People

Dr. Zirong Gu completed his PhD research at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. He then conducted postdoctoral training under the mentorship of Dr. Rui Costa and Dr. Darcy Peterka at the Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University. Dr. Gu is a recipient of the NARSAD Young Investigator Award and the K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). In 2024, he joined The University of Texas at Dallas as an assistant professor in the Department of Neuroscience. Dr. Gu’s favorite plant is the ‘Āhinahina (silversword). In his free time, he enjoys reading science fiction books, watching sci-fi movies, and participating in sports.

Amy is a dedicated and experienced molecular biologist with a master’s degree in molecular cell biology and several years of hands-on research experience in academic and medical institutions in Samsung Seoul Hospital, Korea and UTSW, the United States. With a strong background in molecular experiments, cell culture, and animal research, she has contributed to projects in the fields of cancer, metabolism diseases and infectious diseases. Currently, Amy is part of Dr. Zirong Gu’s lab, continuing her work in the field of neuroscience, focusing on how the basal ganglia influence mouse behavior. In her free time, she enjoys gardening and hiking.

Grace is a committed and enthusiastic research technician with a BA in psychology and a minor in biology. Throughout her undergraduate studies, she engaged heavily in neuroscientific research and served as president of ‘Active Neuro’. In Dr. Gu’s lab, she assists in the organization of several projects related to how basal ganglia outputs interact with distributed brain regions to mediate different behaviors. Grace is preparing for doctoral studies, in which she can further explore her interests in cognitive and behavioral neuroscience. In her free time, she enjoys singing, composing music, and exploring various forms of writing.

Kaitlyn is a PhD student in the systems/cellular neuroscience track at UTD. She graduated from Baylor University in 2024 with a BS in biology with a concentration in cell and molecular biology. Fascinated by the intricate neural circuits underlying motor control, she focuses on the basal ganglia’s output and its critical role in initiating, modulating, and executing action sequences. Her research seeks to understand how disruptions in this circuit drive the debilitating motor impairments and repetitive behaviors characteristic of disease models such as Parkinson’s disease and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Other than being in the lab, Kaitlyn enjoys creating digital and physical art, hosting dinners, and reading.

Juno Wu is a dedicated and inquisitive first-year PhD student with a strong interest in unraveling the neural mechanisms of motivation within the basal ganglia. With a solid background in neuroscience, she employs advanced calcium imaging techniques to study action-specific neuron populations. In Dr. Gu’s lab, her research centers on understanding the dynamics of motivation-related behaviors and their disruptions in disease models. Passionate about bridging foundational neuroscience with translational research, Juno aims to identify potential therapeutic targets. Outside the lab, she enjoys attending concerts, spending quality time with her dogs, and exploring diverse culinary traditions.

Caedon is a junior computer science major interested in pursuing a career in Software engineering. His work in Gu lab primarily focuses on developing unsupervised learning models for behavioral experiments. Aside from research, he is also a member of the National Society of Black Engineers. In his free time, he enjoys photography, skating, and astronomy.

Sanjana is a junior majoring in computer science and pursuing a data science certificate. She joined Dr. Gu’s lab to gain hands-on experience working with data pipelines and visualizations. In her free time, she enjoys exploring new restaurants, reading, and baking.

Natalie is a junior computer science major interested in pursuing a career in web development. Her work in the Gu Lab primarily focuses on utilizing machine learning to analyze the social interaction and behaviors of mice. Outside of the Gu Lab, she creates social media content and collaborates with companies worldwide to provide voice-over work for video games, commercials, and animations.

Jonathan is a junior majoring in computer science at The University of Texas at Dallas. As an undergraduate research assistant in Gu lab, his work is primarily focused on computational neuroscience including data science and machine learning. He is an events officer in the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers (SASE), has participated in ACM Projects, Artificial Intelligence Mentor Program, and Engineering Projects in Community Service. Additionally, he is interested in website and mobile application development, robotics, volleyball, basketball, chess and reading.

Kayla is a junior majoring in computer science with a minor in economics. Her work in the Gu lab primarily involves operating pyControl, building behavioral setups, and data analysis. Aside from research, she is vice president of the Cybersecurity Club and Baking for a Cause. In her free time, she enjoys baking, photography, and traveling.

Kaia is a junior majoring in computer science and minoring in business intelligence and analytics, with the ultimate goal of working in data analytics. She joined Dr. Gu’s lab to gain more experience with data collection, analysis, and processing pipelines. She has been involved with the Artificial Intelligence Mentorship Program. She enjoys baking, drawing, and hiking in her free time.

Nivedha is a junior computer science major pursuing a data science certificate. She joined Dr. Gu’s lab to gain more hands-on experience with data processing, visualization, and analysis. She’s currently a logistics officer for WEHack and was previously an ACM research lead and projects participant. In her free time, she enjoys reading and crocheting.

Angelina is a junior studying data science and is interested in going to graduate school in this field. She works in the computational field for Dr. Gu’s lab, focusing on the data analysis of single cell sequencing. Angelina is also a PLTL leader as well as a first year leader. Her hobbies include making art, especially digital, baking, and playing piano.

Matt is a junior data science major interested in pursuing a career related to computational neuroscience. His work in Gu Lab focuses on exploring supervised & unsupervised clustering methods for classifying mouse behavior. Aside from research, he is a member of the Artificial Intelligence Society and the Association of Computing Machinery. In his free time, he enjoys playing and listening to music, eating food, and practicing latte art.

