PRISM Mentors

Phil's main research interests are in the structure and dynamics of the interior of the sun, how this affect solar activity and through this its effects on terrestrial systems. Phil's group’s primary emphasis is on the structure and dynamics of the solar interior using techniques of helioseismology. His group are interested in both developing instrumentation for solar observatories and in the data analysis of solar magnetic fields from space and from the ground.

Our goal is to understand how social factors such as interpersonal trauma and cultural biases impact brain function and mental health outcomes. With this knowledge, we develop evidence-based interventions to elevate work productivity, team performance, and well-being. We are passionate about embracing authenticity and vulnerability, and leveraging adverse experiences towards self-growth and achieving one’s full potential.

Our lab’s research portfolio crosses multiple disciplines including computational neuropsychiatry, multimodal neuroimaging, cognitive neuroscience and neurocognitive rehabilitation. Our computational neuropsychiatry research mainly involves investigating alterations in the organization of connectome in various neurodevelopmental and neurocognitive disorders using state of the art neuroimaging techniques (fMRI, sMRI, DWI, functional NIRS) combined with novel computational methods (graph theoretical and multivariate pattern analyses). The ultimate research goal is to translate the findings from computational neuropsychiatry research toward developing personalized interventions. We have been developing personalized interventions that integrate computerized cognitive rehabilitation, real-time functional brain imaging and neurofeedback, as well as virtual reality (VR) tailored toward targeted rehabilitation of the affected brain networks in patients with neurocognitive disorders.

Ongoing studies in Dr. Hosseini’s lab include: .

• Multimodal data integration using multilayer networks for early detection of Alzheimer's disease   
• Real-time fNIRS neuromonitoring and neurofeedback for targeted enhancement of working memory in children with ADHD.
• Multimodal neuroimaging study to examine the effect of long-term, cognitive intervention on brain networks in older adults at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
• Developing a low-cost, wireless, wearable, optical imaging system for personal and population-based functional neuroimaging and neuro-intervention.
• Noninvasive optical imaging for monitoring of functional stroke recovery and to direct and optimize stroke therapies.

If mood symptoms are identified early in life, the opportunity exists to prevent them from progressing to more disabling chronic conditions. Dr. Singh has developed a scientifically-informed comprehensive framework to accurately diagnose and treat childhood-onset depression and other mood disorders before or soon after they present. The Pediatric Emotion And Resilience Lab uses a multimodal neurobiological approach combining neuroimaging, affective neuroscience, and rigorous clinical assessment to understand the mechanisms of risk and resilience in children. We are looking for postdoctoral candidates from the fields of psychiatry, psychology, pediatrics, neurology, genetics, neuroscience, developmental biology, computer science and related fields who seek to improve or expand their ability to conduct interdisciplinary and translational research in pediatric mood disorders.

The Stanford Brain Stimulation Lab, directed by Dr. Nolan Williams at Stanford School of Medicine, is looking for postdoctoral researcher candidates for an open postdoctoral position leading clinical trials and driving forward novel therapeutic strategies. The Brain Stimulation Lab (BSL) utilizes novel brain stimulation techniques to probe and modulate the neural networks underlying neuropsychiatric diseases/disorders in an effort to develop new models and novel therapeutics. Our lab is culturally diverse and interdisciplinary, consisting of basic neuroscientists, clinical researchers, data scientists, psychologists, residents, psychiatrists, and neurologists.

Working in our lab will provide you experience in the most cutting-edge research with diverse clinical populations (e.g., Major Depressive Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, Addiction/Substance Use Disorders and Borderline Personality Disorder), as well as healthy participants. Some of the tools our lab utilizes to answer our research questions include structural and functional MRI, EEG, TMS, and simultaneous EEG/TMS. We are now pushing forward trials involving invasive EEG recordings and deep brain stimulation in psychiatric populations, including depression and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

For more information, visit our website here. Publications can be viewed here.

About the position.

