Community Updates
Our warmest congratulations to our doctoral candidates who successfully defended their dissertations during the Winter and Spring Quarters of 2025:
- Joe Voth, PhD (Lab of Dr. Dirk Keene), dissertation titled “Assessing whether human oligodendrocytes go senescent: a cell culture and transcriptomic interrogation of human white matter”
- Sujin Byeon, PhD (Lab of Dr. Smita Yadav), dissertation titled, “Pleiotropic functions of TAOK2 and its dysregulation in neurodevelopmental disorders”
- Lydia Gordon-Fennell, PhD (Lab of Dr. Paul Phillips), dissertation titled, “Neuropeptidergic Modulation of Canonical Reward Circuitry Underlying Escalation of Cocaine Consumption”
- German Rojas, PhD (Lab of Dr. Aakanksha Singhvi), dissertation titled, “Glia and CED-1 independently regulate neurodegeneration in a C. elegans Parkinson’s Disease model”
- Jordan Shaker, PhD (Lab of Dr. Nick Steinmetz), dissertation titled, “The midbrain reticular formation in flexible visual decision-making”
We’re proud to share that between September 2024 and June 2025, 6 students successfully defended their dissertations and 18 students advanced to doctoral candidacy.
Graduates were honored at the Interdisciplinary Biomedical PhD Hooding Ceremony last month. Below are photos from the celebration:
Program Updates
During Winter Quarter, the DEI Committee launched an internal student survey to assess the GPN program climate, with a focus on fostering inclusion and improving retention. A total of 41 out of 75 students completed the survey, reflecting a strong 55% response rate. This high level of engagement was driven by the dedicated outreach of DEI Committee student members, who actively encouraged peer participation and feedback.
A mid-process summary of responses was shared with the committee in Spring Quarter, sparking initial discussions on how to meaningfully share the results and involve the broader GPN community. This initiative has been a collaborative effort involving GPN graduate students, faculty, directors, and staff, in partnership with the Department of Bioethics & Humanities—with special thanks to Dr. Timothy Brown for his guidance and support.
We look forward to sharing the full Climate Survey results later this year.
Fans of Listening Lunch may be pleased to hear that the Listening Lunch team has taken the lead on NEURO 529, the summer course on Experimental Design and Grant Writing for students completing their first year in the program. Taught by Drs. Sama Ahmed, Astra Bryant, Anna Gillespie, and John Tuthill, the course introduces students to key concepts in the philosophy of science and explores a range of experimental approaches for addressing scientific questions. The course centers on the development of a written research proposal, which students often use for their General Exam proposals as they advance to doctoral candidacy in their second year.
We’re excited to see the Listening Lunch team continue their supportive work by guiding students through this important stage of their graduate journey.
GPN swag is available to order through July! Items available for purchase include T-shirts, polos, and hoodies. Orders will be delivered to the GPN office, and we’ll share an update once they arrive. Items can be picked up from the office or at the GPN Retreat in September. Don’t miss out!
Kudos and Recognition
The National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) supports outstanding graduate students pursuing research-based graduate degrees in NSF-supported STEM disciplines. This highly competitive program seeks to cultivate the vitality and diversity of the U.S. scientific and engineering workforce. We are proud to highlight two outstanding GPN students, Xander Ladd and Nancy Mackenzie, both in the lab of Dr. Nick Steinmetz, who have earned Honorable Mentions for their NSF GRFP applications this year. This national distinction acknowledges their exceptional promise and potential for impactful contributions to their fields.
Congratulations to Nancy and Xander on this noteworthy achievement!
Katherine Perks, in the lab of Dr. Amy Orsborn, was awarded a prestigious scholarship to attend the annual meeting of the Society for the Neural Control of Movement, an international research community focused on how the brain controls movement. In addition to this honor, Dr. Orsborn shared that Katherine’s research was selected for a highly competitive talk presentation at the meeting, recognizing her as an emerging contributor in the field.
Congratulations, Katherine, on this well-earned recognition and exciting opportunity to share your work!
Leila Elabaddy, in the labs of Dr. John Tuthill and Dr. Forrest Collman, was selected as an award recipient for the 2025 Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award by Fred Hutch Cancer Center. As detailed on the NBIO website:
“The Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award is a highly competitive honor that annually recognizes outstanding graduate students who have demonstrated exceptional scientific achievement in the biological sciences. This prestigious award highlights Leila’s remarkable research contributions and potential for future scientific leadership.
Each year, the award celebrates graduate students who have shown innovation, creativity, and significant impact in their field of study. Leila’s selection reflects her dedication to cutting-edge research and her promising scientific trajectory.
Congratulations, Leila, on this well-deserved recognition of your stellar work!”
Leila is also the lead author on a groundbreaking publication, “Perisomatic ultrastructure efficiently classifies cells in mouse cortex”, published in the April 2025 edition of Nature. You can learn more about her research and the collaborative process behind this work on the Graduate School’s website.
Congratulations, Leila, on these incredible achievements!
