DARPA Award: Lifelong Learning Machines

spallas@gsu.edu
DARPA

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

In a collaboration with the labs of Constantine Dovrolis (P.I., Georgia Tech), Zsolt Kira (Co-P.I., Georgia Tech), and Astrid Prinz (co-P.I., Emory Univ), we have been awarded a DARPA grant to design machines that are inspired by neuroscience investigations.  This project will a) elucidate major biological mechanisms that enable lifelong-learning and adaptation in the brain, b) examine how to transform these mechanisms from the biological to the computational domain, and (c) use the information gained from the computational domain to guide deeper investigations into the biological underpinnings. 

https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2017-03-16

 

 

Natalia Marquez joins the lab

spallas@gsu.edu

Natalia earned her Ph.D. from the Biology department in the University of Chile-Santiago, in the lab of Professor Jorge Mpdozis.  After spending a short time with us in Atlanta, she will return to the Mpdozis lab to carry out our collaborative degu studies in Chile

Chilean Degus

Ph.D. Studentship available

spallas@gsu.edu

 

Announcing an opportunity to pursue a Ph.D. in developmental neurobiology/neural plasticity in the laboratory of Professor Sarah Pallas, currently at Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.  This fully-funded traineeship will provide a well-educated and highly motivated student the opportunity to gain research skills across systems, cellular, and molecular neuroscience, using different mammalian animal models.  Applicants should have a B.S. or M.S. degree in a related field (e.g. Neuroscience, Biology, Biophysics, Biopsychology, Bioengineering).  The lab was recently awarded two federal grants (NSF and DARPA) and is well-positioned to address long-standing questions about the interactions between sensory experience and genetic programs during development and plasticity of the visual and auditory systems.  Interested candidates should contact spallas@gsu.edu with any questions, and submit an application at http://neuroscience.gsu.edu/graduate/admission/ before the December 1 deadline.

Ezekiel Carpenter-Hyland joins the Pallas Lab

spallas@gsu.edu

Dr. Carpenter-Hyland comes to the Pallas Lab from Morehouse School of Medicine as a Research Associate II.  Ezekiel earned his Ph.D. at the Medical University of South Carolina under the supervision of Professor Judson Chandler.  He completed postdocs with Professors Lin Mei and David Blake at the Medical College of Georgia before taking a research position at Morehouse.  He is highly accomplished in sensory neurophysiology and neural plasticity, and brings many new skills that we are anxious to incorporate into our approach to understanding brain development and plasticity.

Suman Balasubramanian joins the Pallas Lab

spallas@gsu.edu

Suman earned her M.S. degree in Medical Neurosciences at Humboldt University in Berlin after completing a B.S. in Microbiology in India.  She worked as a research student in the lab of Johannes Vogt at the Charite’ Medical University in Berlin until 2010, after which she moved to the U.S. for family reasons.  She has several publications out with more to come.  We are fortunate to have someone with her broad skill set in the Pallas Lab.

GFP-labeled cortical neurons

spallas@gsu.edu

We are employing various strains of transgenic mice that have Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) expression coupled to expression of particular molecules of interest.  This will allow us to identify particular classes of neurons that are part of sensory pathways in the brain.