Education:

• B.Sc double major in Molecular Cell Biology and Physics, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras
• Ph.D. in Neuroscience (Somatosensory System), University of California, Berkeley
• Postdoctoral fellow in Neuroscience (Motor System), Harvard University

Research Interest:

• Behavioral and Computational Neuroscience Laboratory
• Investigate the neural basis of decision-making and its pathological alterations, with an emphasis on flexible, effort-based decision-making, and preclinical models of hedonic and motivational deficits.

Current Projects:

• Developing a streamlined automated behavioral training platform for rodents. The platform will enhance IoT functionality, specialize in hedonic and motivational measurements, and support effort-discounting and two-arm bandit tasks.
• Establishing and validating ethologically relevant behavioral paradigms, including a single corridor setup, to study value-based decision-making using dynamic reward-to-effort-cost ratios and neural recordings.
• Techniques: Advanced behavioral protocol development and validation, neural circuit manipulations and anatomical tracing (e.g., optogenetics, viral techniques), in vivo electrophysiological recording, and computational modeling of neural coding and economic decision-making.

 

PUBLICATIONS: