a strong proponent of Freedom-Loving and Open Source Software (FLOSS). He uses EMACS to streamline his workflows. In his leisure time, he enjoys cycling, reading, and spending peaceful evenings immersed in the sounds of nature.

‍

Curious

Join Us

Philosophy

Code of Conduct for Lab Members

We aspire to abide by the following code of conduct to ensure our commitment to scientific excellence and each other’s well-being. Please reach out to Abhilasha if something is unclear.

Code of Conduct for Meetings

We will follow the following code of conduct in lab meetings and journal clubs to aspire toward a respectful, inclusive, and productive environment for all participants.

Questions are encouraged. Please raise your hand to speak.
If someone is speaking and you disagree or would like to contribute, please raise your hand, wait for the person to finish, and then engage in respectful dialogue. This may slow the discussion down but also give more people a chance to catch up and participate.
If you are new to the subject, consider spending at least one hour on the paper/topic being discussed in preparation for a journal club or lab meeting. We hope to have in-depth discussions and learn from each other's knowledge and perspectives. Our time is valuable—the better we prepare, the better we use our time together, and the more we appreciate the time the presenter(s) invested in preparing the session.
Acknowledge that we are in different places in our scientific journeys. Some of us will have information or explanations to share, and some of us may have very basic questions. All of these are encouraged.
Be aware of the space you take up in a conversation.
Consider how much you are speaking versus listening and learning from others. How much are you asking versus telling? Do not speak over others unless you are a moderator or presenting and must keep track of time.
Consider intersectionality and our DEI commitments when participating. We all have multiple identities.
Approach the journal club with a learning mindset and acknowledge that the authors invested effort and time in this research and that the presenter volunteered to prepare this paper for a fruitful discussion.

Code of Conduct for Lab Members

I expect each lab member to uphold the institutional and lab codes of conduct in every professional setting. You don't need to join the lab with prior skills, but I expect you to care deeply about our scientific goals, ask questions when things don't make sense, and spend time understanding the rationale behind each experiment and data analysis.

I expect you to work closely with me to identify a gap in the literature, explain why it is important to address the gap, and determine a clear experimental plan about how to achieve that. Once a research question is identified, I expect you to be consistent and focused in conducting experiments, observing the data, and developing analysis to answer the question through to publication (ask Abhilasha for the lab publication policy!). This entire arc can take years; Initially, I expect you to work with me and chunk the scientific goals into smaller benchmarks so we can be assured that you are progressing toward your goals and intervene in case we need to take a different approach.

In this role you can be expected to support ongoing research projects and work with me or other senior members of the lab. I expect you to be integrated within the lab ecosystem as important contributors to our science. This position is typically for students exploring a research career in systems neuroscience, but we are also open to hiring senior project associates.

I expect you to be an expert in a related field and interested in our lab's key research directions. You will work with me to identify an independent research project and develop it through to publication. In this position, I expect you to develop advanced mentoring, grant writing, and presentation skills.

Expectations from Abhilasha

I will uphold the institutional and lab codes of conduct and work to ensure that each team member is on a path toward fulfilling their individual and team goals. You can expect me to provide training in experimental and analytical methods required for research in systems neuroscience. I will give constructive and transparent feedback on your work, identifying key areas of improvement where needed. In the lab, you will receive training in experimental techniques for monitoring neurophysiological signals at a fast temporal resolution and analytical methods to analyze large-scale datasets and derive data-driven conclusions. These skills are essential for a research career in academia or industry. You can expect me to train you in data presentation, and connect you with relevant scientific networks nationally and internationally. I will respect your career choices and support you in your career after your time in the lab. You can expect me to be transparent in our usage of research funds. You can expect me to act promptly if you experience a violation of the code of conduct.

Heading 1

Heading 2

Heading 3

Heading 4

Heading 5

Heading 6