neville sanjana

curriculum vita

Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Sciences // 77 Massachusetts Ave., 46-5065 // Cambridge, MA 02139 // 617.452.2691 // nsanjana AT mit

research interests

Broadly, I am interested in developmental neuroscience and building new cellular tools and assays for quantitative neuroscience. Currently, I use fluorescence microscopy and stochastic modeling techniques to understand the cellular behaviors and mechanisms of early axon outgrowth in wiring neural networks. More information on specific projects can be found here.

education

• PhD Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT (2009)
• BS Symbolic Systems, Stanford University (2001)
• AB English, Stanford University (2001)

publications

• Scott, B. B., Sanjana, N. E. The wanderlust of newborn neocortical interneurons, Journal of Neuroscience 29, 7114-7115 (2009).
• Sanjana, N. E. and Fuller, S. B. A fast flexible ink-jet printing method for patterning dissociated neurons in culture, Journal of Neuroscience Methods 136, 151-163 (2004).
• Sanjana, N. E., Tenenbaum, J.B. Bayesian models of inductive generalization, Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 15, 51-58 (2003).

conference abstracts

• Sanjana, N. E., Seung H.S. A hidden Markov model for the directed outgrowth and turning motions of axons. Society for Neuroscience 39th Annual Meeting (2009).
• Sanjana, N. E., Seung H.S. A hidden Markov model for the directed outgrowth and turning motions of axons. Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Farms Conference on Constructing Neural Circuits (2009).
• Sanjana, N. E., Seung H.S. A hidden Markov model for the directed outgrowth and turning motions of axons. Neural Information Processing Systems Workshop on Stochastic Models of Behavior (2008).
• Sanjana, N. E., Seung H.S. A new technique for visualizing neurite movement during the initial stages of dendrite and axon outgrowth. Society for Neuroscience 37th Annual Meeting (2007).
• Sanjana, N. E., Siddiqui A., Choi J., Freeman D., Seung H.S. Culture of mammalian neurons in a microfluidic chamber for long-term studies of axon growth and chemotaxis in a chemical gradient. Society for Neuroscience 35th Annual Meeting (2005).
• Sanjana, N. E., Tenenbaum, J.B. Capturing property-based similarity in human concept learning using maximum-likelihood Gaussians with a Bayesian framework. Sixth International Conference on Cognitive and Neural Systems (2002).

awards and fellowships

• 2009: Honorable Mention, Olympus BioScapes International Digital Imaging Competition
  • Selected to join traveling exhibit on display in science museums worldwide (2010-2012)
• 2005: BCS Team Award for Outstanding Teaching, MIT
• 2003: Angus MacDonald Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, MIT
• 2002: Best Student Paper Award honorable mention, Neural Information Processing Systems Conference
• 2002: Fellowship to attend the Complex Systems Summer School, Santa Fe Institute
• 2001-2006: Predoctoral Fellowship, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
• 2001: Finalist ($1000 honorarium), Hertz Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship
• 2001: Honorable Mention, National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship
• 2001: K. Jon Barwise Award, Stanford University
• 2001: Phi Beta Kappa, Stanford University
• 2001: Undergraduate Research Opportunities Major Grant, Stanford University
• 1996: Superior Medal, JEA National Journalism Write-Offs
• 1996: First Place, California State Science Olympiad
• 1995: First Place, Senior Division, Navy Research and Development (now Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, San Diego)

teaching experience

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• 9.12: Experimental Molecular Neurobiology (TA Fall 2004)
• 9.01: Neuroscience and Behavior (TA Fall 2003)
• 9.00: Introduction to Psychology (TA Fall 2002)

• Stanford University

• SSP100: Introduction to Symbolic Systems (Planning/creation committee 1999-2000, TA Fall 2000)
• CS106A: Programming Methodology (TA Fall 1999 and Summer 2000)

industry

• Moderator, Flagship Ventures Brain Futures event, November 2007.

media & more

• KULTURAMA: Museum of Mankind (time-lapse microscopy movie featured in exhibit on learning),
  Zürich, Switzerland, June 2010-February 2011.
• Neural Architectures exhibition (time-lapse microscopy movie featured in art-science exhibit),
  Institute of Neuroinformatics, Universität Zürich & ETHZ, Switzerland, March-April 2010.
• Algae Sex and Amoeba Smackdown - Best Microscopy Videos of the Year (#10 in featured gallery),
  io9 (Gawker.com), November 2009.
• Science 2.0: You Say You Want a Revolution? HHMI Bulletin, November 2008.
• Young Scientists Reach Out WGBH Science City, Original broadcast: April 24, 2007.
• Cranial Explorations in the Splash Class HHMI Bulletin, Winter 2005.
• Peptides: the 21st century's building blocks MIT News Office, September 10, 2003.