Undergraduate research with Dr. Brad Voytek

August 2022 - Present

Lab website: Voytek Lab  Direct mentor: Michael Preston


Voytek Lab

Questions we aim to answer

  • Given what we know about the computational properties of neurons and neural systems, how can neural systems interact to give rise to cognitive phenomena we equate with vision and sensory processing?
  • Patterns of brain activity aggregate synchronous oscillations with aperiodic activity as a representation of population firing, what are the biophysical mechanisms behind these electrophysiological features, particularly in aperiodic activity?


What I did

  • Make use of publicly available brain data to investigate the cellular underpinnings of aggregated neural population activity (LFPs)
  • Measured and quantified neural oscillations in both time and frecuency domains
  • Parametrized changes in aperiodic activity upon presentation of a visual stimulus and correlated them to neuronal spiking activity
  • Applied digital signal processing to neural time series and other statistical tools of analysis developed by the lab to characterize brain activity (SpecParam and NeuroDSP)
  • Published open-source our computational analysis to maximize the accessibility and impact of our research in a fully transparent manner (GitHub)


Skills I developed

  • Proficiency in python
  • Working understanding of digital signal procesing
  • Working with large open-source datasets
  • Analyzing neural time series data
  • Use of data science and linear algebra approaches to address research questions


Defining moments

  • Since my coding experience was minimal and I had no experience at all working in Python or analyzing neural data prior to joinning the lab, I spent the summer of my freshman year of college independently learning how to implement the computational tools used in the lab into my analysis
  • The collaborative environment at the Voytek Lab and the use of creative statistical and data science approaches to tackle research questions motivated how I want to approach my own questions in science using translational techniques
  • Learning in an environment where open science is encouraged alongside science communication, I now feel more comfortable talking about my projects and expressing my ideas to different audiences
  • Presenting my research to varying public and in different formats has made me think critically on the why’s and how’s of a research project, I have also practiced these skills specifically in the Voytek Lab by writing grants and research proposals such as the NSF GRFP application
  • Joining the Voytek lab was the breaking point in helping shape my desire to pursue research in computational neuroscience, while my current project in the lab ignited my passion for research in cognition and visual preception



Check out my project presentation at UCSD’s Summer Research Conference 2024!