Hello!

I’m Dev, a postdoctoral researcher in the Neurosurgery department at UT Southwestern Medical Center. I graduated with a Ph.D. degree in July 2024 from David Smith’s lab at Cornell University.

My research

My research focuses on collecting and analyzing the intraoperative single neuron electrophysiology data from patients with neurological disorders to understand cognitive and motor functions. I’m doing translational neuroscience research hoping to improve the treatment outcomes of these patients, building on my expertise in understanding cognitive functions in rodents using single neuron electrophysiological recordings during my M.S. and Ph.D. I’m also putting together a state-of-the-art electrophysiological setup to use high density probes for single neuron recording which will give a higher yield of simultaneously recorded neurons, providing even more useful insights into the cognitive and motor functions of patients with neurological disorders.

Background and my switch to Neuroscience

I did my Undergrad in Electronics and Communication Engg. from National institute of technology, Bhopal, India. During that time, I had an existential crisis which lead me to introspect and think about the purpose of life and our place within the universe. I realized that the tool that we use to understand the universe, i.e. the brain, is itself a mystery. So, I thought if we don’t understand the brain properly, then our understanding of the universe will also be limited. That was the start of my passion for Neuroscience. At that time, I did many online courses to understand the basics of Neuroscience. Then I went on to do a Masters in Neuroscience at University of Texas at Dallas. There, I joined the lab of Lucien Thompson and learned electrophysiological techniques to understand the information encoding patterns in the Hippocampus during spatial navigation. After completing my Masters, I joined Cornell for my Ph.D.

My hobbies and life

Apart from my research, I like to have intellectual conversations about various different topics like AI, Neuroscience, Philosophy, Astronomy etc. I like playing sports, especially cricket. I also like to do star-gazing, hiking, and traveling.