Brian Wiltgen
I received my Ph.D. in Psychology from UCLA in 2003 and did my postdoctoral training at the same institute in the Neurobiology Department. My laboratory studies cellular and molecular mechanisms of memory formation in the hippocampus, cortex and amygdala.
I am particularly interested in systems consolidation and the process by which new memories are stabilized and maintained over time. To examine these issues, we combine behavioral analysis (spatial and contextual learning) with pharmacology, electrophysiology, immunohistochemistry and optogenetic techniques in transgenic mice.
CURRENT STUDENTS
Jalina Graham
I discovered a love of neuroscience while working in my undergraduate lab studying conspecific call selectivity in auditory midbrain neurons. After graduating with my BA in Cellular/Molecular Biology in May 2012, I worked for a year in the same lab as a technician studying the relationship between neuron structure/function in two closely related anuran species. I then joined the Wiltgen lab in 2014 as a PhD student in the UC Davis Neuroscience program. My current interests involve working at the intersection of behavior and neural activity to dissect the function of hippocampal circuitry.
Jamie Krueger
I graduated from Michigan State University in 2006 with a BS in Zoology: Cell and Developmental Biology, and completed my MS in Cell/Molecular Biology at Eastern Michigan University in 2012. In between undergrad and my Master’s, I spent two and a half years working as an Environmental Educator with the United States Peace Corps in Armenia.
As a neuroscience graduate student in the Wiltgen lab, I study the mechanisms of memory consolidation using Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADDs).
In my spare time I enjoy exploring California with my husband and our dog.
Jacob Wilmot
I recently graduated from the University of Delaware with degrees in Biology and Neuroscience. There, I became interested in dissecting the neural circuitry involved in forming and storing episodic memories. In the Fall of 2015 I joined the Wiltgen lab as a Biological Psychology PhD student.
Currently, my research interests broadly include using cellular and genetic methods to study episodic and contextual memory. I am particularly interested in studying the consolidation of hippocampus-dependent memories into hippocampus-independent memories stored in the neocortex. In my spare time, I enjoy tennis, music, cooking and eating, and exploring.
Yusuke Ota
Ever since a family member’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, I have been interested in the mechanisms of memory. This led me to double major in neuroscience and psychology at Skidmore College. Following graduation, I worked at the National Institute on Aging and studied neural development using mouse embryonic stem cells. In the fall of 2015, I joined the Wiltgen lab as a psychology graduate student to better understand how memory traces are established, retrieved, and regulated over time.
Kyle Puhger
I’m a coffee addict and craft beer lover who graduated from UC Davis in 2013 with a BS in Biopsychology. In the summer of 2015 I joined the Wiltgen lab as lab manager. In Fall of 2016, I joined the lab as a graduate student in the Biological Psychology PhD program. I’m interested in using optogenetics, DREADDs, and electrophysiology to better understand the neurobiological mechanisms of learning and memory.
When I’m not in the lab I’m most likely reading or exploring somewhere I’ve never been before!
FORMER STUDENTS AND POST-DOCS
Ana Crestani
Yuki Nakazawa
Kazumasa Tanaka
Anahita Hamidi
