People

Andrada Marica

DPhil student (joint with Rui Ponte Costa)

Andrada worked as a Master’s student under Andy’s supervision in the Carandini and Harris lab, looking at sensorimotor transformations in the cortex. She did her undergraduate degree at UCL, specializing in neuroscience and psychology with maths and stats. She is very passionate about sensory systems and the use of computational tools in neuroscience. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, cycling and travelling.

Da Song

Postdoctoral scientist 

Da comes from Dalian, China, a beautiful coastal city. He got his PhD in Beijing Institute of Technology, where he worked on the neural representation of hippocampal CA3 in spatial working memory and generalization. He joined the Peters lab in DPAG in February 2024. Now he is working with Andy to investigate the convergence of sensorimotor learning in cortico-basal ganglia pathway. In his spare time, he likes to work out at the gym.

Haron Avgana

DPhil student

Haron completed his undergraduate studies in Psychology and English Literature at the University of Haifa, followed by a Master’s degree where he investigated the role of MDMA (ecstasy) in fear extinction. He then earned an MSc in Neuroscience at Oxford, where he undertook a rotation in the lab before joining. In his DPhil, Haron focuses on exploring thalamo-cortical loops and the dynamic changes that occur during sensorimotor integration. In his free time, he enjoys bouldering, cooking, and reading literature.

Peter Gorman

DPhil student

Peter comes from Dublin, Ireland, and earned his undergraduate degrees in neuroscience as part of the Dual BA program with Trinity College Dublin and Columbia University, New York. In Dublin and New York he worked on projects investigating risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease and on the regulation of the sympathetic nervous system. His DPhil will explore striatal heterogeneity in sensorimotor learning. His career ambitions are to acquire an apostrophe and move from the Peters lab to Peter’s lab.

Cato Kienhuis

MSc student

Cato grew up near Leiden, the Netherlands. She is currently completing the Master’s year of her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Science. Previously, she has worked on sex differences in the optomotor response in flies. Her Master project will focus on exploring the changes in the striatum for different types of conditioning. In her free time, she plays touch rugby, sings in a choir, and enjoys a good book.