A ray on the streets of San Francisco
My name is Ray and I hang out in SF. I’m currently soliciting funding for a research nonprofit.
Research training
I’m a computational neuroscientist with training in experimental biology and large-scale data engineering. I earned my PhD in Neuroscience from the University of California, San Francisco, where I studied whole-brain dynamics in Caenorhabditis elegans in the labs of Saul Kato and Noelle L’Etoile. My work used custom-built virtual reality systems, closed-loop optogenetics, and high-speed volumetric imaging, and neural activity modeling to study how neural circuits implement working memory. I combined molecular biology, including cloning and engineering optogenetic constructs, with Python infrastructure for real-time control and analysis of neural activity.
Before UCSF from 2016-2017, I worked at UC Santa Barbara in Michael Goard’s lab, studying visual cortex activity in vivo during visual processing tasks in mice. In the summer of 2015, I worked in Tiago Branco’s lab at the University of Cambridge, studying innate behaviors, focusing on defensive behaviors, using systems neuroscience techniques to record and stimulate neural populations that encode aggression.
From 2013-2016, at Georgetown University, I worked in the labs of Daniel Pak and Patrick Forcelli. I studied the molecular basis of synaptic plasticity, including roles of scaffolding proteins in hippocampal function, and the neuroanatomical and behavioral consequences of early-life seizures in rodent models. This work included molecular cloning, cell culture, histology, and behavioral assays, giving me a foundation in both cellular neuroscience and whole-animal behavior.
Across these projects I built genetic tools, high-throughput molecular workflows, experimental systems, and computational models. I am interested in building robust, scalable systems for probing neural circuits and in leading teams that work at the intersection of biology, computation, and technology.
Pretty much this.