Shalini Iyer
Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD)
Research Topic
Identifying sex-specific pharmacological interventions for autism by targeting a distinct neuron type
Mark Steven Cembrowski
Associate Professor
Research Classification
Research Interests
Mechanisms of memory in the brain
Anxiety
Big Data
Bioinformatics
Cell types
Computation
Fear
Genetics
modeling
Neural circuits
neuroscience
Neuroscience of memory
PTSD
RNAseq
Relevant Thesis-Based Degree Programs
Affiliations to Research Centres, Institutes & Clusters
Research Options
I am available and interested in collaborations (e.g. clusters, grants).
I am interested in and conduct interdisciplinary research.
I am interested in working with undergraduate students on research projects.
Research Methodology
Single-cell RNA-seq
Big data analysis (transcriptomics)
in situ hybridization
immunohistochemistry
Patch-clamp electrophysiology
Cell-type-specific gene knockouts (CRISPR)
Virus-mediated anterograde and retrograde circuit mapping
Circuit-specific silencing and activation
1P calcium imaging during behaviour
Recruitment
Master's students
Doctoral students
Postdoctoral Fellows
Any time / year round
Complete these steps before you reach out to a faculty member!
Check requirements
- Familiarize yourself with program requirements. You want to learn as much as possible from the information available to you before you reach out to a faculty member. Be sure to visit the graduate degree program listing and program-specific websites.
- Check whether the program requires you to seek commitment from a supervisor prior to submitting an application. For some programs this is an essential step while others match successful applicants with faculty members within the first year of study. This is either indicated in the program profile under "Admission Information & Requirements" - "Prepare Application" - "Supervision" or on the program website.
Focus your search
- Identify specific faculty members who are conducting research in your specific area of interest.
- Establish that your research interests align with the faculty member’s research interests.
- Read up on the faculty members in the program and the research being conducted in the department.
- Familiarize yourself with their work, read their recent publications and past theses/dissertations that they supervised. Be certain that their research is indeed what you are hoping to study.
Make a good impression
- Compose an error-free and grammatically correct email addressed to your specifically targeted faculty member, and remember to use their correct titles.
- Do not send non-specific, mass emails to everyone in the department hoping for a match.
- Address the faculty members by name. Your contact should be genuine rather than generic.
- Include a brief outline of your academic background, why you are interested in working with the faculty member, and what experience you could bring to the department. The supervision enquiry form guides you with targeted questions. Ensure to craft compelling answers to these questions.
- Highlight your achievements and why you are a top student. Faculty members receive dozens of requests from prospective students and you may have less than 30 seconds to pique someone’s interest.
- Demonstrate that you are familiar with their research:
- Convey the specific ways you are a good fit for the program.
- Convey the specific ways the program/lab/faculty member is a good fit for the research you are interested in/already conducting.
- Be enthusiastic, but don’t overdo it.
Attend an information session
G+PS regularly provides virtual sessions that focus on admission requirements and procedures and tips how to improve your application.
ADVICE AND INSIGHTS FROM UBC FACULTY ON REACHING OUT TO SUPERVISORS
These videos contain some general advice from faculty across UBC on finding and reaching out to a potential thesis supervisor.
Graduate Student Supervision
Master's Student Supervision
Theses completed in 2010 or later are listed below. Please note that there is a 6-12 month delay to add the latest theses.
Mapping anomalous subiculum excitatory neurons across circuits and behavior (2024)
Subiculum pyramidal neurons form the main output of the hippocampus and are studied as the cellular basis of various aspects of memory and spatial navigation. Increasing evidence has demonstrated a great deal of heterogeneity within the subiculum, from intrinsic cell properties to connectivity and function. Recent single-cell RNA sequencing analysis has identified a sparse, transcriptomically distinct population of subiculum excitatory neurons, marked by high expression of the gene Ly6g6e. Utilizing a transgenic mouse line that allows cre-mediated cell-type-specific access of these cells, this research investigates the morphology, connectivity, and activity correlates of this unique subpopulation. Leveraging this transgenic line with cell-type-specific viral tracing tools and whole brain clearing, we discovered that this neuronal population occupies the deepest layer of the subiculum, displays unique morphological properties, and forms dedicated axonal projections to the anterior thalamic nuclei. Publicly available neuron reconstructions also recapitulate these results.To interrogate potential functional correlates of this population, chemogenetic activity silencing was used during encoding of a novel object recognition (NOR) task. DREADDs-based inhibition of this subpopulation did not produce a behavioral deficit, and histological analysis of activity inhibited cells via fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) did not result in decreased immediate early gene (IEG) expression after novel object interaction compared to controls. Considering these results alongside other data from our lab suggests that other methods of manipulating cellular activity may be more suitable for this subpopulation.Motivated by the unique local and long-range structure of this excitatory population and the sustained activity responses seen in vivo, FISH was used to assess potential preferential recruitment of deep subiculum cells via IEG expression following a NOR task. No significant difference in IEG expression was seen between object types; however, this population exhibited a high baseline of activity relative to population abundance.In sum, this data provides evidence for a previously unknown excitatory cell subtype within the subiculum that exhibits unique structural characteristics and sustained activity, and that could play a potentially specialized role in recognition memory.
View record
Publications
- Sharp cell-type-identity changes differentiate the retrosplenial cortex from the neocortex (2022)
- Elucidating memory in the brain via single‐cell transcriptomics (2021)
Journal of Neurochemistry, - Spatially patterned excitatory neuron subtypes and circuits within the claustrum (2021)
- Spatially patterned excitatory neuron subtypes and projections of the claustrum (2021)
eLife, - Extensive and spatially variable within-cell-type heterogeneity across the basolateral amygdala (2020)
eLife, 9 - Heterogeneity within classical cell types is the rule: lessons from hippocampal pyramidal neurons (2019)
Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 20 (4), 193--204 - Single-cell transcriptomics as a framework and roadmap for understanding the brain (2019)
Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 326, 108353 - The subiculum is a patchwork of discrete subregions (2018)
eLife, 7
Current Students & Alumni
This is a small sample of students and/or alumni that have been supervised by this researcher. It is not meant as a comprehensive list.
If this is your researcher profile you can log in to the Faculty & Staff portal to update your details and provide recruitment preferences.