Lab members

Francesco P.Battaglia

Professor - Head of the Lab

francesco.battaglia@donders.ru.nl

I had an unusual career path, with Masters and PhD in Statistical Physics and Computational Neuroscience, then moving to experimental neuroscience with my postdoc, where I learned and developed new high density recording techniques. Because of this, I can show a rare combination of expertise in statistical physics, theoretical neuroscience, statistical data analysis, neurotechnologies and experimental neurophysiology.

My work has concentrated on neural ensemble recordings in freely behaving rodents (rats and mice), with which we can record up to ~100 single neurons. I focused on the interaction between hippocampus and neocortex, in memory encoding and consolidation. We developed data analysis techniques to detect the activation of synchronized neuronal groups ('cell assemblies').

I have been awarded a ERC Advanced Grant and am a member of the Academia Europaea.

I am the coordinator of the Dutch Brain Interfaces Initiative, a “Zwaartekracht” project aimed at creating the new generation of Brain-Machine Interfaces

You can find my publications here and more information here.

 

Jeroen Bos

Staff Researcher

jeroen.bos2@donders.ru.nl

I am a staff researcher in the lab. As such I am involved with many different projects including 2-Photon, Electrophysiology (neuropixel), Virtual Reality, and Voltage Imaging. I am involved in setting up new techniques and assisting other people in the lab.
Previously, during my PhD, I did in vivo electrophysiology recordings in rats. Here we did tetrode recordings from four brain areas simultaneously while the rats performed a 2-choice visual discrimination task. Finally at the end of my PhD I worked to combine tetrode recordings with optogenetics.

 

Guido Meijer

Post Doc

guido.meijer@donders.ru.nl

I am researching how the perirhinal cortex and the hippocampus work together during multisensory object recognition. To this end, I perform acute Neuropixel recordings in these regions while mice perform a spatial behavioral task in virtual reality.
I did my PhD at the University of Amsterdam where I studied multisensory integration in mice using two-photon calcium imaging. During my first post doc at the Champalimaud Foundation (Lisbon, Portugal) I switched to Neuropixel recordings, investigating how serotonin shapes global brain states.

 

Francesca Abela

PhD Student

francesca.abela@donders.ru.nl

As a PhD candidate at the Donders Centre for Neuroscience, Radboud University, I am investigating how the value of a choice is represented and flexibly updated in key brain regions, using a combination of high-density electrophysiological recording, probablistic reversal learning task in mice, and in silico modeling.

 

Morgane Audrain

PhD Student

morgane.audrain@donders.ru.nl

I first joined the Battaglia lab in January 2019 as a Master student. I developed a cheap, open-source device to detect breathing patterns in rodents non-invasively. Thanks to this project I obtained my engineering degree at ECE Paris .

In December 2019 I came back to the lab as a Research Assistant. I worked on different projects, focusing on the development of a pipeline for the pre-processing of calcium imaging data and the refining of a spike sorting software.

I started as a PhD candidate in the lab in July 2020. My research interest lies in the communication between the hippocampus and the neocortex. I combine imaging and electrophysiological recordings to study the cortico-hippocampal dialog during learning and memory consolidation.

 
 
 

Veronique Stokkers

PhD Student

veronique.stokkers@donders.ru.nl

As a PhD candidate at the Neuronal Network of Memory Lab, I study the relation between social emotions and spatial memory using two-photon calcium imaging. We will refine existing behavioral models to understand how
others' experiences are stored in memory. Additionally, we'll map the neural connections between social emotions and spatial representations, shedding light on the convergence of empathy and memory.

 

Rotinda Bilek

PhD Student

rotinda.bilek@donders.ru.nl

 I am interested in neuronal plasticity, the hippocampal complex and its interactions. During my master's, I became interested in the methods of manipulation and studied the relationship between alpha oscillations and rTMS-induced plasticity for my thesis. For my PhD, I will work on decoding and manipulating the neural ensembles involved in observational fear learning using 2-photon microscopy and optogenetics.

 

Angela Zordan

PhD Student

angela.zordan@donders.ru.nl

The fate of memories in our brain depends on processes that take place after memory acquisition and depend on spontaneous activity. Much of this activity takes place during sleep and involves the interaction between the hippocampus and the neocortex. According to the “dual memory systems” hypothesis, new memories are initially encoded in the hippocampus and stored in the neocortex once consolidated. Maintaining remote (old) memories while permitting the consolidation of novel (new) memories during sleep, would require the interleaved, spontaneous reactivation of these memories. In my project, we aim to test this hypothesis via Closed-Loop manipulation applied during Slow-Wave-Sleep, on mice that have previously learned a memory task in Virtual-Reality.

 

Sajad Kahali

PhD Student

sajad.kahali@donders.ru.nl

My PhD research explores how the human brain derives abstract knowledge from past experiences and uses these abstractions to guide behavior and reasoning in new situations. A central focus is neural replay—a phenomenon first discovered in rodents through invasive electrophysiological recordings and now increasingly examined in humans using MEG. In humans, as in rodents, replay manifests as rapid, sequential patterns of activation that highlight higher-order cognitive representations rather than simple sensory traces. This process is believed to be essential for memory consolidation and reorganization, supporting the extraction of structural knowledge and its flexible application across different contexts.

 

Former Lab members

  • Arie Kim

  • Arne Meyer (Radboud Excellence postdoc from 2019 to 2022)

  • Jan Lukas Klee (PhD graduated in 2020 - Currently at NYU)

  • Federico Stella

  • Davide Spalla

  • Melisa Maidana Capitan

  • Bryan Souza

  • Karola Kaefer

  • Ronny Eichler

  • Matteo Guardamagna

  • Rafael Pedrosa

  • Alejandra Alonso

 

Master and Bachelor Students

 

Former Students

  • Ilian de Redelijkheid (Bachelor Thesis - Supervision: Bryan Souza)

  • Lieke Dillen (Master Thesis - Supervision: Jeroen Bos)

  • Elian König (Bachelor Internship - Supervision: Ronny Eichler )

  • Eva Schneider (Bachelor Internship - Supervision: Ronny Eichler )

  • Jelmar Gerritsen (Bachelor Thesis - Supervision: Federico Stella)

  • Thomas Nijsen (Bachelor Thesis - Supervision: Federico Stella)

  • Gerardo Maio (Master Thesis - Supervision: Ronny Eichler )

  • Paul Boulgakoff (Master Internship - Supervision: Karola Kaefer)

  • Martijn Heemskerk (Master Internship - Supervision: Arie Kim)

  • Shakeeb Majid (Master Internship - Supervision: Federico Stella)

  • Emma Oude Kempers (Master Internship - Supervision: Federico Stella)

  • Marnick Anten (Master Internship - Supervision: Bryan Souza)

 

External Visitors

  • Prof. Bruce L. McNaughton. University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine). July - September 2021

  • Sean Tok . PhD Student - Johnson, Belgium (Supervision: Jeroen Bos). February 2021

  • Brijesh Modi . PhD Student - Rome (Collaboration with Matteo Guardamagna). February - September 2020