Neurocircuitry & Cognition Team

---

Research Scientist

Leila M. Allen, Ph.D.

Dr. Allen is interested in studying the neural mechanisms underlying memory and dementia. In the lab she conducts neurobiological and behavioral experiments exploring the neural computations of a prefrontal-hippocampal network. Currently, she is using high resolution 3D printing techniques to produce rat brain implant systems and developing neurobehavioral assays in pigs and minipigs.

Dr. Allen earned her Doctor of Philosophy at the University of California, Irvine in the Department of Neurobiology & Behavior in 2015, and her Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Texas, Austin in 2005 in Psychology and Biology. She is the founding Director of the Behavioral Neuroscience BS in the Department of Psychology.

Dr. Allen’s Google Scholar Page

---

---

Postdoctoral Researchers

Tatiana D. Viena, Ph.D.

CASE Distinguished Postdoctoral Scholar

NINDS K99/R00 MOSAIC Scholar Recipient

NIMH R01 Diversity Supplement Recipient

Dr. Viena is interested in the role of midline thalamic nuclei, particularly the nucleus reuniens of the thalamus, and their contributions to coordinating cognitive networks (focused on the medial prefrontal cortex and hippocampus). She recently demonstrated the causal role of nucleus reuniens in inducing prefrontal-hippocampal beta coherence using an optogenetic approach that dynamically altered network coherence via the activation of reuniens-pathway specific neurons. Dr. Viena is now developing an optogenetic closed-loop approach capable of inducing reuniens-induced beta coherence in order to drive memory-related mPFC-HC coherence and enhance memory performance in rats running a sequence memory task.

Dr. Viena was recently awarded a MOSAIC Postdoctoral Career Transition Award to Promote Diversity (K99/R00) from NINDS to study thalamic nucleus reuniens as a target in network-wide memory states.

Dr. Viena earned her Doctor of Philosophy at the Florida Atlantic University in the Center for Complex Systems with Dr. Robert Vertes in 2018, and her Bachelor of Science degree at Nova Southeastern University.

Dr. Viena’s Google Scholar Page

---

---

Doctoral Graduate Students

Maximilian Schlecht, M.S.

Doctoral Graduate Student

Mr. Schlecht joined the lab as a Research Technician  in order to assist with research disrupting activity in specific circuit pathways in the hippocampus and medial prefrontal circuitry.  He is adept with confocal imaging and histology which is used to determine DREADD expression patterns in specific circuits of the rat hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex connection pathways. He now joins the lab as a graduate student and will begin mapping circuitry in mPFC-RE-HC pathways using dual-labeling retrograde tracer approaches.

Mr. Schlecht earned his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Florida International University in 2015.

---

Valentina Roldan, M.S.

Doctoral Graduate Student

Ms. Valentina Roldan earned both her Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering (2021), and her Master of Science in Cognitive Neuroscience (2023) at Florida International University. She is interested in understanding the underlying neurophysiological bases of memory and cognition. Her work focuses on investigating the activity of single units and ensembles within the medial prefrontal cortex-thalamic nucleus reuniens-hippocampus circuit with respect to sequence memory variables. She mainly advances her research through sophisticated data analyses and computational methods such as MATLAB, Python, and R.

---

Deirdre Murphy, M.S.

Doctoral Graduate Student

Ms. Murphy earned her BS in Neuroscience from Stonehill College (Easton, MA) and her MS in Bioengineering from Tufts University(Medford, Ma). While pursuing her education she worked across biomedical labs, most recently at Biogen (Cambridge, MA). Her experience includes behavior, electrophysiology, pharmacokinetics and surgical techniques across multiple translational species. Ms. Murphys graduate project is focused on developing translational genetic models of neurological disease in pigs. She will be validating these models through studying behavior, histology and other relevant biomarkers.

---

Cortney Stedman

Doctoral Graduate Student

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

Ms. Stedman earned her bachelor’s degree at University of Minnesota Twin Cities and later, worked at the Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Lab in Boston College as a lab manager, where she gained experience in both neuroimaging and electrophysiology. Ms. Stedman’s graduate project is focused on investigating the role of high frequency ripple activity in the hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex during memory tasks. Her goal is to increase the mechanistic understanding of episodic memory by examining well-detailed neurophysiological events during memory-guided decisions in a cross-species non-spatial sequence memory task.  She is dually mentored by Dr. Tim Allen and Dr. Aaron Mattfeld (FIU Memory and Development Lab). 

---

---

Lab Research Assistants

Gabriela Lopez

Research  Assistant

Ms. Lopez earned her Bachelor of Science in Behavioral Neuroscience in 2022. She is now working as a volunteer research assistant under the supervision of Dr. Tatiana Viena.  Her current project is geared at identifying populations of midline thalamic neurons that project to dorsal and ventral hippocampus or both. She also assists Dr. Viena in training animals on the sequence memory task. Gabriela plans to pursue a PhD in the neuroscience at a R01 research institution.

---

---

Undergraduate Research Assistants

Abdiel Vasallo

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Mr. Vasallo is currently pursuing a Chemistry and Natural and Applied Sciences double major with a minor in Biology at Florida International University. His undergraduate research work involves sorting single units from recordings in the medial prefrontal cortex and hippocampus from rats that perform the sequence memory task (under Valentina Roldan) and rats in sleep post-activation of nucleus reuniens neurons (under Dr. Viena). Mr. Vasallo plans to pursue an MD-PhD track after graduating from FIU in 2023.

---

Lucero Condor

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Ms. Condor is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Behavioral Neuroscience at Florida International University. Under Dr. Tatiana Viena’s direction, Lucero is currently working on a project geared at identifying populations of midline thalamic neurons that project to dorsal and ventral hippocampus or both. She also assists Dr. Viena in training animals on the sequence memory task. Lucero will pursue an MD after graduating from FIU in 2023.

---

Lohane Moreira Da Costa

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Ms. Moreira Da Costa is currently pursuing a double major in Behavioral Neuroscience and Natural and Applied Sciences at Florida International University. She assists Dr. Tatiana Viena in training animals on the sequence memory task for a project that is geared at investigating the role of beta coordinated coherence in the prefrontal-reuniens-hippocampal network. Lohane’s career goal is obtaining an MD degree.

---

Sean Ojeda

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Mr. Ojeda is currently pursuing a Biological Sciences major along with a second major in Natural and Applied Sciences at Florida International University. He assists Dr. Tatiana Viena in training animals on the sequence memory task for a project that is geared at investigating the role of beta coordinated coherence in the prefrontal-reuniens-hippocampal network. Mr. Ojeda plans on pursuing an MD degree after graduating from Florida International University in the Summer of 2023.

---

Guillermo Mederos

Undergraduate Research Assistant

---

Adrian Castillo

Undergraduate Research Assistant

---

Gwendolyn Howland

Undergraduate Research Assistant

---

---

Past Members: