Stories of WiN

Neural networks underlying behavioural flexibility (cerebello-cortical circuits, repetitive behaviours in ASD)

Experimental evolutionary neurobiology – biological variability and the evolutionary limits of cognition, using Drosophila

Identifying and characterizing genetic markers for neurological disorders, with an emphasis on primary headache disorders (cluster headache, migraine) and Parkinson's disease

Angelina's brother was autistic and lived with cerebral palsy and epilepsy. When he died of SUDEP, her siblings grieved and moved on; she could not. She found her way out through paediatric neurology, caring for children who suffered as he had let her keep honouring him. Today she is a child neurologist in Kampala whose research goes where epidemiology usually doesn't: into rural, low-resource communities, testing interventions cheap enough to reach the families who need them.

How animals make flexible decisions under risk and social influence, and the neural circuit mechanisms underlying these choices

How internal and external sensory cues are integrated to shape movement and posture during active locomotion, using zebrafish

How neuronal trafficking contributes to synapse loss during normal aging and in Alzheimer's disease

Multi-region interactions in neural function and dysfunction; the role of the cerebellum in motor and emotional functions

How environmental stressors – pollution, noise and heat – impact brain health and cognition (environmental neuroscience)

The genetic and molecular basis of circadian rhythms and Parkinson's disease, using Drosophila

Human neuroscience, the arts, and social robotics – observational learning, expertise, and human-robot interaction

The role of affect in learning and decision-making (value learning, vulnerability/resilience to maladaptive behaviours)

The connection between neurodegeneration and neurogenesis (adult hippocampal neurogenesis, Alzheimer's, miR-132)

When I interviewed Francesca Sargolini, she told me about the moment during her PhD when she couldn't get enough time in her lab's shared behaviour room. Rather than wait, she taped an "out of order" sign to a bathroom in the building and quietly refitted it for her experiments. Her colleagues spent months wondering why the repair was taking so long; she spent them collecting data.

The neuroscience of dreams and consciousness, using high-density EEG recordings in sleep and parasomnias

Development of hippocampal circuitry and its role in behaviour (Cajal-Retzius neurons, interneurons)

Spinal cord circuits that ensure robustness and flexibility of movement (sensorimotor adaptation)

Motor neuron degeneration in the context of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)

The influence of the gut microbiome on human cognition; memory, entorhinal grid codes, and APOE4/Alzheimer's risk

How neuronal activity in the auditory cortex shapes our perception of the external world (audition, using ferrets and humans)

How the brain represents and navigates physical and social spaces, using electrophysiology in rodents

Neurocognitive mechanisms underlying social and emotional processing in aging (the 'positivity effect')

Cellular and molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration (synapse biology)

Developmental neurobiology (effects of hydrocephalus on neurons) and advocacy for girls in science

Signalling pathways that regulate synaptic formation and plasticity (neuronal growth; the neuromuscular junction)

On my interview with Sahba, she importantly made the distinction of how a mentor gives you advice, but a champion advocates for you in the rooms you aren't standing in. She has built her career on that principle, returning to a South Africa with little neuroimaging capacity and reshaping her questions around what existed rather than abandoning them, then co-founding a new research institute to build the capacity that was missing.

Neural circuitry underlying spatial orientation and self-motion perception (vestibular + visual integration; thalamocortical / retrosplenial circuits)

Neurogliovascular development and neurovascular coupling during the neonatal period, using live imaging

Neural circuits underlying instinctive behaviours (hunting, mating, escape), motivational conflict, and brainstem/PAG plasticity