Get to Know UCI Postdocs

Since 2009, the NPA has sponsored National Postdoc Appreciation Day/Week to recognize the significant contributions that postdoctoral scholars make to U.S. research and discovery.

2022 National Postdoc Appreciation Week - 13th Annual Celebration

Organizations from across the world participate by holding special events. In 2010, this week was officially recognized by the U.S. House of Representatives. Events will be held throughout the week and across the country to create awareness of postdocs.

Emma Mercedes Lessieur Contreras

Center for Translational Vision Research | Gavin Herbert Eye Institute | School of Medicine

Why did you choose to attend UCI as a postdoctoral scholar?
The interdisciplinary approach, facilities and core groups with cutting edge technology to conduct research.

What are you researching and why is it important to you?
Diabetic retinopathy, a long term complication of diabetes that leads to blindness. My research interphases between the immune system, extracellular vesicles and systems pharmacology to understand the etiopathology of the disease. I am also exploring different therapeutic platforms to prevent/treat this devastating condition, that commonly affects the Latinx community.

Describe one major personal or professional accomplishment during your time as a Postdoc.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, my research was classified as essential, and so I continue working on my projects with limited personnel. I feel so good about myself for advancing my research further while was supporting my husband at home, a first responder, and in parallel I was home schooling my children.

What are your interests outside of UCI? What do you like to do in your free time?
Travel with my family and explore the outdoors that Southern California has to offer.

When you think of a perfect meal, what comes to mind?
Chiles en Nogada, one of the most emblematic dishes of traditional Mexican cuisine, paired with a shot of good anejo tequila.

Aditya Singh

Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, School of Biological Sciences

Why did you choose to attend UCI as a postdoctoral scholar
Neuroscience community at UCI is among the pioneers in multidisciplinary research, including some of my favorite scientists whom I have been following since my graduate school in India. The collaborative nature of research at UCI summons the best of different worlds. In addition to the stimulating research, I found great resources for professional skills development at UCI including GPS-STEM, NCFDD, Activate to Captivate, ICTS, and UCI-DCE. The UCI campus is majestic, located ideally in the City of Irvine, and facilitates a supportive environment and infrastructure for Postdocs with family.

What are you researching and why is it important to you?
I started working with Prof. Andre Obenaus in May 2022, and the primary goal in our lab is to decipher the process of neurovascular recovery after traumatic brain injury (TBI). As per the latest CDC report, over 600 hospitalizations and nearly 200 deaths across the country are TBI-related on a daily basis. I am currently investigating the longitudinal variations in the neurovascular hemodynamics, such as those due to blood-brain-barrier disruptions following TBI. With our collaborators at UCI-CNCM, we will be combining non-invasive in vivo imaging techniques of MRI and 2-photon microscopy with optogenetics, vessel painting, and cutting-edge neurovascular tracing approaches in both male and female wildtype and transgenic rodent models. In parallel, we would also monitor a range of behavioral repercussions of TBI including motor, exploratory, and social behaviors. Our goals include understanding the basic mechanisms and long-term consequences of TBI and developing translational therapeutic interventions for optimal recovery after injury.

Before I ventured into Neurotrauma research, I worked at Neurobiology and Behavior Department, UCI with Prof. Norbert Fortin between 2020-2022, where I established a novel wireless ephys setup for recording in vivo neural spikes and oscillations with behaving animals, learned to analyze neural data, and contributed to setting up a novel behavior task for investigating neural basis of sequence learning. During my first Postdoc with Prof. Mayank Mehta at Physics and Astronomy Department, UCLA between 2018-2020, I learned to build neural implants, perform implantation surgeries, and record in vivo ephys with rodents behaving in real-world and virtual reality environments to investigate multisensory integration of information during real-world and virtual navigation.

Describe one major personal or professional accomplishment during your time as a Postdoc.
During my adventurous journey as an international postdoc, I learned to balance multiple aspects of research, acquiring new skills, navigating the annual immigration process, and becoming a new dad. I have learnt new experimental and analytical skills ranging from rodent MRI and in vivo electrophysiology to Data Science and Machine Learning. As I have performed well in quarterly UCI-DCE courses since Fall 2021, I received the UCI-DCE scholarship to pursue more courses during Summer and Fall 2022. Currently, I am looking forward to completing my Neurotrauma projects where all my previous training is consolidating to address the crucial questions concerning brain health, which has been my dream to pursue since graduate school.

