The early stages of a scientist’s career—including the time spent as a graduate student, postdoctoral researcher, and non-tenured faculty—are characterized by great vulnerability, and publishing presents unique challenges and pressures. The Early Career Researcher Advisory Board was created in late 2023 to provide opportunities for these researchers to gain insights into the process of scientific publishing, particularly into peer review. At the same time, JNeurosci’s Editorial Board will have the opportunity to learn about the specific needs of early career researchers and how JNeurosci can best support these, and thereby help to shape the future of the journal.
This Board is one of several programs intended to specifically support early career researchers, including the Reviewer Mentor Program and Journal Club.
Board Members
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Xi Chen
Xi Chen is currently a postdoctoral researcher at University of California, Berkeley, and an incoming Assistant Professor in Integrative Neuroscience of Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University starting January 2024. Her research focuses on brain and behavioral changes in aging, encompassing a broad spectrum ranging from successful aging to early Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Using multi-modal neuroimaging methods such as MRI and PET, her work investigates the relationships between AD pathology, brain structure, and brain function, and their collective influence on cognitive aging. The goal is to discern and elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying cognitive deficits in normal aging and AD. -
Swati Gupta
Swati Gupta, PhD, is an instructor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Her research primarily focuses on unraveling the neurobiological foundations of neurodegenerative diseases, and exploring their causes, mechanisms, and trajectories. Her current research is centered on AMPAR dynamics at corticostriatal synapses, investigating alterations in mice expressing the prevalent Lrrk2-G2019S genetic mutation linked to Parkinson's, with the aim of identifying early disease mechanisms that could provide potential therapeutic avenues. Her long-term goal is to uncover fresh perspectives on the causes and mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases, ultimately driving the development of impactful treatments and interventions in the field. -
Simone Russo
Simone Russo earned his MD at University of Milan. Currently, he is finalizing his PhD from University of Milan (with Marcello Massimini) and in collaboration with the Allen Institute (with Christof Koch) while serving as a visiting scientist at Georgia Institute of Technology (with Garrett Stanley). His research is dedicated to unraveling causal interactions in the brain and how they are altered by pathological conditions. Specifically, he leverages invasive and noninvasive brain stimulation coupled with electrophysiological recordings to investigate causal interactions throughout the thalamocortical network and how they are disrupted by focal brain lesions and epilepsy. -
Giacomo Sitzia
Giacomo Sitzia is currently a postdoctoral fellow in Ole Kiehn’s laboratory at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. His research focuses on understanding the functional connectome of brainstem circuits that control locomotion. During his PhD, done part in Sweden and part in the United States, he used mouse models to study the synaptic mechanisms underlying basal ganglia circuit dysfunctions in Parkinson’s disease and Alcohol Use Disorder. -
Andrew Westbrook
Andrew Westbrook is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry in the Center for Advanced Human Brain Imaging Research at Rutgers University. For his PhD, he worked with Todd Braver at Washington University in St. Louis and completed a dual postdoc with Roshan Cools at the Donders Institute and Michael Frank at Brown University. Andrew’s work focuses on how cortical and subcortical neurotransmitters shape higher order cognition with a special focus on working memory, cognitive control, and decision-making. -
Samantha White
Samantha White is completing her PhD in Neuroscience at American University in Washington, DC, studying the effects of learning on choice-related signaling in the rat medial frontal cortex. Upon completing her PhD in December 2023, she will begin her postdoc fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health to study interactions between frontal cortex and striatum during learning and decision making. She is a member of the OpenBehavior project which aims to increase accessibility of research tools for behavioral neuroscience. She is also active in community outreach, cofounding a neuroscience club for undergraduates at American, volunteering for the DC Regional Brain Bee, and organizing several Brain Awareness Week events in the DC area.