The rockefeller university

Margaret studies the evolution of female mating behaviors within the Caenorhabditis genus. She also develops genetic engineering methods for the lab.

Elias earned his B.Sc. in Applied Mathematics / Biology from Brown University in 2012. As an undergraduate, he worked with Gilad Barnea to dissect the effect of odorant receptor gene expression choice on axon guidance of olfactory sensory neurons during mouse development. From 2013-2014, he worked in the lab of Mary Gehring at the Whitehead Institute at MIT dissecting the effects of epiallelic variation and genomic imprinting on gene expression patterns in developing plant seeds. He joined the graduate program at Rockefeller University in 2014. He rotated with Vanessa Ruta, where he studied the contribution of visual stimuli on Drosophila courtship behavior. In the Bargmann lab he rotated with Xin Jin to investigate the effect of sensory signaling on an imprinted olfactory avoidance behavior in C. elegans. Since joining the lab, he has worked to understand the foraging decisions made by C. elegans in heterogeneous food environments — dissecting the effects of sensory and neuromodulatory signaling on the generation of behavioral states. He was the recipient of an NIH F31 Predoctoral Research Award in 2017.

Phil Kidd received his AB in physics from Princeton, where he discovered his love of biology working on models of E. coli metabolic regulation with Ned Wingreen. He went on to a PhD at Cornell, where he worked in many areas of theoretical biophysics before deciding that real science means doing experiments. This precipitated a move to Rockefeller where he completed his PhD studying the dynamics of circadian rhythms as a visiting student with Eric Siggia and Mike Young. Phil is interested in all sorts of biological systems that display complex dynamics. In the Bargmann lab he is researching the role of primary interneurons in sensory information processing and chemotaxis. Outside the lab he enjoys mixing cocktails, grilling, and playing chess and go.

Du, a native of China, received his undergraduate degree from Humboldt State University, where he studied tick-borne diseases. He then became a CIRM scholar at Stanford University, studying the effect of mesenchymal stem cells on bone regeneration from 2011-2013. He then joined the Tri-I MD-PhD program studying the molecular mechanism of insulin pathways and learning in the Bargmann Lab. He received his Ph.D. in 2021 and continues to work on the follow-up studies. Du is a recipient of The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans, and Crain’s 40 under 40 for business. In his spare time, he enjoys hands-on work and fabrication, such as woodworking and 3-D printing. He is the founder of the company iDu Optics LLC and the inventor of the device LabCam that has a broad customer base in universities and clinics for microscopy imaging.

Javier grew up in Lima, the capital of Peru. He received his B.Sc. degree in biology from Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in 2012. From 2013-2015, he was a postgraduate research associate in the laboratory of Daniel Colon-Ramos at Yale University. At Yale, he led a project to generate a complete atlas of neural development in the nematode C. elegans. In 2016 he joined the Bargmann lab where he works to understand how internal signals modulate sickness behavior.

Audrey grew up in the mountains of Park City, Utah. In undergrad at UPenn she studied philosophy and biochemistry in the classroom and mechanisms of bacterial persistence in the lab. She tried out being a philosopher as a master’s student at the University of Cambridge before returning to bench science. Her PhD work focuses on understanding plasticity in serotonergic neurons that gives rise to an aversive learning behavior. When she’s not imaging fluorescent worms, Audrey likes cooking, eating, and finding excuses to be outside.

Likui was born in China, and he came to the US in 2012. He earned his BS from Shandong University in 2009 and went on to obtain an MS in biochemistry from Tsinghua University, China in 2012. He obtained a PhD in Chemical Biology from University of Florida in 2018, working in the laboratory of Rebecca A. Butcher, where he studied the biosynthesis and mechanism of a newly discovered polyketide and nonribosomal peptide called the nemamides in C. elegans. He joined the Bargmann lab in March 2019 and is studying the neural and molecular basis of how C. elegans distinguish distinct food sources. Outside of the lab, he likes hiking and ‘driving’, plays soccer, and cheers his supporting team Manchester United.

James was born in Honolulu, Hawaii and is a proud alum of The California State University Los Angeles (BS in Biology) and The California Institute of Technology (PhD in Genetics, laboratory of Prof. Paul W. Sternberg). James is interested in how worms interact with the bacteria in their natural environment—specifically, how worm behavior is altered by naturally relevant symbionts and pathogens. He also enjoys spending his time photographing and writing.

Friederike grew up in Connecticut and enjoyed summers camping in various national parks with her family. She received her undergraduate degree in Computer Science at MIT where she also did research studying the retrosplenial cortex with Dr. Mark Harnett. She joined the Tri-Institutional MD PhD program in the summer of 2018 and is excited to be currently studying sequences of behavior in the Bargmann lab.

Natalya Krutovska is a Behavioral Neurobiology major from Hunter College who aspires to bridge health disparities with technology and data-driven innovation as a future clinician-researcher. Throughout undergrad, she worked in the laboratory of Dr. Zhuhao Wu on optimizing 2D and 3D iDISCO tissue clearing and immunolabeling approaches for the purpose of studying brain-wide proteomic mapping in a variety of mammalian models. Since joining the Bargmann lab in 2021, she has been using machine learning and video tracking to study how worm behavior is affected by exposure to different bacteria. Prior to her interest in the sciences, Natalya studied classical piano and violin performance and music theory – when stumped with research, she returns to her artistic side to refuel creativity and decompress.

Yoav did his BSc in Biology and Cognitive Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he grew up. He them moved to the Weizmann Institute of Science to complete his MSc and PhD in Ofer Yizhar’s lab, studying functional synaptic connectivity in the prefrontal cortex. Yoav joined the Bargmann lab as a postdoc in 2022. He plans to study evolution of the nervous system in the context of behavioral adaptation, while finally enjoying a proper winter in NYC.

See Cori Bargmann’s bio page.

Priscilla grew up in Brooklyn, NY and earned a BA in Biology from Barnard. She joined the Bargmann Lab in 2010. She loves to travel, eat and spend time with her cats.

Hernán was born in Colombia and holds degrees in plastic arts and art history. Before joining the Bargmann Lab in 2004 he worked in the laboratories of Dr. Arnold J. Levine and Dr. Charles M. Rice.