Research
Research
Investigating cortical circuits with innovative technologies
May 1, 2023
A new PhD student joins the Hires Lab! Anya Hwang studied molecular cell biology at UC Berkeley while doing research in a microbiology lab at the USDA developing functionalized DNA tools.
February 1, 2022
A new PhD student has joined the Hires Lab! Chao Wang earned his Bachelor’s in Biological Sciences from Southern University of Science and Technology, and did his thesis at UC Berkeley on ion channel biology. He also has experience in mouse behavioral tests and histology.
October 19, 2020
B. Isaac Cohen joins the Hires Lab as a new PhD student! Isaac Cohen did his Undergrad at NYU in Neuroscience, and furthered his education practicing viral tracing and optogenetics at Cold Spring Harbor.
April 17, 2019
A new PhD student joins Hires Lab! Tanisha London received her Bachelor's in psychology with a concentration in neuroscience from Spelman College. Following graduation she completed a post-baccalaureate fellowship at the National Institutes of Health where she gained experience in fiber photometry, optogenetics, and histology.
June 1, 2018
Hires lab gains a new postdoc, Andrew Erskine! He's studied at UCL and Francis Crick Institute, and is an expert in mouse behavior and electrophysiology, with some focus on developing new hardware tools, including AutonoMouse.
November 15, 2017
Hires lab is awarded an R01 grant from NINDS! This is a five year award with total anticipated costs of $1.85M. The major goal of this project is to understand how abstract representations of object location are assembled by neural circuits in somatosensory cortex.
October 5, 2017
Hires lab is awarded an NIH New Innovator (DP2) grant! This is a five year award with total anticipated costs of $2.475M. The major goal of this project is to understand how sensory and motor signals in the brain reorganize during learning. Read more about the project in this story from USC Dornsife News.
October 1, 2017
Hires lab is awarded an NIH U01 grant! This is a three year collaborative project from the BRAIN Initiative with total anticipated costs of $2.0M. The major goal of this project is to develop new genetically encoded fluorescent sensors for imaging neuromodulation in behaving animals.
September 5, 2017
Hires lab gains a new research technician, Stef Walker, who ultimately becomes our lab manager! She received her Bachelor's in Biology with a Concentration in Mind, Brain, and Behavior from Bard College.
June 1, 2017
Hires lab is awarded its second NIH grant! This NIMH R21 is a 2-year multiPI collaboration with total anticipated costs of $435,750. The major goal of this project is to identify changes in neural dynamics in primary somatosensory cortex in a mouse model of fragile X syndrome.
May 15, 2017
A USC Neuroscience Ph.D. student, Jing ‘Lily’ Zou joins the lab! She has expertise in developing genetically encoded indicators of neuromodulators.
September 30, 2016
Hires lab is awarded its first NIH grant! This BRAIN Initiative R21 is a 2-year multiPI collaboration with total anticipated costs of $495,000. The major goal of this project is to develop a new type of channelrhodopsin to control flexible sets of neurons in distributed circuits in vivo.
May 15, 2016
Two USC Neuroscience Ph.D. students join the Hires lab! Samson King has experience in primate research and cognitive science with a Master’s degree from Wake Forest. Phillip Maire has experience in electrophysiology.
May 15, 2015
A big week for the Hires Lab. Jonathan Cheung has signed on to do his PhD in the Hires Lab! The Whitehall Foundation awarded the lab a 3 year $225,000 research grant. The Rose-Hills Foundation awarded the lab a 1 year, renewable $75,000 research grant.