Neuroscience Futures Seminar Series at OHSU

nusha Mishra, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Neurology, stands at her lab space and smiles at the camera. Behind her are shelves with tubes and notes for her current research. — Anusha Mishra, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Neurology, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Neuroscience Graduate Program and Program in Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, OHSU School of Medicine. In her Mishra Lab, she studies the physiological and pathological interactions between astrocytes and cerebral microvasculature.

Recognize junior scientists shaping neuroscience research

The Neuroscience Futures Seminar Series highlights junior scientists and clinician scientists from across the country who are influencing discoveries in neuroscience.

Sponsored by the OHSU Department of Neurology and launched in 2021, the series provides a platform for early-career investigators to share their work and connect with the OHSU neuroscience community. We welcome nominations for junior scientists or clinician scientists to present at one of three to four seminars each year. Self-nominations are encouraged.

During seminars, speakers:

Share basic, translational and clinical research
Discuss innovative methods, discoveries and early findings
Network with the OHSU neuroscience research community to develop collaborations
Explore emerging research and future science applications

Nominate a junior scientist

Know a talented investigator who is advancing emerging neuroscience research? Submit a nomination.

: Watch recorded neuroscience seminars

See the past presentations from junior scientists.

December 9, 2025
Mechanisms of Oncostatin M signaling in the human dorsal root ganglia: implications for neuropathic pain
Juliet Mwirigi, Ph.D., HHMI Hanna Gray Postdoctoral Fellow, Washington University School of Medicine

May 6, 2025
Microglia birth and maturation in the adult visual cortex
Monique Mendes, Ph.D., HHMI Hanna Gray Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University

March 18, 2025
Presynaptic adaptations of co-transmitter neurons
Andrea Cuentas-Condori, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow, Yale University

October 9, 2024
Bending the Arc: The Path to Justice in Brain Health
Altaf Saadi, M.D. M.Sc., FAAN, Assistant Professor of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School

May 8, 2024
Flexible encoding of goals in the brain's cognitive map
Marielena Sosa, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Scholar, Neurobiology, Stanford University

April 23, 2024
Exploring the interplay of vascular pathologies, Alzheimer's disease, and Lewy Body disease on harmonized cognitive measures
Cellas Hayes, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Scholar, Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University

March 12, 2024
Reducing post-stroke disability
Mellanie Springer, M.D., M.S., Assistant Professor, Neurology, University of Michigan

October 16, 2023
Thalamo-striatal projections encoding motivated behavior
Sofia Beas, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Neurobiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham

May 23, 2023
Behaviors and neural circuits for pleasure and pain in mice (password 32MjgYvS)
Ishmail Abdus-Saboor, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences, Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University

March 21, 2023
Elucidating the Mechanism underlying Stress and Caffeine-Induced Motor Dysfunction using a Mouse Model of Episodic Ataxia Type 2 (password mGJe5smE)
Heather Snell, Ph.D., Associate Researcher, Department of Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

January 10, 2023
Neurodevelopment in Autism and Related Childhood Disorders: From Genes to Complex Phenotypes (password pNRRaph5)
Leanna Hernandez, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA

October 12, 2022
Minute-scale oscillatory sequences in medial entorhinal cortex (password aJFG63Gg)
Soledad Gonzalo Cogno, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow, Moser lab, Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Trondheim, Norway

June 14, 2022
Integrating behavioral, electrophysiological and computational approaches for improved understanding of brain dynamics: from epilepsy to decision-making (password rZuZUkA5)
Tahra Eissa, Ph.D., Research Associate, Department of Applied Math, University of Colorado Boulder

May 10, 2022
Wired for touch: New discoveries about the sense that binds us to others (password XtDggir2)
Victoria Abraira, Ph.D., Assistant professor, W.M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience, Rutgers University

January 11, 2022
Here, There, and Everywhere: Molecular mechanisms of cholinergic synaptic transmission during aging
Hakeem Lawal, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Biological Sciences, Delaware State University

October 26, 2021
Role of perivascular macrophages in neurovascular dysfunction induced by hypertension
Monica Santisteban, Ph.D., Leon Levy Research Fellow, Weill Cornell Medical