We are currently looking for a postdoctoral researcher with proven experience in clinical trials in psychiatry to take a leading role in trials conducted at the lab, drive forward novel therapeutic strategies, and/or develop novel analytical strategies and methodologies. The candidate will work closely with, and receive guidance from, a faculty member assigned to the trial and will lead a team of clinical research coordinators. The BSL includes dedicated teams for patient recruitment, neuroimaging data collection, data analysis, treatment, and regulatory affairs, which will support the candidate in carrying out their duties. The position is a unique opportunity to further develop a career in clinical/translational neuroscience and psychiatric research.

Requirements:

1. PhD in Neuroscience or related field; or M.D with training in psychiatry. 2. Proven experience or familiarity with clinical trials in psychiatry;  or advanced methodological/analytic background and training 3. Leadership qualities (fosters teamwork, strong communication skills, interest in mentorship of junior lab members). 4. Strong references.

To apply please complete the following application form.

How do we learn to communicate using language? I study children's language learning and how it interacts with their developing understanding of the social world. I am interested in bringing larger datasets to bear on these questions and use a wide variety of methods including eye-tracking, tablet experiments, and computational models. Recent work in my lab has focused on data-oriented approaches to development, including the creation of large datasets like Wordbank and MetaLab. I also have a strong interest in replication, reproducibility, and open science; some of our research addresses these topics. http://web.stanford.edu/~mcfrank

The Causality in Cognition Lab at Stanford University studies the role of causality in our understanding of the world, and of each other.

Some of the questions that guide our research:

• How does the mind learn to represent the causal structure of the world?
• What is the relationship between causal thinking and counterfactual simulation?
• How do we hold others responsible for the outcomes of their actions?

In our research, we formalize people’s mental models as computational models that yield quantitative predictions about a wide range of situations. To test these predictions, we use a combination of large-scale online experiments, interactive experiments in the lab, and eye-tracking experiments.

We know far more than what we can directly experience. We learn about the world by drawing rich, abstract inductive inferences that go beyond what we can observe, and much of these observations come from behaviors of others around us. By engaging in social learning in diverse contexts, humans learn from others, share their knowledge with others, and even accumulate a body of cultural knowledge over generations. 

The Social Learning Lab (SLL) aims to understand the cognitive mechanisms that underlie the communicative interactions we experience in our lives. In particular, the ways in which young children learn from others provide a unique window to the interface between our ability to draw powerful inferences and to our understanding of others’ thoughts and actions (Theory of Mind). To better understand this process, we design and conduct behavioral experiments with young children and adults, often combined with computational models that help predict and explain behavioral results.

Our lab uses the tools of cognitive neuroscience to understand how decision making, executive control, and learning and memory are implemented in the human brain.  We also develop neuroinformatics tools and resources to help researchers make better sense of data and to do research that is more transparent and reproducible.

The Stanford Screenomics Lab is a multidisciplinary group that uses newly available data streams to understand what people actually do on their smartphones, and how the content of their screen experiences relate to health and well-being. We use a variety of computer vision and text analysis tools to extract information from long sequences of screenshots, develop new descriptors of smartphone behavior and smartphone content, and examine how those behavior and content are related to users' emotions, sleep, and mental health. Our lab is committed to global diversity and fostering minority representation in social science, and we collaborate widely with schools and departments across Stanford and other universities.

Memory is central to who we are and how we behave, with knowledge about the past informing thoughts and decisions in the present. Learning and memory provide critical knowledge that guides everyday activities, from remembering to take medications or recognizing previously encountered people, places, and things, to representing our goals and navigating our worlds. The research objectives of the Stanford Memory Laboratory are to understand the psychological and neural mechanisms that build memories and enable their expression, as well as how these mechanisms change with age and disease. Current research directions – which combine behavior, brain imaging, virtual reality, and computational approaches – include:

• delineating how cognitive control and attention modulate learning and memory
• specifying the mnemonic computations and representations supported by the hippocampus and medial temporal cortex, and their interactions with frontoparietal networks
• examining how memory performance in healthy older adults relates to brain structure and brain function, and to molecular and genetic risks for Alzheimer's disease

More details about our work can be found on my lab's website under Research and Publications.

