Research Team

Current

Radha Kalluri

Dr. Radha Kalluri (Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology)

Radha leads the research efforts of the Physiology of the Inner Ear Laboratory at USC.  Her primary training is in Electrical Engineering with a specific interest in waves, signals, and systems.  For her Ph.D., Radha developed and applied non-invasive acoustical measurements to study the fluid mechanics of inner-ear function.  She was introduced to cellular biophysics and neuroscience during her post-doctoral fellowship.  Radha is a perpetual student and aspires to be a good teacher.  Overall, she gets a great thrill from learning new things.  In her free time…wait..what?

Dr. Daniel Bronson (Post-doctoral Fellow)

Daniel is a post-doctoral fellow in the Hearing and Communications Neuroscience Training Program.  Daniel received his PhD in 2019 from the Behavioral Cognitive NeuroscDaniel received his Ph.D. in 2019 from the Behavioural and Cognitive Neuroscience Program at the Graduate Center at the City University of New York, where he worked with Thomas Preuss at Hunter College. His doctorate research focused on the ion channels that mediate sensory processing in the startle circuit of goldfish. At the PIE lab, Daniel is studying the complex interaction of ion channels in the inner ear and their role in hearing and balance.

Dr. Nathanial Nowak (Post-doctoral Associate)

Nate received his PhD in 2020 from Neuroscience program at Johns Hopkin’s University.  For his doctorate research he worked with Paul Fuchs to study the responses Type II spiral ganglion neurons subjected to acoustic trauma.  At the PIE lab, Nate is studying the intrinsic heterogeneity of afferent neurons in the inner ear and sensitivity to efferent modulation.

Katherine Regalado (Graduate Student)

Katherine is a graduate student in the Neuroscience Graduate Program.  She has an enduring interest in sensory neuroscience.  For her graduate work, she is interested in understanding how sensory neurons develop into diverse populations capable of representing sensory information using different encoding mechanisms.

4. UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Zara Mubin (Undergraduate Research Student)

Zara is an undergraduate student majoring in Neuroscience at the University of Southern California.  She is interested in understanding how neurons encode information in the auditory and vestibular systems.  She’s currently working on mastering the microdissection of inner ear tissues.

Ryan Chang (Undergraduate Research Student)

Ryan is an undergraduate student majoring in Neuroscience at the University of Southern California. He is interested in understanding how differences in cellular physiology caused by disease can underlie broader auditory and vestibular dysfunction.

 

 

Alumni

Megana Iyer (2019 – 2022); Medical Student; University of Louiville, Ky

Megana graduated from USC in May of 2019 with a B.S. in computational neuroscience.  Her research interests lie in cellular and molecular neuroscience, and she is currently investigating the development and morphology of cells in the inner ear.  In her free time, she enjoys reading, swimming, and playing the piano.

Christopher Ventura (2013-2019); Scientist 2; Thermo-Fisher Scientific
Chris graduated with his Ph.D from the Neuroscience Graduate Program at the University of Southern California in 2019.  For his doctoral work, Chris used patch-clamp electrophysiology and biophysical modeling to understand the role of hyperpolarization activated cation channels in shaping the responses of vestibular afferent neurons.  After his Ph.D, Chris worked studied addiction and cannabinoids as a post-doctoral scholar at University of California in Irvine. He recently started a position as a Scientist at Thermo Fisher Scientific in Los Angeles.

Alexander Markowitz (2014-2020); Cancer Data Scientist, University of California Los Angeles.

Alex graduated with a Ph.D. from the Neuroscience Graduate Program at USC.  For his doctoral work, Alex studied the relationship between biophysical diversity and functional diversity in the auditory nerve.  His work contributes to an essential understanding of how sound intensity is encoded in the auditory nerve.  Alex recently started a new position as post-doctoral fellow learning bioinformatics in cancer at the University of California in Los Angeles.

Maya Monges-Hernandez (2013-2017).   Research Compliance at the California State University, Pomona

Ariel Edward Hight PhD

Ariel Edward Hight (2011-2013);  Post-doctoral research scientist, NYU

Ed worked as a research assistant in the PIELab while earning his Master’s degree in Bioengineering from the University of Southern California.  He developed a conductance based model of vestibular-ganglion neurons while learning to do patch-clamp electrophysiology in the Kalluri-lab when we were at the House Research Institute (former).  After his time in the Kalluri-lab, Ed went on to earn his Ph.D. from the Speech and Hearing Biosciences and Technology Program at Harvard University.  He is currently a post-doctoral fellow in Dr. Mario Svirsky’s laboratory at New York University.

  • Charlene Cruz (2017-2018).  Research Technician, University of Southern California
  • Stephen Opot (2012-2013), Graduate Research Engineer, UCLA
  • Lucy Gharibian (2010-2011).  Trade commissioner, Consulate General of Canada
  • Angelynn Huang (2022), Undergraduate Research Student, Biomedical Engineering.
  • Risha Annamaraju (2022), Undergraduate Research Scholar, Health Promotions and Disease Prevention.
  • Megana Iyer, Undergraduate Research Scholar, Computational Neuroscience (2017-2019); Primary cell culture of vestibular neurons
  • Shayna Cooper (2015), Medical Student, Stanford University
  • Payton Ottum (2014), MD Candidate at the UC San Diego School of Medicine
  • Jasmine Siudiski (2013-2014), Undergraduate Research Scholar
  • Sonya Sidhu (2013-2014), Undergraduate Research, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Saya Yusa (2012-2013), Family Medicine, Michigan