People

Principal Investigators

Arpan Banerjee

Dipanjan Roy

Postdoctoral Fellows

SOIBAM SHYAMCHAND SINGH
Contact : ss_chand@rediffmail.com

After a Master's degree in theoretical physics, Shyamchand completed his PhD in computational neuroscience from CIRBS, Jamia Millia Islamia (in collaboration with SCIS, Jawaharlal Nehru University). He is always intrigued by the complexity as well as diversity of human thought processes, and the certain amount of predictability associated with them. His research interest is in the study of the system level organizations of the associated brain structures and functions, using modeling approached such as graph theory and coupled oscillator models. At present, he is investigating the large-scale brain organization during the phenomenon of illusory audiovisual speech perception.

    AMIT NASKAR
    Contact : amitn3035@gmail.com

Amit completed his bachelor's in Biotechnology, Biochemistry, Genetics. Later pursued his master's in Biotechnology. He received his PhD from CSIR-Indian Institute of   Chemical Biology, Kolkata, India. He worked on Parkinson's disease in his PhD. He is currently working on a neurocomputational model. He seeks to understand how changes in excitatory-inhibitory neurotransmitters make an impact on topological properties of resting-state functional connectivity in the human brain. Overall, the model takes diffusion tensor image and neurotransmitters as the inputs and provides functional connectivity as the output. Mainly, techniques from statistical physics is used to build up a model.

JASLEEN GUND
Contact : jaslingundh@gmail.com

In the world of uncertainties and complexities all around, be it living cell or the entire universe, Jasleen chose to study the brain as a complex system that allows us to observe all the complexities. Her work profile broadly categorizes her as a computational neuroscientist. She has a biological background with Bachelors in Life sciences and Masters in Biotechnology. She has done her Ph.D. in computational neuroscience from Jawaharlal Nehru University. She has acquired experience in computational and mathematical techniques during her Ph.D. and applied it integratively for time-series data analysis in the field of neuroscience. She is always excited to study any aspect towards understanding of the brain functionality. She is currently working on the analysis of the EEG data of individuals with static and dynamic visual stimulus and their characterization with and without saliency conditions. Also, analyzing the MEG dataset of young and old individuals to decipher age -related changes in the functional brain dynamics. Apart from the research she invests her brain in poetry and listening music. She likes to observe nature and do nature photography.

PRIYANKA CHAKRABORTY
Contact : priya.chakraborty18@gmail.com

Priyanka completed her bachelor's in Mathematics and master's in Applied Mathematics. She has done her PhD in Applied Mathematics from Calcutta University. During her PhD she has collected and worked on EEG signals of ADHD children. Neuroscience fascinated her more hence she wanted to steer her future research in computational neuroscience. She has experience in nonlinear dynamical systems. Currently, she is working on a whole brain neuro-computational model. She intent to work on anatomical dependencies on excitatory and inhibitory balance after a lesion. Travel is her another passion. She wants to make tons of memories all over the world. She loves to cook and explore new and exotic dishes. And music has forever been her constant companion.

Doctoral Research Fellows

PRIYANKA GHOSH
Contact : priyanka.b15@nbrc.ac.in

Priyanka holds a M.Sc. degree in Life Sciences from the School of Life Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University (2015) and a B.Sc.(H) degree in Zoology
from Hindu College, Delhi University (2013). She has qualified GATE Life Sciences in 2015, has been awarded with the Junior Research Fellowship by CSIR in 2014 and the Indira Gandhi Postgraduate Scholarship in 2013. Her research area focuses on the functional characterization of ‘Attentional Networks’ in the visual, auditory and multisensory modalities. She is trying to investigate the neural signatures associated with the occurrence of salient('pop-out') stimuli while doing different goal-directed tasks through an EEG study. When not doing research, she loves hiking up the Himalayas and spending time in the mountains. She is also a music person and enjoys playing Table Tennis.

NEERAJ KUMAR
Contact : neeraj.b15@nbrc.ac.in

Neeraj completed his master’s in Neuroscience from National Brain Research Centre (NBRC), Manesar. He is interested in sensory processing in the human brain. Currently his research focuses at hemispheric specialization of auditory processing at the structural and functional level. If not in lab, he likes to read and listen to music.

ANAGH PATHAK
Contact : anagh.b16@nbrc.ac.in

Anagh did his B.Tech in Chemical Engineering and MSc in physics from BITS-Pilani. He then joined NBRC for his Master's in Neuroscience. He continued to do his PhD in Cognitive Brain Dynamics Lab, NBRC. Currently he is interested in understanding the neural correlates of healthy aging. If not in lab, he is busy playing football and having heated but healthy discussion with people.