The gene encoding the p53 transcription factor is the most commonly mutated gene in human cancer, yet we lack a complete understanding of how its loss promotes cancer and how to target this pathway therapeutically. My lab studies p53 in the context of two very deadly and common cancer, pancreatic cancer and lung cancer, to understand how p53 loss promotes tumor initiation and progression. We are investigating not only how p53 mutation changes tumor cells themselves but also how these changes in tumor cells alter the cells of the tumor microenvironment to promote cancer development. We strive to understand p53 function using varied approaches, including mass spectrometry, CRISPR screening, ATAC-sequencing, spatial transcriptomics and in vivo mouse analyses. Using these combined approaches, we are gaining key new insights into the fundamental functions of p53 in vivo, which will ultimately inform us on how to target this critical pathway therapeutically.

The Frock laboratory is interested in elucidating mechanisms of DNA double-stranded break (DSB) repair and chromosome translocations.  We employ a high-throughput sequencing technology that identifies and maps cellular DSBs.  We are interested in further developing this technology to more fully quantify the DSB repair fates from targeted DSBs.  Our research disciplines are broad and cover aspects of molecular and cancer biology, bioinformatics. immunology, genome editing, and radiation biology.

The Kalbasi laboratory tackles questions at the intersection of immunology and cancer biology, with an emphasis on therapeutic development. Here are some selected areas of interest:

Cytokine-based rewiring of T cells: Advances in gene therapy and synthetic biology have ushered in a new era in T cell therapy. Engineered T cells can now be dynamically modulated to perform context-specific functions. To leverage these technologies, the lab is studying how external cytokine signals, especially common gamma chain family, shape T cell function (Kalbasi, et al. Nature 2022). Unveiling sarcoma targets through cell-of-origin queries: Most patients with sarcoma have yet to benefit from immunotherapy, which may in part be related to the absence of natural endogenous T cell responses to sarcoma. Engineered T cell approaches offer a solution to this problem, but therapeutic T cell targets are critical. The lab is examining sarcoma cell-of-origin as an approach to unveil rational, lineage-based therapeutic targets for T cell therapy. Myeloid reprogramming: Myeloid cells are prevalent in the sarcoma microenvironment and further recruited by radiation and other cytotoxic therapies. The  laboratory is studying how activation of pattern recognition receptor signaling may serve to bias the fate of radiation-associated myeloid cells toward one that promotes anti-tumor functions of T cells. Tumor-intrinsic resistance to radiotherapy: Cancer cells evolve under immunologic pressure and not surprisingly, find myriad ways to evade immune attack. Uncovering and bypassing these evasive tactics can restore the efficacy of immunotherapy (Kalbasi, et al. Sci Transl Med 2020). The lab is studying whether the same principles may apply to radiation resistance, which may be both immune-dependent or immune-independent. Research Tools: The Kalbasi lab aims to leverage the growing toolkits developed by synthetic biologists to study perturbations of the immune system and cancer and identify new therapeutic approaches. This means we are heavily invested in syngeneic mouse model systems to faithfully capture tumor - immune interactions, including adoptive transfer models. The lab leverages molecular biology, viral and CRISPR based genetic engineering, basic and advanced immunologic assays, and next-generation sequencing, including single cell approaches. Our group includes both wet and dry lab scientists. We are excited and unafraid to try new techniques and/or engage more experienced collaborators. Finally, the lab has a strong translational focus with a disease interest in sarcoma and melanoma and therapeutic interests that include T cell therapy, immuno-oncology and radiation therapy. The lab is actively involved in biospecimen analysis related to clinical trials:

https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04119024?cond=il13ra2&draw=2&rank=1 https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04420975?cond=bo-112+sarcoma&draw=2&rank=1 https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02701153?cond=5-day+sarcoma+radiation&draw=2&rank=1

Use artificial intelligence in image and biology guided radiotherapy and medical image analysis (PET/CT).