What are your interests outside of UCI? What do you like to do in your free time?
I love reading books, going on outdoor adventures and long walks with my family, and playing music. I enjoy camping in the wild, hiking, biking, and dancing with my loved ones. I also like watching stand up comedy acts and documentaries. In the spirit of saying yes to novel enriching experiences, last summer I wrote a stand-up comedy act with ScienceRiot to convey scientific ideas to public in a fun way and then flew to Colorado to perform for a live audience at the Oriental Theater in Denver, which is one of the best experiences of my life and I think it’s a great way to share the joys of sciencing with everyone around us.

When you think of a perfect meal, what comes to mind?
My favorite cuisine is from Northern India, especially the authentic Kashmiri cuisine with delicacies including, but not limited to, Hak, Tchaman, Nadru Yakhni, and Muj Chatin followed by a warm cup of Pink Noon Chai. I also relish homely cooked South Indian meals like hot Sambar with rice and steamy hot Dosas with fresh Coconut chutney. My special meals are about relishing flavors from all around the world with my wife. Our recent favorite is Spaghetti Verde with Biquinho red pearl peppers, Fungi Pizza splashed with Truffle oil, and a glass of Oaky Cabernet.

Beth Evans

Physiology & Biophysics, School of Medicine

Why did you choose to attend UCI as a postdoctoral scholar

I met my PI, Dr Medha Pathak, at a conference and was really excited by the work her lab did. They were working on the same protein as I was researching in my PhD, but with a neural development focus, rather than cardiovascular. It was fun to be able to learn a whole new area whilst keeping some familiarity. When I looked up UCI and saw it was in sunny California, a few minutes to the beach, it was a complete bonus! I remember being blown away by how big the campus was when I first joined.

What are you researching and why is it important to you?
I am researching how mechanical force sensing by brain cells affects neural development. Development of the brain is a very dynamic process in which cells experience distinct mechanical cues as they proliferate, migrate and differentiate into different cell types. If this process goes wrong, there can be developmental defects. Specifically we focus on a protein called PIEZO1 which senses many different mechanical forces experienced by cells and acts as a gate, allowing charged particles (ions) into the cell when it detects mechanical cues. These ions then prompt a series of downstream events affecting cell function. Personally, I’m fascinated to discover how events in brain development are carefully sensed by cells leading to an orchestrated series of steps to produce complex brain structure. I think this is an important area as development and many diseases of the brain including neurodegenerative diseases and traumatic brain injury involve an altered mechanical environment or changes to how mechanical forces are communicated within cells. For the first time we have the tools to discover how this information is relayed to cells, influencing development and disease.

Describe one major personal or professional accomplishment during your time as a Postdoc.
I met my partner and got engaged since moving here – so that’s definitely my major accomplishment! It was also always on my bucket list to spend some time living in a different country. I moved from the UK in January 2020 just before the pandemic so am glad I was able to adapt despite the challenges.

What are your interests outside of UCI? What do you like to do in your free time?
I like trying out different breweries, places to eat, and exploring Southern CA by electric bike.

When you think of a perfect meal, what comes to mind?
New to me moving to CA- fish tacos and beer!

Alexander Catchings

English, School of Humanities

Why did you choose to attend UCI as a postdoctoral scholar?

I wanted to work on my current book project with the camaraderie and influence of my faculty sponsor, Prof. Theodore Martin, who also thinks about what constitutes our understanding of the “contemporary” moment in his own research.

What are you researching and why is it important to you?

My work considers how 21st century African American literary and cultural expression has been reshaped by the Internet—especially with the influence of Black Twitter, viral sociopolitical influencers, book Instagram pages, and a national spotlight on reading multiculturally. I’m always interested in what still manages to sustain people’s attention offline, and reading books still seems to open that possibility in a world that prioritizes efficiency elsewhere.

Describe one major personal or professional accomplishment during your time as a Postdoc.
I started my position in the summer, and I have been stunned and gratified by how quickly I was able to find community among the English faculty. Their collegiality, kindness, and intellectual dynamism has been remarkable and has energized my progress with my work.

What are your interests outside of UCI? What do you like to do in your free time?
I make music! I’m currently working on my second album, so I go to LA regularly to hang with musician friends and record.

When you think of a perfect meal, what comes to mind?
Ethiopian food—doro wot, injera, and tela.