Our consortium is home to a diverse group of exceptional PhD students and Postdoctoral Researchers, each bringing a distinct set of expertise. They are supervised by one or more researchers, and their skills are highlighted through the three keywords listed below each image.
Postdoctoral Researchers
Alperen Taciroglu
VU Amsterdam
Supervisor: Danielle Posthuma
bioinformatics; structural biology; evolutionary biology
Yiğit Kutlu
VU Amsterdam
Supervisor: Posthuma
computational biology; bioinformatics; protein dynamics
Alexander Vieth
Leiden University Medical Center
Supervisor: Lelieveldt
visual Analytics; dimensionality reduction; image exploration
Anna van Regteren Altena
University Medical Center Utrecht
Supervisor: Hol
single-cell RNA sequencing; 2D and 3D imaging; human ventral tegmental area
Douglas Wightman
VU Amsterdam
Supervisor: Posthuma
GWAS; Alzheimer's Disease; rare variant studies
Janina Kupke
VU Amsterdam
Supervisors: Rao-Ruiz/Van den Oever
epigenetics; learning and memory; behaviour
Sanne Beerens
VU Amsterdam
Supervisor: van den Oever
neural circuits; learning & memory; electrophysiology
Tanya Phung
VU Amsterdam
Supervisor: Posthuma
scRNAseq; GWAS; sex differences
Thomas Kroes
Leiden University Medical Center
Supervisor: Lelieveldt
software architecture; visualization; application design
PhD students
Amparo Roig
VU Amsterdam
Supervisor: Verhage
single-cell transcriptomics; bioinformatics; STXBP1-related disorders
Bernardo Maciel
VU Amsterdam
Supervisor: Van den Heuvel
MRI; connectomics; genetics
Björn van Sambeek
Hubrecht Institute Utrecht
Supervisor: Van Oudenaarden
organoids; single cell technologies; mechanobiology
Cato Romero
Amsterdam UMC – VUmc Amsterdam
Supervisor: Van der Sluis
psychiatric disorders; GWAS-to-biology; big data analysis
Chang Li
Leiden University Medical Center
Supervisor: Lelieveldt
bioinformatics; data visualization; interactive data exploration
Clara Hartmann
VU Amsterdam
Supervisor: Mansvelder
custom mouse environments; in vivo calcium imaging; RaspberryPi/Arduino
Emil Uffelmann
VU Amsterdam
Supervisor: Posthuma
Genome-Wide Association Studies; Polygenic Risk Scores; Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics
Eva Tunderman
University Medical Center Utrecht
Supervisor: Hol
VTA; Alzheimer's Disease; snRNAseq
Heiletjé van Zyl
VU Amsterdam
Supervisor: Van der Sluis
statistics; R coding; LaTeX
Imme van der Knaap
VU Amsterdam
Supervisor: Mansvelder
electrophysiology; energetic constraints of human neurons; frontotemporal dementia
Iris van den Heuvel
VU Amsterdam
Supervisor: Mansvelder
electrophysiology; cortical cell-types; multisensory
Jack Smith
VU Amsterdam
Supervision: Van der Sluis
computational genomics; bioinformatics; statistical genetics
Kirti Biharie
TU Delft
Supervisors: Mahfouz/Reinders
single-cell genomics; spatial analysis; machine learning
Kostantino Pereira Bourlios
University Medical Center Utrecht
Supervisor: Hol
VTA, Alzheimer's disease, iPSC-derived brain organoids
Marijn Schipper
VU Amsterdam
Supervisor: Posthuma
generalist; post-GWAS analysis; gene prioritiziation
Matthew van Heusden
VU Amsterdam
Supervisor: Verhage
imaging; IPSCs; disease models
Minh Nguyen
University Medical Center Utrecht
Supervisor: Adan
activity-based anorexia model; transgenic mouse models; immunohistochemistry
Nik Heijmink
University Medical Center Utrecht
Supervisor: Pasterkamp
midbrain dopamine system; whole brain imaging; neurodevelopment
Nikoleta Bourtouli
University Medical Center Utrecht
Supervisors: Meye/Basak
VTA neuronal subtypes; stress-reward dysregulation; patch-seq
Oxana Garritsen
University Medical Center Utrecht
Supervisor: Pasterkamp
RiboTag; microglial cell manipulation; dopaminergic dendrites
Pelle Wilbers
VU Amsterdam
Supervisor: Van den Oever
addiction; behaviour; mPFC
Renee Pullen
VU Amsterdam
Supervisor: Rao-Ruiz
synapse; microscopy; FASS (Fluorescence Activated Synaptosome Sorting)
Sofie Peeters
University Medical Center Utrecht
Supervisor: Pasterkamp
iPSC-derived models; midbrain dopamine neurons; dendrites
Soumyadeep Basu
Leiden University Medical Center
Supervisor: Lelieveldt
data visualization; interactive visual analysis; user-centered application design
Suchita Reddy Enugala
VU Amsterdam
Supervisor: Smit
iPSCs; proteomics; microscopy
Sylvia Korhorn
VU Amsterdam
Supervisor: Verhage
STXBP1 related disorders; hiPSC derived neuron culture; RNA/protein analysis
Timo Verlaan
TU Delft
Supervisor: Reinders
single-cell; deep learning; graph-based learning
Zeli Chen
VU Amsterdam
Supervisors: Savage/Siletti
data analysis; applied statistics; behavioral neuroscience
Former PhD students and Postdoctoral Researchers
Ioannis Koutlas
University Medical Center Utrecht
Supervisor: Meye
systems neuroscience; neuronal ensembles; ventral tegmental area (VTA)
Biswajit Moharana
VU Amsterdam
Supervisor: Rao-Ruiz
proteomics; flow cytometry; bioinformatics
Lieke Michielsen
LUMC - TU Delft
Supervisor: Ahmed Mahfouz
Single-cell RNA-sequencing spatial transcriptomics data analysis; cell-type classification and harmonization; sequence-based deep learning models
Tamim Abdelaal
TU Delft
Supervisor: Ahmed Mahfouz
bioinformatics; computational biology; machine learning