The Tschida Lab is actively seeking post-docs and graduate students. Individuals from historically excluded groups are strongly encouraged to apply!

Principal Investigator

kat227@cornell.edu

Katie Tschida, Mary Armstrong Meduski ‘80 Assistant Professor of Psychology

Katie received her B.A. in Biology from Grinnell College, and then moved to North Carolina, where she completed her PhD, studying vocal learning in zebra finches. During her first post-doc, Katie switched gears to study the descending control of leg movements in the fruit fly. In her second post-doc, Katie returned to her first true love, studying the neural circuit basis for vocalization, this time in mice. Katie is thrilled to continue her research at Cornell and plans on buying real, honest-to-goodness snow boots very soon.

Postdoctoral Associates

Xin Zhao

Xin has a broad interest in animal behavior and its underlying mechanisms. During his Ph.D. with Dr. Catherine Marler, he investigated the effects of social experience and environmental context on testosterone-induced conditioned place preference (CPP) and the potential role of CPP in the development of territoriality. Xin also worked as a postdoc with Dr. Amanda Kentner, using preclinical rodent models to study the disruptive effects of early-life stress and prenatal immune activation on behaviors and cognition in later life. In the Tschida lab, Xin is enthusiastic about employing cutting edge techniques to characterize neural pathways that generate flexible USVs in different social contexts, and studying how these pathways are impaired in the mouse models of psychiatric disorders involving social communication deficits.

David Zheng

David first became interested in social communication during undergrad, majoring in linguistics and literature. In his Master’s work with Dr. Alex Ophir, he investigated the role of social learning in prairie vole pair-bond formation. During his Ph.D., he researched the role of androgen modulation in the vocal output of Alston’s singing mice with Dr. Steve Phelps. He then switched to studying the neurobiology of the African clawed frog for his first postdoc with Dr. Ayako Yamaguchi, where he employed stereotaxic surgery and calcium imaging to understand the role of central pattern generators in vocalizations of this species. For his work in the Tschida Lab, David is excited to tease apart the roles of midbrain-to-hindbrain circuits for vocal communication while employing state-of-the-art techniques such as intersectional viral strategies and optogenetics.

Graduate Students

Nicole Pranic

Nicole received her bachelor’s degree from Bahcesehir University, Turkey where she double majored in psychology and molecular biology and genetics. During her undergraduate studies, she focused on housing manipulations, social value, and ultrasonic vocalizations in rats. She is broadly interested in exploring the neural bases of mice communication across development as well as identifying the neural systems in which social and environmental cues are integrated into the emission of USVs, approaching these questions from an evolutionary framework. She is eager to join the Tschida Lab to study the neural correlates of mice ultrasonic vocalizations using a wide range of intersectional genetic methods. When she is not learning about how rodents talk to each other, she enjoys reading science fiction books and listening to podcasts.

Patryk Ziobro

Patryk received his bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University where he majored in psychology. During his undergraduate studies, he investigated the development of basal forebrain cholinergic neurons in the mouse brain and studied the role of these neurons in visual discrimination in rats. Patryk is excited to join the Tschida Lab to study the forebrain-to-midbrain circuits that control and regulate USV production in mice. When he is not devoting his life to neuroscience, Patryk likes to hike and yell at the tv while watching sports.

Cassidy Malone

Cassidy received her bachelor’s degree from The University of Texas at Austin in psychology and anthropology. There, she researched the behavioral and neural effects of social contests involving unfamiliar and familiar conspecifics in a highly social fish species. She is excited to investigate the role and significance of USVs during courtship in the Tschida Lab. When she’s not in the lab, Cassidy spends her time watching too many movies and curating the best patch of sunlight for her cat, Malcolm.

Undergraduate Research Assistants

Lab Alumni

Former postdoctoral associates:

Dr. Tatyana Matveeva (Postdoc, NECSI)

Former undergraduate research assistants:

Erin Hernandez (Grinnell College)

Class of ‘23: Jacqueline Allen (Northwestern University) Stephen Batter, Chloe Chae, Valerie Chen, Caroline Kornbrek

Class of ‘22: Lola Adepoju (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia), William Chan (Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine, UNLV), Samantha Chu (Cayuga Medical Center/Cornell University), Tamara Grinberg, Zichen He (Duke University), Samantha Rabinovich (Rockefeller University), Archana Sadangi (Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine), Jennifer Zhao (Wellstar North Fulton Emergency Department)

Former high school research assistants/interns:

Zahra Choudry, Soraya Juste, Vaishnavi Kumbala, Asmita Mittal (Cornell University), Vanessa Moyo (University of Arkansas), Kristina Nguyen (UCSD), Paul Tran, Jade Yu