Theranostic nanoparticles for radiosensitization and medical imaging.

Novel treatment technique for ocular disease radiotherapy.

Radio-neuromodulation using focused kV x-rays.

Ultrasound parametric imaging.

We perform translational cancer research by analyzing human tissue and blood samples with next-generation sequencing to understand the genetic underpinnings and expression signatures that determine treatment response and resistance. We use genetically engineered mouse models to validate our findings, perform mechanistic experiments, and test new therapies. Our ultimate goal is to translate our findings to the clinic to improve outcomes for patients with cancer.

An emerging hallmark of cancer is the modulation of metabolic pathways by malignant cells to promote cancer development. Dr. Jiangbin Ye’s professional interest is to investigate the causes and consequences of the abnormal metabolic phenotypes of tumor cells, with the prospect that therapeutic approaches might be developed to target these metabolic pathways to improve cancer treatment. The lab’s current goal is to explore the complex role of metabolic reprogramming in epigenetic regulations, and how cell fate and differentiation process are controlled by these epigenetic regulations. Ye’s lab is located in the Stanford University School of Medicine, with state-of-art research facilities. The multidiscipline research environment provides unique and outstanding training and collaborating opportunities. The candidate will have direct access to modern metabolomics research tools, including YSI biochemical analyzer, Seahorse XF Analyzer, hypoxia chamber and Agilent Q-TOF LC-MS. The lab is specialized in both untargeted and targeted metabolomics analysis, particularly isotope tracing technique for metabolic flux analysis. Dr. Ye is committed to mentoring and training for the candidate, providing all the support the candidate needs to reach the career goal.

CAR (chimeric antigen receptor) T-cell therapy has shown promising results in patients with leukemia and lymphoma. However, therapy response in patients with solid tumors is highly variable. An imaging test, which could directly visualize CAR T-cells in patients would greatly improve our understanding of factors that lead to successful treatment outcomes. Immune cells can be labeled with clinically translatable iron oxide nanoparticles, which can be detected with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, thus far, it was required to use transfection agents to shuttle iron labels into CAR T-cells. Most transfection agents are not approved for use in humans and demonstrate low efficiency for cell labeling with nanoparticles. We developed new cell labeling techniques, which do not require transfections. This project will test the efficacy of transfection-agent free cell labeling techniques for time-efficient labeling of CAR T-cells with iron oxide nanoparticles for subsequent in vivo tracking in mouse models of cancer. Tracking nanoparticle-labeled CAR T-cells in vivo will enable us to understand and optimize the tumor accumulation of CAR T-cells, prescribe tailored dosing regimen and develop appropriate combination therapies.

Utkan Demirci is a professor at Stanford University School of Medicine and serves as the interim division chief and co-director of the Canary Center for Cancer Early Detection in the Department of Radiology. His group focuses on developing innovative microfluidic biomedical technology platforms with broad applications to multiple diseases. Some of his inventions have already been translated into Food and Drug Administration-approved products serving patients. He has mentored and trained many successful scientists, entrepreneurs, and academicians. Currently the group has a strong core focused on bio fabrication, Extracellular vesicles enrichment and isolation, small scale robotics for biomedicine and development of point of care metamaterial based optical sensors.

Micro nano scale technologies in medicine

Extracellular vesciles

Early Cancer Detection

Biomedical engineering

microrobotics

The Demirci Bio-Acoustic MEMS in Medicine Lab (BAMM) specializes in creating technologies to manipulate cells in nanoliter volumes to enable solutions for real world problems in medicine including applications in infectious disease diagnostics and monitoring for global health, cancer early detection, cell encapsulation in nanoliter droplets for cryobiology, and bottom-up tissue engineering.

Our lab's research lies at the interface of biology, engineering, nanotechnology, and medicine. We develop and apply translational micro/nanotechnologies to study cellular heterogeneity and complex biological systems for single cell analysis and precision medicine.  At this unique nexus, we apply key biological principles to design engineering platforms. Our research philosophy is to apply these platforms to fundamentally understand and address the mechanisms of disease (i.e., cancer, infections). 

