Lab members and collaborators

Austin Graves, PhD  |  Google Scholar  |  Orcid 

Austin received his PhD in Neuroscience from Northwestern University, where he worked with Nelson Spruston to explore how discrete cell types differentially process output from hippocampus. As a postdoc, he worked with Adam Hantman and Josh Dudman at the HHMI Janelia Research Campus. His work combined in vivo calcium imaging, silicon probe physiology, and super-resolution microscopy to study motor control circuits. Moving to Johns Hopkins in 2017, Austin joined Rick Huganir's lab as a Research Associate in the Dept. of Neuroscience. He used CRISPR/Cas9 genetics and in vivo 2p microscopy to label, visualize, and track millions of individual synapses during learning. He is now a Research Assistant Professor in BME and a faculty member in the Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute at Johns Hopkins. 

In his spare time, Austin enjoys gardening, woodworking, and raising chickens.  

Tate DeWeese, M.S. 

Tate is a 4th year PhD student in the Johns Hopkins Cross-Disciplinary Program in Biomedical Sciences (XD-Bio). She received her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and Masters in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford. Prior to starting graduate school, she worked at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory creating software for self-driving cars. 

In the Graves and Harris labs, Tate is implanting multiple Neuropixels probes to make brain-wide recordings from freely moving mice. She studies how exposure to psilocybin alters neural activity, synchrony, and social behavior. 

In her free time, Tate enjoys playing softball, pickleball, and games of any kind. 

Alexandra Cheng, M.S. 

Alexandra is a 2nd year PhD student in Biomedical Engineering. She received her BS in Mechanical Engineering from Tsing Hua University. She previously worked with Dr. Iulian Iordachita in the laboratory for computational and sensing robotics, and with Dr. Gene Fridman in the department of Otolaryngology at Johns Hopkins. 

In the Graves and Harris labs, Alex works on hardware development to enable brain-wide Neuropixels recordings in freely behaving mice. 

When not plotting to overthrow governments and installing herself a Supreme Dictator of the World, Alex enjoys baseball games at Camden yards. 

Evan Li, B.S. Neuroscience (expected 2025)

Evan is a senior Neuroscience major at Johns Hopkins. For the past two years, he has studied mechanisms of synaptic plasticity in behaving mice. 

n his free time Evan enjoys practicing kendo, trying new foods, and spending time outdoors. 

We are also recruiting graduate students interested in pursuing exciting collaborative projects with the Huganir lab (JHU Neuroscience) and Harris Lab (JHU Biomedical Engineering). PhD and Masters students interested in a rotation should contact our lab, including a brief explanation of previous research experience and future scientific goals.

Gabrielle Coste, B.A.  |  Google Scholar 

We collaborate with Gaby and the Huganir lab to visualize endogenous AMPA receptor trafficking in behaving mice. 

Gaby worked in the Huganir and Graves labs as a postbac from 2020-2022 and is now a graduate student in the Neuroscience Program at Johns Hopkins. 

Tiger Xu, B.S.  |  Google Scholar 

We collaborate with Tiger and the Bergles lab to train neural networks that enable super-resolution image enhancement of in vivo 2p imaging data. 

Tiger is a Neuroscience graduate student in the Bergles lab at Johns Hopkins and a Distinguished Kavli Graduate Fellow. 

Tim Harris, Ph.D.  |  Google Scholar 

We collaborate with the Harris lab to make whole-brain electrical recordings from behaving mice using Neuropixels probes. 

Tim is a Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins and a Group Leader at the HHMI Janelia Research Campus. In collaboration with the Wellcome Trust, Gatsby Charitable Foundation, and Allen Institute for Brain Science, Tim pioneered the development of Neuropixels, the most advanced silicon-probes to date. 

Kellie Tamashiro, Ph.D.  |  Google Scholar 

We collaborate with the Tamashiro lab to study how psilocybin alters social behavior and brain-wide neural circuits. 

Kellie is a Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins. Her lab studies animal models of stress, obesity, and eating disorders using a wide array of behavioral paradigms. 

Adam Charles, Ph.D.  |  Google Scholar 

We collaborate with the Charles lab to develop machine learning approaches to analyze large imaging and electrophysiological datasets. 

Adam is an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins with affiliations in the Center for Imaging Science, the Kavli Neuroscience Discovery Institute, and the Mathematical Institute for Data Science.

Richard Huganir, Ph.D.  |  Google Scholar 

We collaborate with the Huganir lab to study how dynamic regulation of AMPA-type glutamate receptors governs synaptic plasticity, memory, and behavior. 

Rick is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, Director of the Neuroscience Department at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and is Co-Director of the Johns Hopkins Medicine Brain Science Institute. 

Meaghan Morris, M.D., Ph.D.  |  Google Scholar 

We collaborate with the Morris lab to investigate mouse models of Alzheimer's disease and tauopathies, and to develop novel image processing strategies to improve the effective resolution of neuroimaging in humans. 

Meaghan is an Assistant Professor in Neuropathology at Johns Hopkins. In addition to her clinical practice in pathology, she leads a basic research program focusing on understanding the molecular basis for Alzheimer’s disease and other age-related dementias, with the ultimate goal of identifying new therapeutic targets for Alzheimer’s disease treatment. 

Sarah Jung, B.S. 

Sarah was a research technologist in the Graves and Harris labs at Johns Hopkins. Sarah received her B.S. in Neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University and worked in the Huganir Lab as an undergraduate research assistant from 2020-2022. Sarah used Neuropixels probes to track neural correlates of alcohol seeking in the insula.

During her free time, Sarah enjoys visiting pastry shops, watching sunsets, playing violin, and reading mystery and dystopian novels. She is now pursuing her M.D. at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. 

Emily Rivera, B.S.

Emily was an undergraduate researcher in the Graves lab. She studied synaptic pathologies of Alzheimer's disease in the APP/PS1 mouse model, using IHC and confocal microscopy to track progressive deficits in AMPA receptor expression and synaptic plasticity. 

Emily graduated from Johns Hopkins in 2024 and plans to pursue her M.D.