RITU MONI BORAH
Contact : ritu.b16@nbrc.ac.in

Ritu did her bachelor's in Physics and master's in Neuroscience from National Brain Research Centre, Manesar. Her research interest lies in the field of action perception mainly understanding how we perceive other's action to predict an adaptive response. Her master's dissertation work on gaze and pointing perception built up her interest in integrating social values to an action stimuli. There is need to study action and social values like emotion, intention attribution and thus there lies her motivation to continue with the road of cognition to mimic more real life phenomena in lab set up to understand human predictive nature in action and emotion perception. She likes to indulge herself into painting, outdoor and indoor sports, reading fiction in her free time.

NISHA CHETNA SASTRY
Contact : nisha.b17@nbrc.ac.in

Nisha holds a B. Tech degree in Computer Science and Engineering from BMSCE, Bengaluru. Her interest in popular science books inspired her to switch her career from a software development engineer to pursuing PhD in Neuroscience, which was enabled by qualification in GATE 2017. Still maintaining the love for data analysis and algorithms her research interest lies in understanding the temporal and spatial evolution of dynamic functional connectivity (dFC)patterns in task and resting state across age and also in the development of novel algorithms to capture them. Her current focus is in identification of distinct, dominant dFC patterns using eigen vector decomposition in task and resting state and quantification of major temporal patterns in the identified dominant patterns. She is interested in utilising statistical models such as HMMs (Hidden Markov Model) to model the temporal interaction between large scale brain networks. While not in lab, she can be seen practising her violin lessons (she hopes to complete her Cambridge Trinity levels in violin during her PhD) or taking trips to explore hidden gems of North India.

ABHISHEK NARVARIA
Contact : abhishek.b17@nbrc.ac.in

Abhishek received his Master’s degree in cognitive sciences from Centre for Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences,University of Allahabad. There he studied how level of processing affects conscious access of word percepts. With the quest to learn and understand more about cognition, he joined Cognitive Brain Dynamics Lab in NBRC. Currently, he is trying to understand the role of set operation as a retro cue and how its orient attention on the internal representation. When not in lab, he likes to get engaged in philosophical argument of phenomenology and consciousness. He is very keen to understand gamification especially for role playing games.

KIRTI SALUJA
Contact : kirti.b17@nbrc.ac.in

Kirti received her Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Delhi University. Later she completed her master’s degree in Neuroscience from National Brain Research Centre, Manesar. In her master’s dissertation she looked into age-related changes in alpha and beta oscillations in a sensorimotor task in a lifespan data. She is continuing her PhD in Cognitive Brain Dynamics Lab under the supervision of Dr. Arpan Banerjee. Apart from research, she likes to paint, explore new places and meet new people.

AZMAN AKHTAR
Contact : azman.b17@nbrc.ac.in

Azman did BSc in Zoology from Aligarh Muslim University. He continued to do PhD after MSc in Neuroscience from NBRC itself. Currently, he is interested in understanding the neural correlates of reading in different orthographies by multiliterates and the underlying anatomical characteristics. He is taking the help of the unique culture of North Indians to read and write two distinctly different orthographies, Hindi and Urdu, for the same language, Hindustani.

PRATIKA SIWATCH
Contact : partika.b18@nbrc.ac.in

Pratika is currently a PhD student in NBRC. She received her graduation in Botany from Government Girls college, Gurugram and post graduation in Molecular and Human genetics from Banaras Hindu University. Brain is an extraordinary and most complex computing device, analyzing several stimuli from different modalities at same time to generate an eloquent percept. She is interested in following questions - How brain is generating a significant percept from this vast array of multisensory information? What is the role of consciousness in analyzing this multisensory information? What is the computation behind all this process? Apart from research she likes to play games like badminton, football and pool. She loves adventures and visiting exotic places.

GARGI MAJUMDAR
Contact : gargi.b18@nbrc.ac.in

Gargi completed her Bachelor's and Master's in Zoology from Calcutta University. After exploring few corners in the world of molecular biology, she wanted to take an internal flight and venture into the world of neuroscience. Curious about human behavior, she is primarily interested to look into the emotional processing and regulation in brain. While not in lab, she can be found staring at the sky, watching birds or lost in the mountains.

VINSEA AV SINGH
Contact : vinsea.b18@nbrc.ac.in

Vinsea received her bachelor’s degree in Zoology and Biochemistry from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. She is currently pursuing her master's in Neuroscience from NBRC. Her research focuses on the pre- and post- stimulus brain oscillation during multisensory processing. Apart from research, she likes to do theatre, play ukelele and do stand-up comedy (yeah, she is the funny one).

ANKIT YADAV
Contact : yadavankit99@gmail.com

Ankit studied zoology in his bachelor's and master's. Thalamocortical interactions are of a particular interest to him. Since thalamus acts as an integration/segregation hub for different functional networks, he wants to understand how thalamus participates in interactions among multiple functional networks during task conditions. Apart from research, he likes to play chess.

