FALL 2026 GRADUATE SEMINAR SERIES

Fall 2026 Graduate Seminars will be hosted each Friday from 11:45 AM - 12:50 PM in Central King Building (CKB) Room 303.

Seminar Coordinator:

Dr. Rajarshi Chattaraj

rajarshi.chattaraj@njit.edu

	November 6 Guest Speaker: Irene de Lázaro Designation/Department: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Assistant Professor Institution: New York University, Tandon School of Engineering Title: Enhanced regeneration and rejuvenation through in vivo cell reprogramming: lessons from the first decade of research and a success story in the mouse heart Abstract: Our lab develops gene therapies and nanomedicines to reprogram cellular identity and promote tissue regeneration. This seminar will explore lessons from a decade of in vivo cellular reprogramming research and present new findings showing that partial reprogramming rejuvenates cardiac myocytes, significantly improving heart function in an age-dependent mouse model of heart failure.
	October 30 Guest Speaker: Nicholas T. Blum Designation/Department: Corporate Functions R&D - Sr. Scientist Manager Institution: The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) Title: Changing Innovation Paradigms at The Procter & Gamble Company Abstract: How do we apply scientific principles to deliver products that make money? By applying a theoretical and hypothesis driven framework, the creation of value for consumers becomes an experiment. I will discuss my perspective on how new business models and tools are dramatically changing the way funding is justified and the skills needed to succeed in R&D at P&G.
	October 16 Guest Speaker: Allie Obermeyer Designation/Department: Department of Chemical Engineering, Associate Professor Institution: Columbia University Title: Self Assembled Protein Particles for Cellular Delivery Abstract: Intracellular delivery of folded, functional proteins remains a major challenge for protein therapeutics. This work presents a genetically encoded platform for assembling micellar protein nanoparticles through electrostatic coacervation, enabling modular control over particle properties and high protein payload retention under mild conditions, while enhancing physiological stability, cellular uptake, and cytosolic release.
	October 9 Guest Speaker: Drew B. Headley Designation/Department: Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Assistant Professor Institution: Rutgers University - Newark Title: Cortical microcircuits at the intersection of rhythms and codes Abstract: Using high-density Neuropixel recordings in rat motor cortex, we investigated how large-scale population activity interacts with local microcircuits and synaptic transmission. We found that synaptic connection strength is rapidly shaped by population activity and fast cortical rhythms, informing a novel recurrent neural network architecture that outperforms existing models and demonstrating that neural computation is fundamentally activity-dependent.
	October 2 Guest Speaker: Leigh Charvet Designation/Department: Professor of Psychiatry & Neurology Institution: NYU Grossman School of Medicine Title: Home-Based Neuromodulation: Optimizing Treatment and Translation Abstract: Home-based transcranial electrical stimulation provides new opportunities for delivering repeated neuromodulation at scale and enabling extended dosing protocols. This talk will review our experience developing and implementing remotely supervised tDCS across research and clinical settings, with a focus on treatment delivery, dosing, paired activity, supervision, and patient selection. I will also discuss emerging approaches to personalization, the importance of biomarkers for advancing toward closed-loop stimulation, and considerations for translating new neuromodulation technologies into the home.
	September 25 Guest Speaker: Anli A. Liu Designation/Department: Professor of Neurology, Principal Investigator, NYU Memory and Neuromodulation Laboratory Investigator Institution: NYU Neuroscience Institute Title: Memory in Real Time: Naturalistic Memory Behavior Captures Neural Dynamics Abstract: Patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) often experience subtle everyday memory deficits that may be missed by traditional neuropsychological tests. This talk will highlight naturalistic memory measures, including spoken recall and visual search, to examine how episodic memory deficits relate to normal and pathological hippocampal activity. These approaches provide a powerful framework for detecting subtle cognitive changes in epilepsy and other memory-impaired populations.
	September 18 Guest Speaker: R. Marisol Herrera-Perez Designation/Department: Biomedical Engineering Wilmot Assistant Professor Institution: University of Rochester Title: Light-Controlled Forces in Living Tissues Abstract: Mechanical forces generated by cells and their surrounding environment shape tissues and influence cell behavior, but tools for precisely manipulating these forces in vivo remain limited. This talk will present genetically encoded optogenetic tools developed to control actomyosin contractility and focal adhesions in vitro and in fruit flies, demonstrating how these tools regulate force patterns during tissue development and cell migration. The talk will also highlight ongoing efforts to modulate cell-substrate adhesion and investigate its effects on force generation and nuclear mechanotransduction.
	September 11 Guest Speaker: Akash Ranjan Pattnaik Designation/Department: Innovation Research Scientist, Translational Research Team Institution: HOPPR AI Title: Engineering past n = 1: From intracranial EEG in epilepsy to foundation models in radiology Abstract: Computational tools in clinical neuroscience often fail to translate to practice because models validated in one cohort may not generalize to new patients, sites, or protocols. In drug-resistant epilepsy, individualized electrode placement makes intracranial EEG especially challenging, as recordings lack a common coordinate system and require patient-specific analyses. This talk will examine how preprocessing choices affect inferred intracranial EEG networks, introduce a spatiotemporal transformer that maps ictal recordings into a shared representational space, and explore lessons from pretrained radiology models and cross-modality transfer toward developing foundation models for clinical neurophysiology.
	September 4 Guest Speaker: Rahul Gaurav Designation/Department: Movement, Investigations and Therapeutics (MOV’IT) Team and Center for NeuroImaging Research (CENIR), Neuroscientist Institution: Paris Brain Institute, Sorbonne University, France Title: Neuroimaging Without Borders - Rethinking Brain Biomarkers in the Global South Abstract: Neuroimaging biomarkers are widely used in neurodegenerative disease research, yet populations in the Global South remain underrepresented. This talk will highlight studies across Brazil, Mexico, India, and European cohorts, focusing on neuromelanin-sensitive MRI, quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM), and post-mortem 7 Tesla QSM, while exploring how biomarkers can be developed and validated across diverse populations, scanners, and clinical settings. The talk will also briefly discuss implications for AI in health, neuroimaging, and global brain health.