TNEL - UC San Diego

Principal Investigator

Vikash Gilja, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Health Sciences Neurograduate Program
University of California, San Diego
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Current Lab Members

Ezequiel (Zeke) Arneodo, Ph.D.

Assistant Project Scientist
Ph.D. in Physics, University of Buenos Aires, 2012
M.S. in Physics, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, 2006

Zeke grew up in the Argentinean Patagonia and went from theoretical physics to experimental neuroscience. He spent some time working on olfaction with mice at NYU and developing tools for recording neural activity and behavior in freely moving birds at the Hahnloser Group at ETH Zurich.

Research Interests: nonlinear dynamics, birdsong, BCI

Pablo Tostado Marcos, M.S.

Ph.D. Student, Bioengineering
M.S. Neurotechnology, Imperial College London, 2015
B.S. Bioengineering, Universidad Carlos III Madrid, 2014

Pablo was born in Madrid, Spain. Lived in London, Chicago, and finally landed in San Diego following his passion for the brain and the ocean.

Research Interests: brain dynamics, sensorimotor control, brain-controlled prosthesis

Abdullah Alothman, M.S.

Ph.D. Student, Electrical and Computer Engineering
M.S. Electrical Engineering, University of Washington - Seattle
B.S. Electrical Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM)

Prior to pursuing his PhD, Abdullah worked in Saudi Aramco as a team leader in security engineering projects. He lived in Seattle for a couple of years and hated it every time it rained (but now misses it) and then moved to San Diego. Abdullah enjoys swimming, cooking and walks on the beach.

Research Interests: neural dynamics, motor control, motor prosthesis, brain machine interfaces, compressed sensing

Aashish Patel, M.S.

Ph.D. Student, Electrical and Computer Engineering
M.S. Electrical and Computer Engineering, UC San Diego, 2017
B.S., Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Tech, 2015
B.S., Computer Science, Georgia Tech, 2015

Prior to rejoining TNEL for his PhD, Aashish worked in industry on numerous projects spanning BCIs, autonomous driving, and robotics. He enjoys running, basketball, and a good game of ultimate frisbee in the beautiful San Diego scenery.

Research Interests: machine learning, neural dynamics, brain-machine interfaces, prostheses

Lauren Stanwicks, M.S.

Ph.D. Student, Neuroscience
M.S., Neuroscience and Behavior, UMass Amherst, 2016
B.S., Animal Science, UMass Amherst, 2015

Lauren was born, raised, and educated in Massachusetts. Prior to coming to UCSD, she spent several years working at MIT's McGovern Institute and The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. She loves her puggle Penelope, roller skating, obscure board games, and a well-made cocktail. More often than not, you can find her watching a sunset on one of San Diego's beautiful beaches.

Research Interests: error processing, dopamine pathways, sensory-motor feedback

Sophia Huang, M.S.

Ph.D. Student, Electrical and Computer Engineering
M.S. Electrical and Computer Engineering, UC San Diego, 2021
B.S. Mathematics - Computer Science, UC San Diego, 2020
B.S. Cognitive Science, UC San Diego, 2020

Sophia was born and raised in Chengdu, China (hometown of the Panda bear). In her free time she likes to paint and surf.

Research Interests: visual motor integration, neural representation, brain dynamics, dimensionality reduction

Lauren Ostrowski, B.S.

M.D./Ph.D. Student, Neuroscience
B.S., Neuroscience, Brown University, 2018

Lauren grew up in beautiful, rural New Hampshire, where she developed a love for winters, pine trees, and farm-to-table food. She worked in brain-computer interface research at Brown, and later in epilepsy and language research at Massachusetts General Hospital. In San Diego, you can catch her at the dog beach with her mini aussie Luna, thrift shopping, climbing, and mixing up cocktails for friends.

Research Interests: speech production, neural dynamics, brain-computer interfaces, neuroprostheses

Xavier Perez, B.S.

Ph.D. Student, Electrical and Computer Engineering
B.S., Electrical and Computer Engineering, UC San Diego, 2021

Xavi was born in San Salvador, El Salvador. He enjoys playing soccer and formed part of the U14 Chivas USA Major League Soccer (MLS) team. Xavi has a strong passion to improve and develop medical devices.

Research Interests: brain-machine interfaces, brain dynamics, speech prosthesis, bird behavior