Clara holds a B.Sc. in Biology (University of Jaén, Spain). She joined the lab of Dr. Alberto Pascual at the Instituto de Biomedicina de Sevilla (Spain) where she received her M.Sc. and PhD in Neuroscience. During her Ph.D., Clara studied GDNF (Glial-cell derived neurotrophic factor) and its role on Parkinson’s disease physiopathology. She also studied microglial response to hypoxia in the context of Alzheimer’s disease. As a Postdoc in the Ryan Lab, Clara is interested in the molecular basis of memory engram function, to better understand the link between fundamental brain function and memory. In her free time, she enjoys traveling and listening to podcasts.

James originally graduated with a B.Sc. in Psychology from La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia and an M.Sc. from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. He then conducted his Ph.D. in Behavioural Neuroscience in the research groups of John Cryan, Yvonne Nolan and Olivia O’Leary at University College Cork (UCC), Ireland. His Ph.D. research focussed on the effects of stress and exercise during adolescence and adulthood on hippocampal neurogenesis and cognition. As a Postdoc in the Ryan Lab, James is interested in the neurobiology of learning and memory throughout development. Outside of the lab James enjoys travelling, reading and is passionate about programming and electronics.

Livia completed her bachelor degree in Biological Sciences in Andrea Mele’s lab (La Sapienza - University of Rome) working on the behavioural differences of massed and spaced learning in spatial memory. Then in 2017 she received her M.Sc. Her research focused on the role of the offline communication between the hippocampus and the ventral-striatum in spatial memory consolidation.
After spending 8 months working as a research engineer in Epsztein lab (INSERM)
in Marseille, she joined the Ryan group as PhD student in 2018. Her research now focuses on the behavioural and biological substrates of forgetting.
During free time she enjoys travelling, listening to music, cooking and sports.

Marius originally graduated with a M.Sc. in Neurosciences and Cognition from the Claude Bernard University in Lyon, France. During Marius’ undergraduate studies, he completed two research internships at the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center (CNRL), working on the involvement of Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep on hippocampal plasticity and contextual memory. Marius then gained his Ph.D. from CNRL where his doctoral thesis research was focused on the role of REM sleep on emotional regulation and on remote consolidation of memory. For his post-doctoral research in collaboration with the Palmer Lab (Florey institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne), Marius is interested in studying the modifications of signal integration in engram cells.

Rasmus is an affiliated postdoctoral researcher mainly based at Freie Universität and the Max Planck Institute Berlin, Germany. His PhD research focused on computational modelling and adaptive learning in humans. In his projects with the Ryan lab, he builds computational models of natural forgetting based on reinforcement-learning theory and Bayesian inference. In his free time, Rasmus likes running and cooking.

After obtaining a B.Sc. in Life Sciences from Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC) in Paris, France, Antoine joined the two-year international Dual Masters in Brain and Mind Sciences programme at University College London (UCL), U.K. In Hugo Spier’s research group at UCL he studied spatial cognition and memory in humans. He then worked on Sidney Weiner’s team at Collège de France in Paris. There, he researched learning and cognitive flexibility at the scale of neuronal networks in freely moving rats, using electrophysiological techniques. Antoine’s primary scientific interest and the focus of his Ph.D. research in the Ryan Lab is the biology of memory formation and maintenance, and how these mechanisms relate to behaviour. In his free time, Antoine enjoys travelling, listening to podcasts, hiking and running.

Paul graduated with a B.A. in Neuroscience from Trinity College Dublin. For his final year project he joined the Ryan and Ramaswami labs to investigate the variation in innate olfactory behaviour of the Drosophila melanogaster subgroup and how this may be modified by learning. In the summer of 2019, he joined the Walsh lab in Ulster University to investigate how changes in DNA transcriptional regulation are implicated in mental health disorders. Paul joined the Ryan Lab as a PhD student in 2020 to research how instinctive behaviours can be modified by experience and how instincts can evolve. In his free time, Paul enjoys Taekwondo, rock climbing and coding.

Andrea originally graduated with a M.Sc. in Neuropsychology and a Research M.Sc. in Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. After graduating, she spent a year at the laboratory of Dr. Christine Denny (Columbia University, New York) investigating how multiple memories are co-stored in the brain. Andrea joined the Ryan lab in 2020 and is interested in studying the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie instincts, memory and learning. Andrea likes to dream big with regards to science in general and is passionate about promoting underrepresented minorities and women in science. In her free time, Andrea loves cooking and sharing good food with friends and family, yoga and coffee.

Erika graduated with a B.A in Neuroscience from Trinity College Dublin. Her final year research project focused on investigating the impact of inflammatory driven glial metabolites on neuronal integrity and synapse formation. Since graduating, Erika spent some time working as a research intern in Trinity Biomedical Science Institute (TBSI) before joining the lab of Dr. Lorina Naci in the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience (TCIN) as a research assistant working on the PREVENT Dementia Neuroimaging project. In 2020 she joined the Ryan lab as a PhD student and her research focuses on the investigation of memory engrams across development. Outside of the lab, she enjoys climbing, hiking and travelling.

Louisa graduated with a BSc in Psychology from Maastricht University in The Netherlands. For her bachelor’s thesis she joined the department of clinical genomics at the Maastricht University Medical Center and investigated the underlying mechanisms of mitochondrial dysfunction in neurons of zebrafish. During her time in Maastricht, Louisa was actively involved in the research group on perception, attention, learning, and memory led by Prof. Peter de Weerd. In the summer of 2021, Louisa joined the Ryan lab as part of her current master’s programme ‘Fundamental Neuroscience’ and is involved in projects on the neural correlates underlying engram storage across development. In her free time, she enjoys travelling, classic literature, and environmental activism.

Fionn graduated with a B.A. in Neuroscience from Trinity College Dublin. For his bachelor’s thesis he conducted an EEG study on the effects of mental imagery on perceptual decisions in the lab of Prof. Redmond O’Connell (TCIN). Long interested in the fundamentals of biology as a discipline and its intellectual history, Fionn joined the Ryan lab in 2022 as a research MSc student to explore how fields such as philosophy, biosemiotics and evolutionary theory can provide neuroscientists with new ways of interpreting biological data. He practices meditation in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, undertaking retreats in Europe and South Asia when possible, and writes fiction, non-fiction and poetry, which all indirectly inform his approach to neuroscience. Fionn also cares deeply about science communication, diversity of intellectual traditions in science, the mountains and the sea.