We, for the first time, have demonstrated magnetic levitation of living cells and its application to detect minute differences in densities at the single-cell level.  We apply this unique tool to perform ultra-sensitive density measurements, magnetic blueprinting, imaging, sorting and profiling of millions of cells and rare biological materials in seconds in real-time at a single-cell resolution.  For instance, magnetic levitation technology can sort rare circulating tumor markers and cells from patient whole blood  without relying on any markers, tags or antibodies, which cut cross multiple disciplines of magnetics, microfluidics and molecular biology.

Our lab's mission is to bridge the gap between biology, engineering and nanotechnology; to develop simple, inexpensive, easy-to-use, yet, broadly applicable platforms that will change the way in which medicine is practiced as well as how patients are monitored, diagnosed and treated for precision medicine. We apply key biological principles to engineering designs.  Interfacing our unique bioengineering platforms with next-generation sequencing technologies, we aim to understand and answer fundamental questions mainly in cancer biology, antibiotic resistance, and regenerative medicine.

Our focus is to develop new tools and technologies to investigate and fundamentally understand disease and wellness. Our research efforts are summarized as follows:

• Creating new tools and technologies to detect and isolate circulating biological signatures, materials and markers from biological fluids (i.e., circulating tumor cells, circulating tumor emboli, exosomes in blood, urine, and saliva).
• Enabling investigations of these rare biological materials to “decode” the molecular, genetic and proteomics characteristics to better understand the biology of disease, with a special focus on cancer biology and metastasis.
• Detecting antibiotic susceptibility using magnetic levitation. 
• Evolving these technologies into the next generation of applications in antibiotic resistance to eradicate biofilms and resistant microorganisms.
• Exploring self-assembly of single cells under microgravity conditions for bioprinting, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. 

We are seeking open and honest, creative, dedicated, and team-oriented individuals to join our research team. Our lab prioritizes inclusion and diversity to achieve excellence in research and to foster an intellectual climate that is welcoming and nurturing. Two positions are available for energetic, self-driven and passionate postdoctoral fellow candidates.  Applicants are expected to be technically competent in a discipline relevant to our mission and vision.  

Katherine Whittaker Ferrara is a Professor of Radiology and the Division Chief for the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the IEEE, American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Biomedical Engineering Society, the World Molecular Imaging Society, the Acoustical Society of America and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering. Dr. Ferrara received her Ph.D. in 1989 from the University of California, Davis. Prior to her PhD, Dr. Ferrara was a project engineer for General Electric Medical Systems, involved in the development of early magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound systems. Following an appointment as an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Dr. Ferrara served as the founding chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at UC Davis. Her laboratory is known for work in molecular imaging and drug delivery.

The research interests of the molecular imaging instrumentation lab are to create novel instrumentation and software algorithms for in vivo imaging of molecular signatures of disease in humans and small laboratory animals. These new cameras efficiently image radiation emissions in the form of positrons, annihilation photons, gamma rays, and/or light emitted from molecular contrast agents that were introduced into the body and distributed in the subject tissues. These contrast agents are designed to target molecular pathways of disease biology and enable imaging of these biological signatures in tissues residing deep within the body using measurements made from outside the body.

The goals of the instrumentation projects are to advance the sensitivity and spatial, spectral, and/or temporal resolutions, and to create new camera geometries for special biomedical applications. The computational modeling and algorithm goals are to understand the physical system comprising the subject tissues, radiation transport, and imaging system, and to provide the best available image quality and quantitative accuracy.

The work involves designing and building instrumentation, including arrays of position sensitive sensors, readout electronics, and data acquisition electronics, signal processing research, including creation of computer models, and image reconstruction, image processing, and data/image analysis algorithms, and incorporating these innovations into practical imaging devices.

The ultimate goal is to introduce these new imaging tools into studies of molecular mechanisms and treatments of disease within living subjects.