The Team
Prof. Dan Turner-Evans
Principal Investigator
Dan received his B.S in applied physics and electrical engineering from Yale University in 2008. He then joined the lab of Prof. Harry Atwater at Caltech for his Ph.D in applied physics. At Caltech, Dan developed new solar cell technologies. During his Ph.D, Dan became fascinated by the brain. After he defended in 2013, Dan decided to turn his fascination into his career. He moved to the HHMI Janelia Research Campus for postdoctoral training in the lab of Dr. Vivek Jayaraman. At Janelia, Dan characterized a head direction system in the fly brain. This system is similar to the head direction system found in mammals, birds, and fish. While head direction systems had previously been studied at a high level, Dan was able to identify all of the neurons involved in the fly head direction system and to characterize the functional roles of many of them. Dan is excited to continue to develop and apply approaches to characterize the computational units of the brain at UCSC. When not puzzling over neural circuits in the brain, Dan can often be found exploring the great outdoors with his dog, Loki.
Cole R. K. Harder
Ph. D. Student, MCD Biology
Cole graduated from the University of Wisconsin Madison in 2018 with a BS in Genetics. He then began doing research full time in the laboratory of Prof. Su-Chun Zhang, with whom he also did his undergraduate research. There he studied how to robustly define and pattern induced pluripotent stem cells into neural and glial subtypes working towards developing in-vitro disease-in-a-dish models of neurodegenerative diseases. After concluding his projects in the Zhang lab, he switched his focus to studying the post-transcriptional regulator Bicc1 in the laboratory of Michael D. Sheets, also at UW-Madison. After two years of learning biochemical techniques in the Sheets lab, Cole moved to Santa Cruz California to start his PhD. There he met Prof. Turner-Evans. They quickly discovered their common interest in the central nervous system, agreed upon projects of mutual interest, and Cole joined Dan’s lab in the beginning of 2022. When he’s not studying neurons, Cole likes to spend his time hiking, climbing, watching stand-up comedy, and making art.
Kerstin Richter
Specialist
Jorin Eddy
Assistant Research Specialist
Jorin graduated from UCSC with a BS in neuroscience and cognitive science in the spring of 2021. Over the course of his undergraduate career, Jorin spent much of his free time making connections in the local STEM community and cultivating a musical arts collective with his friends. Following his passions, Jorin now spends his time outside the lab surfing, practicing guitar, and organizing/hosting sustainable performing-arts events in our beautiful redwood forests.
Ali Shenasa
Jr. Research Specialist
Ali graduated from UCSC in 2022 with a BS in computer science and a minor in bioinformatics. During his last year of undergrad, Ali joined the Turner-Evans Lab as a volunteer where he gained a passion for neuroscience and data analysis. After graduating, he joined the lab as a Junior Specialist, building data analysis pipelines, simulating neurons, and visualizing loads of data. Outside of the lab Ali enjoys backpacking, rock climbing, discworld books, and the occasional video game.
Vrishab Nukala
Undergraduate