Principal Investigator

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​Edward Zagha, MD PhD

Eddie received his MD, PhD from NYU School of Medicine where he studied intrinsic neuronal excitability in the lab of Dr. Bernardo Rudy. He then joined Yale School of Medicine as a postdoc to study cortical circuits of sensorimotor processing in the lab of Dr. David McCormick. Eddie’s long-term goals are to reveal neural mechanisms of cognitive processes for the purpose of developing rational approaches to the treatment of neuropsychiatric disease. Eddie’s interests outside the lab include hiking in the mountains of southern California and riddling (in the spirit of G.E.B.). 

Contact: [email protected]

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Graduate Students

Angelina Lam

Angelina joined the lab in Spring 2020. She graduated from UCR with a BS in Biology in 2019, and then went on to join the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program. She is excited to be studying cortical roles in sensory detection and behavior. When not in lab, she can typically be found cooking an unhealthy, but delicious meal, building her herb garden, or watching a really good movie and then discussing it afterwards.  

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Dominic Garcia

Dominic joined the lab in the Summer of 2023. He had graduated from San Bernardino Valley College in Spring 2019 and graduated from California State University of San Bernardino (CSUSB) in Spring 2021 and dropped out of the Master’s program at CSUSB to attend the Neuroscience PhD Program at UCR. He is excited to unravel the mysterious of predictive coding and understand the connections between sensory cortex and the frontal regions regarding this phenomenon. When not typing away at a computer he is playing video games or coming up with new creations to build.
Sarah Kabbara

Born and raised in Southern California, Sarah graduated from UCR with her bachelor's degree in neuroscience. During her undergraduate studies, she joined Dr. Aaron Seitz's lab where she studied the cognitive processes of learning and memory. Inspired by her time there, she started her graduate career and joined Zagha lab in the summer of 2023 where she is eager to untangle the mechanisms of sensory detection and behavior in the context of learning. When not working, you can find her curled up with her cat playing video games, drawing, or watching horror movies.
        

Postdoctoral Fellows

Manas Kinra, PhD

Manas completed his PhD at MAHE, India, where his research focused on studying the pharmacological mechanisms underlying the protective effects of natural compounds against
neuroinflammation-induced neurodegenerative disorders while training under Dr. Jayesh Mudgal and Dr. Devinder Arora. He joined the Zagha Lab in 2022 as a postdoc where he is focused on design, development, and evaluation of polymer based intra-vascular devices for focal drug delivery as a part of Eddie’s interdisciplinary collaborative team. His future goal is to
investigate and develop novel evidence-based pharmacological interventions for prevention as well as management of neuroinflammatory disorders. When not in the lab, Manas likes to spend his time cooking, gardening, gaming, and going on long walks.

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Research Assistants

Lovleen Swatch

Sanya Puri

Lab Alumni

Behzad Zareian (Graduate student)

Krista Marrero (Graduate student)

Zhaoran (Joanne) Zhang (Graduate student)

Krithiga Aruljothi (Graduate student)

Christian Delgadillo (Master's student)

David Salkoff, PhD (Research Specialist)

Maham Junaid (Research Assistant)

Patrick Shashaty (Research Assistant)

Lourance Mallouhi (Research Assistant)

Emaan Kaur (Research Assistant)

Lovleen Swatch (Research Assistant)

Pawrsa Nikzad (Research Assistant)

Bardia Movafagh (Research Assistant)

Ramtin Sahafi (Research Assistant)

Ethan Kim (Research Assistant)

Raghad Tabaza (Research Assistant)

Amanda Jayasekara (Research Assistant)

Jacob Klatt (Research Assistant)