Belle Liu, in the lab of Dr. Matt Golub, had her paper “Accurate identification of communication between multiple interacting neural populations” published at the International Conference of Machine Learning (ICML), a globally renowned gathering for presenting and publishing cutting-edge research on machine learning. Dr. Gollub shares:
Her work introduces a data-driven modeling framework for studying communication between brain areas. Belle’s achievement represents an impactful contribution to a rapidly emerging subfield concerned with gaining neuroscientific insight from large-scale brain-wide neural recordings. Here is a lay summary we wrote to describe the work: Brain function relies on different parts of the brain working together to process our senses, generate our perceptions and thoughts, and drive our bodies into action. New technologies are allowing brain scientists to monitor the activity of large populations of individual neurons simultaneously across many brain regions. These measurements enable scientists to ask questions about how the activity in one region affects another—that is, how brain regions actually communicate. Our research introduces a new machine learning technique that uses multi-region neural activity data to infer the direction and content of communication between brain regions. Unlike existing approaches, our technique explains the neural activity in each measured brain region in terms of communication from other measured brain regions, influences from unmeasured brain regions, and how each brain region internally processes information over time. When applied to simulated brain networks designed to reflect challenging scenarios for studying communication, our technique accurately identified who was communicating with whom, and what signals were being communicated. We then applied the technique to real brain data and showed that it could predict the brain-wide effects of disrupting one region—effects our model had never seen before. Taken together, this work provides a powerful new tool for studying how different parts of the brain work together and may provide insight into developing treatments for brain injuries and disorders.
Congratulations, Belle, on this impressive and powerful work!
Monica Tschang, in the lab of Dr. Abigail Schindler, was recently featured in an article by The Civic Science Media (CSM) Lab, an independent investigative observatory that explores how science intersects with civic life. The article, titled “Civic Science Observer: 3 Early Career Neuroscientists Share Their Journeys in Public Engagement,” highlights her outstanding work in science communication and community involvement. It spotlights her leadership with the Neuroscience Community Outreach Group (NCOG) at the University of Washington, where she co-leads efforts to make neuroscience education more accessible, inclusive, and community-centered.
Several GPN students are active members of NCOG, contributing to meaningful public engagement in neuroscience across the region. Most recently, the group organized a Brain Awareness Open House during Spring Quarter, coordinating 50 volunteers and panelists to welcome nearly 150 visiting high school students. GPN students involved in this event included Monica Tschang, Larissa Robinson-Cooper, Lydia Gordon-Fennel, Wendy Piñon-Teal, Princess Tarabishi, Ekayana Sethi, Vyom Raval, Katie Green, Mary Loveless, Nzinga Hendricks, Sara Saavedra, and incoming student, Pascha Matveev.
Thank you all for your important work and continued dedication to building curiosity, access, and inclusion in science through community outreach!
Students interested in helping out with future NCOG outreach events are invited to join the NCOG Slack to get involved.
Team Spotlight: “Humans of the GPN”
With our many students and faculty working in departments and partner institutions across UW and Seattle, it’s easy to go a long time without connecting with the folks who helps support the GPN. This section is a small way to bring us a bit closer. We asked the GPN administration team to answer two quick questions to share a little more of who we are beyond our day-to-day roles:
- What’s something you always have at your desk or in your workspace?
- What’s a personal hill you’ll die on (serious or silly)?
| Always at My Desk | Hill I’ll Die On | |
| Celine Abell, Operations Director | Coffee thermos and water bottle. Hydration Station. | Real Seattleites don’t use umbrellas |
| Natalia Montes, Operations Specialist | Iodized salt (to help quench my unrelenting, POTS-related thirst) | “Trash TV” has its place in society |
| Maureen Neitz, Co-Director | Food! Usually homemade trail mix. | I want to be the change I want to see in the world. (It’s better than whining.) |
| Steve Perlmutter, Co-Director | Headphones, to listen to music | Even though I grew up in New York City, I’ll never be a Yankees fan. |
| Jennifer Simpson, Graduate Advisor | My monthly planner and coffee | I generally support buying local, but Starbucks burns their beans. Their hot coffee tastes like [censored]. Olympia Coffee or Caffe Vita are much better (buy at Costco!) |
Looking Forward
We’re excited to share that several students are preparing to defend their dissertations this summer. You are welcome to attend and support the following defenses:
- Mollie Bernstein – July 31
- Leila Elabbady – August 29
- Jessica Jones – September 19
Please keep an eye on your email for official Final Examination announcements as these defense dates approach.
This September, we are excited to welcome five new students to the Graduate Program in Neuroscience as part of Cohort 2025. Over the summer, they are participating in virtual “Summer Sessions” with GPN advisor Jennifer Simpson, designed to help them transition smoothly into graduate school and begin building connections with potential rotation faculty.
Their official UW graduate journey will begin in September with Orientation and Jump Start. Jump Start has proven to be a valuable experience for incoming students, preparing them for their first year and connecting them with peers and graduate students across campus through meaningful programming. Past highlights have included a session with the Empowering Prevention & Inclusive Communities (EPIC) program, a Wellbeing Workshop led by graduate students from the UW Counseling Center (Department of Psychology), and a Python Workshop led by current GPN students.
We’re grateful for the collaborative efforts that support the successful onboarding of our incoming students.
We also look forward to seeing many of you at the upcoming GPN Retreat on Monday, September 22! This annual event is a wonderful opportunity to welcome our incoming students, reconnect with colleagues, and celebrate the start of the new academic year. A big thank-you to our Events Committee, whose thoughtful planning and dedication to community-building are making this event possible!
An RSVP email will be sent out soon. In the meantime, if you have any questions, feel free to contact us at neurofinance[at]uw.edu.
Please check out the GPN Trumba Calendar for more details about upcoming events.