CURRENT MEMBERS
Who we are
Nicolas Tritsch, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Nic grew up in France and moved to the States at the age of 16. He obtained a B.S. in Immunology and M.S. in Neuroscience from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, before earning a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Prior to joining NYU in 2016, Nic completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School in Boston. Outside the lab, Nic enjoys the outdoors and great food but mostly keeps busy running feverishly after his three boisterous children.
Anya Krok, B.S.
Vilcek MSTP Student
Anya was born and raised in New York City. She attended the University of Chicago for her undergraduate studies in Neuroscience and worked with Dr. Xiaoxi Zhuang, where she sparked an interest in the modulation of dopaminergic systems. Afterwards, she moved back to NYC to study monoamine signaling in the lab of Dr. Mark Ansorge at Columbia University/New York State Psychiatric Institute. Now at NYU, Anya is pursuing an M.D.-Ph.D. as part of the Medical Scientist Training Program. Outside of science, her favorite activities include exploring local food, traveling the world, skiing and sailing.
Haixin Liu, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Haixin's home city is where hotpot and giant panda live, aka Chengdu, China. After having a taste of neuroscience with Alfredo Fontanini at Stony Brook, he dived into motor system and expanded his skill sets about imaging and viral approaches in Komiyama Lab at UCSD. Now, he is chasing down the motor chain in the Tritsch Lab. Although he misses the perpetual spring in San Diego, it is great to be with family and enjoy the foliage in the east coast. When he is not talking about science, he is enjoying family time, traveling, hiking, sleeping (hmm...) and music.
Jenna Martin
Vilcek Graduate Student
Jenna grew up in NYC but moved out west to California for her undergraduate studies at UC Berkeley. She then moved to St. Louis to examine how epigenetic mechanisms are disrupted in neurodevelopmental disorders as a technician in Harrison Gabel’s lab at WUSTL. Now back in NYC at NYU, Jenna is interested in the molecular mechanisms underlying neurological disorders and how they lead to circuit and behavioral changes. Outside of the lab, Jenna enjoys hiking, reading and baking.
Marta Maltese, Ph.D.
Marlene & Paolo Fresco Postdoctoral Fellow
Marta grew up in Rome, Italy, where she earned a Bachelor Degree and a Master Degree in Human Biology at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. She obtained her PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Rome Tor Vergata under the mentorship of Dr. Antonio Pisani, with whom she studied the electrophysiological properties of striatal neurons under normal and pathological conditions. Marta joined the Tritsch lab after completing her PhD in the summer of 2016. In her free time, Marta enjoys family time, travelling and... drinking coffee.
Riccardo Melani, Ph.D.
Marlene & Paolo Fresco Postdoctoral Fellow
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Riccardo comes from Tuscany (Italy), and he earned both a Master's Degree and a PhD in Experimental Psychology at University of Florence. With Drs. Nicoletta Berardi and Tommaso Pizzorusso, he studied learning and memory at the synaptic and behavioral levels in health and disease. In 2017, he joined Dr. Ipe Ninan's lab at NYU to investigate the mechanisms underlying fear extinction, before transitioning to the study of motor circuits in the Tritsch Lab in the fall of 2018. When he's not patching neurons, Riccardo loves spending time in the kitchen, traveling with his wife and dabbling with photography.
James Taniguchi
Vilcek Graduate Student
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James grew up in the Bay Area and moved down to San Diego for his undergraduate studies. There, he was immersed in the labs of Dr. Douglas Nitz and Dr. Eiman Azim and decided to pursue research in systems neuroscience. James has now joined the neuroscience PhD program NYU to study the role of neuromodulator dynamics in synaptic plasticity and learning. When not thinking about dopamine, he enjoys hiking, local day trips, and crafts.
Ruoheng Zeng
NYU Undergraduate Volunteer
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Ruoheng is originally from Maryland, and is currently studying Neural Science at NYU. In the lab, Ruoheng helps with immunohistochemical analyses and behavioral training. Outside of the lab, he enjoys hiking, table tennis, and tutoring.
ALUMNI
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Lisa Abe, NYU undergraduate volunteer, fall 2020 - spring 2022 (Undergraduate student at NYU)
Zander Bashaw, Research Associate, spring 2018 - Summer 2021 (now Graduate student at USC)
Laura Bellingacci, Fresco Doctoral Fellow, summer 2022 (Graduate student at the University of Perugia, Italy)
Kate Cruite, Northeastern undergraduate volunteer, summer 2018 (now Research Assistant at Harvard)
Emanuele Frattini, Fresco Postdoctoral Fellow, summer 2018 - fall 2019 (now Neurologist at University of Milan, Italy)
Lucy Johnston, Northeastern undergraduate volunteer, summer 2019 - winter 2020 (now Research Assistant at Columbia)
Alizée Kastler, Sorbonne University (Paris) Master’s Student, Summer 2020 (now Graduate Student at UCL, UK)
Aviva Lund, Summer Undergraduate research Program awardee, Summer 2022 (Undergraduate Student at University Of Notre Dame)
Katie Lynch, NYU undergraduate volunteer, fall 2017 - summer 2020 (now MD/PhD Student at Mount Sinai)
Jeffrey March, Research Associate, spring 2016 - fall 2018 (now Full Stack Developer at Rooster Grin Media)
Pratik Mistry, Research Associate, spring 2018 - spring 2021 (now Biomedical Engineer at PathAI)
Raj Mohanka, NYU undergraduate volunteer, summer 2016 - spring 2018 (now MD student at NYIT)
Jhan Oriach, Undergraduate Summer Research Training in Neuroscience Awardee, summer 2021, summer 2022 (Skidmore College)
Akhila Sankaramanchi, Research Associate, spring 2019 - Summer 2021 (now Graduate student at Albert Einstein)
Soomin Song, Postdoctoral fellow, fall 2016 - fall 2018 (now Research Assistant Professor at NYU School of Medicine)
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