Mohammad is a junior majoring in neuroscience and mathematics. His work in Gu Lab focuses on unsupervised behavioral analysis. He is also the vice president of the UTD rugby club and a programming lead for UTD Robosub. In his free time, he enjoys reading, watching movies and learning new things. He hopes to pursue a career in medicine or defense.

Nayoung is a junior neuroscience major interested in pursuing a career in medicine. Her work in the Gu lab primarily focuses on running behavior experiments involving optogenetics. In addition to research, she volunteers with Molding Doctors and works as an administrator at a doctor’s office. In her free time, Nayoung enjoys doing puzzles, listening to music, and taking late-night walks.

Abeeha is a sophomore biochemistry major interested in pursuing a career in healthcare. Her work in the Gu lab primarily involves building and running biobehavioral experiments and setups. She is currently an officer for Mini-Med in Molding Doctors and is a hospice care volunteer. In her free time, she plays volleyball and enjoys reading.

Amir is a sophomore biology major and secondary STEM education minor planning on pursuing a career in medicine. His work in Dr. Gu’s lab focuses primarily on behavioral analysis of mice in home-cage systems. He is a part of the UTeach Program and Alpha Epsilon Delta. In his free time, he enjoys playing video games, going to the gym, and drawing.

Ayush is a sophomore computer science major pursuing a minor in mathematics. His work in Dr. Gu’s lab primarily consists of lightning pose and anipose, gaining hands -on experience in machine learning and computer vision. Ayush enjoys playing soccer, guitar, and video games in his free time.

Prem is a sophomore data science major interested in pursuing a career in biobehavioral analytics. His work in Dr. Gu’s lab focuses on using machine learning for computational neuroscience, including mapping action potentials and analyzing behavior syllables. Prem is a member of the Comet Symphonique and Artificial Intelligence Society. During his free time, he enjoys playing his trumpet, watching sports, and reading books.

Serena is a sophomore student at The University of Texas at Dallas, majoring in data science. Her work in the lab is mainly about working on the computational aspects of single RNA sequence analysis and developing more statistical analysis skills. She’s also getting involved in operating pyControl and behavior boxes. Some of her hobbies include dance, piano, and traveling.

John is a sophomore data science major and neuroscience minor interested in pursuing a career in quantum computing. His work in the Gu lab primarily focuses on training and applying deep-learning pipelines to visualize brain data. Aside from research, he is also a member of the Artificial Intelligence Society. In his free time, he enjoys listening to music, watching TV, and playing piano.

Aarush is a sophomore computer science major interested in pursuing a career in research. His work in the Gu Lab focuses on computer vision and machine learning, specifically, he works on semi-supervised markerless pose estimation techniques. He is an AI and finance officer at the Artificial Intelligence society, and is a Collegium V honors student. Aarush is enthusiastic about cars and enjoys cooking and mountain biking.

Mihir is a sophomore data science major interested in pursuing a career in bioinformatics. His work in the Gu lab focuses on neuron and axon mapping, segmentation, and quantification with light-sheet microscope imaging. He is involved in the Artificial Intelligence Society as an operations officer. During his free time, he also enjoys playing video games, listening to music, and watching indie movies.

Anveetha is a sophomore data science major interested in pursuing a career in artificial intelligence and machine learning. Her work in Gu Lab primarily involves neuron and axon mapping, segmentation, and quantification with light-sheet microscope imaging. In addition to research, she is a member of the Artificial Intelligence Society as an executive board member and is part of the Collegium V Honors College. In her free time, Anveetha enjoys photography, listening to music, and traveling.

Sebastian is a sophomore in mechanical engineering interested in pursuing a career in robotics. His work in Gu Lab primarily involves using miniscopes, prosocial behavior, and the home-cage system. In addition to research, he is a member of Lunabotics and Social Chair. In his free time, Sebastian enjoys rugby, robotics, and reading.

Aamena is a sophomore neuroscience major and computer science minor interested in pursuing a career in healthcare. Her work in the Gu lab primarily focuses on running behavioral projects and building experimental setups. Aamena is a part of MSA and Molding Doctors. In her free time, she enjoys reading and baking.

Ashhad is a sophomore neuroscience major interested in pursuing a career in either cardiothoracic or neurosurgery. His work in the Gu Lab primarily focuses on operating PyControl, developing miniscope and fiberphotometry devices, and constructing Item 24. Aside from research, he is a member of the UTD orchestra and the Hobson Wildenthal Honors College. In his free time, he enjoys playing the viola and mountain biking.

Ananya is a freshman cognitive science major interested in pursuing a career in healthcare. Her work in the Gu Lab primarily involves biochemical applications to neuroscience, including tissue-clearing and immunohistochemistry. She is a member of Alpha Epsilon Delta and the Collegium V Honors Program. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, dancing, and reading.

Siddharth Pothini is an undergraduate majoring in computer science. He joined Gu Lab to gain real world experience using machine learning, embedded software, and data analysis. He is eager to learn new things and hopes to improve his communication and team work skills through the Gu Lab. His work in the Gu Lab involves building the Fed3 Home Cage System and analyzing kinematic data of mouse forelimb movement. Some of his hobbies include sudoku, gardening, bonsai, electrical circuits.

Akshaya is a freshman neuroscience major interested in pursuing a career in medicine. Her work in Gu Lab primarily involves manual dexterity experiments and machine learning. She is part of the Collegium V Honors Program at UTD and is a member of Molding Doctors. In her free time, she enjoys reading, participating in clubs, and trying new cuisines.