SHASHWATI TRIPATHI
Contact : shashwati.b18@nbrc.ac.in

Shashwati has a B.Sc. (Hons.) degree in Zoology from Hindu College, University of Delhi. She received master’s degree in Neuroscience at National Brain Research Centre and joined as a PhD student under Dr. Arpan Banerjee. Intrigued by the complexity and vastness of human emotion and its impact on daily life, she is primarily interested in understanding its association with higher order cognitive processes. Along with the research work, she loves to sing, play piano and indulges herself in designing and craft work.

Master's Students

RUDRADEEP MUKHERJEE
Contact : rudradeepmukherjee.mukherjee@gmail.com

Rudradeep did his Bachelor's of Engineering (B.E.) in Computer Science and Engineering from BITS, Mesra (Ranchi). He is interested in computational properties of biological neural networks, constraining neural architectures using microscopy, modeling of neural architectures using genetic information, exact computational modeling of biological neural nets, specifying cognitive functions to different brain regions and ultimately, therapeutics of autism in precise terms. He is currently trying to find if Maximum Entropy Model (MEM) can find differences in resting-state fMRI data of autistics across age groups and how autistics differ with typically developing controls in context of the model. If not in lab, he likes to read, run, do cycling and watch rugby. He also likes to devote some of his free time to follow recommendations of film socities and grow plants.

Research Assistants

FAHD YAZIN
Contact : fahd7yazin@gmail.com

After finishing medicine Fahd decided to plunge into this realm to understand the neural correlates of surprising and novel events happening in the days of our lives, and how they affect advanced aspects of cognition like Episodic Memory, Sequence learning, Imagination and Time perception. He is currently pursuing the relation between surprise and episodic sequence learning. He also loves consumer neuroscience. When his brain is not being used to research other brains, he uses it to play RPG games with friends, watch horror movies alone & teach kittens candy crush.

VIVEK SHARMA
Contact : vivek.sharma1510@gmail.com

Vivek completed his bachelor’s degree in Zoology from Dyal Singh College, Delhi University. Later, he completed his master’s degree in BIochemistry from Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi. With the motivation to learn more about signal processing and mathematical modelling, he joined Cognitive Brain Dynamics Lab, NBRC. Currently he is working on the overlap between MEG resting state and task networks on healthy ageing using Source Localization methods. He is using MEG data and python to study age-related changes in the brain.

PRIYANKA SIGAR
Contact : priyasigar27@gmail.com

She has explored the field of Zoology as a bachelors’ student at Mumbai University followed by pursuing masters in Lifesciences (neuroscience) from Sophia Women’ College, University of Mumbai. She worked as an intern at the Foundation of Medical Research Centre, Mumbai. To get a better understanding of developmental disorders and therapies, she worked as a child counsellor and therapist at Little Pods, Mumbai. Currently, her focus is to study the dynamics of functional connectivity in the autistic brain to understand the underlying reasons for behavioral traits in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Apart from being a semi-nerd, she is also engaged in sketching, career counselling & music.

VARUN MADAN MOHAN
Contact : varunmadanmohan@gmail.com

He did his BS and MS in Physics from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali (IISER-M) (Batch of '19). In his 8th semester at IISER, he happened to take electives in Neuroscience and Network Science, after which he was a changed man. Post graduation, he wanted to steer his future research down the Neuroscience path, and he chose NBRC as his starting point. His current research problem revolves around viewing large scale brain network characteristics from a network control paradigm, and he hopes to probe and quantify control hierarchies present in the neurocognitive networks using control theoretic metrics. When not in lab, he is usually in his room playing the guitar, watching Parks and Rec or The Office, or impulsively buying stuff off online websites.

SHUBHAM SINGHAL
Contact : singhalshubham50@gmail.com

He did his B.Sc. Physics(Hons.) from Delhi university and his M.S. from IISc with research in spin seebeck effect. Progress in Brain-Machine interface motivated him to switch his field of research to neuroscience. He is currently working on decoding EEG signals. Apart from research, he likes to workout and go for run.

Masters Dissertation Student

YUDHAJIT AIN
Contact : yudhajit16@iiserb.ac.in

Yudhajit holds a dual-degree in Natural Sciences (an interdisciplinary course in science with a major in Biological Science). He is most interested in computational cognitive and experimental pscyhology. His overarching goal is to understand the scaffolds along which socio-affective cognition is organised within the brain, as well as how and what mediates its plasticity. He would like to have proven, by the time of his death, that with informed observation, the amazing functional dynamicity of our brain can explain even the most idiosyncratic of our behaviours. He work currently focuses pn looking at the changes in the topographic functional-connectivity of the dorsal and ventral visula pathways accompanying a perception-response learning paradigm. The goal is to tease out the neural markers of evolution of connectopic organisation and information-flow within the two canonocal visual pathways in response to learning, as well as across stimulus/response types. When he is not banging keyboards trying to debug, he indulges into poetry, postrock, puppers, books, bakery and British TV.