our members
Prakash Kara
pkara at umn dot edu
Prakash received a B.S. and M.S in Physiology from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and earned a Ph.D. in Physiology and Biophysics from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) along with a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota.
Austin Leikvoll
leikv009 at umn dot edu
Austin received his Bachelors of Science in Genetics, Cell Biology & Development at the University of Minnesota in 2019 and immediately joined the Kara lab as a technician, performing in vivo experiments, histology and other supportive roles. He is currently an MD/PhD student at the University of Minnesota and is actively involved with various research projects in the Kara lab.
Zane Crabtree
crabt047 at umn dot edu
Zane completed his bachelor degrees in Neuroscience and Psychology in the Fall of 2022. He joined the lab as a technician soon after. He currently performs in vivo imaging experiments and tests novel AAV-delivered neuronal calcium sensors.
Deano Farinella
farin012 at umn dot edu
Deano majored in Physics and Astrophysics at the University of Minnesota before going to the University of California at Irvine for a Masters and PhD in Physics. His PhD research included computational and experimental laser physics, where he developed and implemented ultrafast laser pulse compression techniques. Deano is responsible for the design, testing, integration, and maintenance of new optical modules that expand the capabilities of our existing systems to probe brain function.
Nicole Simco
simco017 at umn dot edu
Nicole received her B.S. in Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota in 2023, then joined the lab as a technician. She is currently responsible for carrying out histology, assisting with experiments, and lab maintenance. After gaining valuable benchwork experience, Nicole plans to attend graduate school and study neuropharmacology.
Harishankar Jayakumar
harish at umn dot edu
Hari received a Bachelor of Engineering from Bharathiar University before earning his Masters studying nano-biophotonics. Hari earned his PhD in Physics at University of Innsbruck in Austria and proceeded to do postdoctoral work in Calgary and New York. Hari joined the lab in 2019 and uses his optics expertise to enhance our imaging technologies and further our research.
Rishaab Paven
pavan012 at umn dot edu
Rishaab completed his Bachelors in Biomedical Engineering from Visvesvaraya Technological University and is currently pursuing his Masters in Biomedical Engineering at University of Minnesota. He joined the Kara lab in 2022 as a Research Assistant to develop computational methods tailored for the segmentation of the vasculature.
Alumni
Manini Mantri. Research technician in the Kara Lab lab from 2021-2022.
Erik Tilseth. Junior optical engineer in the Kara lab from 2021-2022.
Aniket Bhalerao. Undergraduate student in the Kara lab from 2019-2021.
Philip O’Herron. Postdoctoral fellow in the Kara lab from 2011–2017. In 2018 he became an Assistant Professor at Augusta University.
Manuel Levy. Postdoctoral fellow in the Kara lab from 2010–2015. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Duke University.
Pratik Chhatbar. Postdoctoral fellow in the Kara lab from 2011–2014. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology at Duke University.
Zhiming Shen. Postdoctoral fellow in the Kara lab from 2008–2012. He is currently an Associate Investigator (Professor) at the Institute for Neuroscience at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai China.
Adrien Schramm. Postdoctoral fellow in the Kara lab from 2011–2013. He is currently a senior fellow at the Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière, Paris France.
Zhongyang Lu. Postdoctoral fellow in the Kara lab from 2008–2010. He is currently a Senior Staff Scientist in the Department of Medicine at MUSC.
Jamie Boyd. Postdoctoral fellow in the Kara lab from 2006–2007. He is currently a software developer and systems neuroscience oracle at the Center for Brain Health, University of British Columbia Canada.
Luke Westlake. Histology technician in the Kara lab from 2018-2019. He is currently attending nursing school.
Chao Liu. Postdoctoral fellow in the Kara lab from 2018-2020. He is currently a research fellow at the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging of Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School.
Arani Roy. Postdoctoral fellow in the Kara Lab from 2018-2021. Arani now works as a Senior Research Associate at the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience.
Anthony Simons. Undergraduate student in the Kara Lab from 2018-2021. Tony is now a M.Ed student at the University of Minnesota.