Lab Members

André M. Bastos, PhD

Principle Investigator

Dr. Bastos received his PhD from the University of California, Davis (2013) where he worked with Drs. Ron Mangun and Marty Usrey on thalamocortical communication. During his PhD, Dr. Bastos was a Fulbright scholar in the laboratory of Dr. Pascal Fries at the F.C. Donders Center for Cognitive Neuroimaging in Nijmegen, The Netherlands (and later at the Ernst Strüngmann Institute in Frankfurt, Germany). His studies with Dr. Fries focused on distinct oscillatory frequencies used in feedforward vs. feedback cortical communication. He was also a visiting student with Dr. Karl Friston at Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at University College London, where he first got interested in the theory of predictive coding. André then went on to work as a postdoctoral associate with Dr. Earl Miller at MIT and Dr. Nancy Kopell at Boston University where he used large-scale neuronal recordings to gain insight into predictive processing. He joined the faculty of Vanderbilt University in 2021 as an Assistant Professor of Psychology and member of the Vanderbilt Brain Institute (VBI).

Meet the Team

Eli Sennesh, PhD

Post-Doctoral Fellow
Eli received his PhD from Northeastern University (2023), where he worked with Drs. Jan-Willem van de Meent, Lisa Feldman Barrett, and Karen Quigley on probabilistic inference in brains and machines. He wrote his thesis with Dr. van de Meent on reasoning compositionally about probabilistic programs, computational models flexible enough to encompass extent models of cognition. In his work with Drs. Barrett and Quigley, he collaborated with Jordan Theriault on formally grounding the biological concepts of interoception and allostasis in probabilistic control of the internal milieu. He joined the Bastos Lab as a postdoctoral fellow in Fall 2023 to study the cortical implementation of predictive coding via electrophysiology in NHPs. He is regularly found listening to heavy metal and, if one is available at the time, on the beach.
Kaitlyn Gabhart, BS

Lab Manager
Kaitlyn received her BS in Brain and Behavioral Sciences from Purdue University in 2020. Her undergraduate research involved investigating barriers to public health screening models in primary care settings (under Dr. Monica Kasting). After graduating, she worked as a case manager in Los Angeles, CA at a forensic mental health conditional release program, providing clinical support to severe mentally ill (SMI) populations with disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. She joined the Bastos Lab in Spring 2022 to train non-human primates (NHPs) on tasks investigating the neurophysiology of prediction and working memory in the brain. She is interested in how these neurophysiological processes become abberrent in mental health disorders. Along with research, she enjoys hiking, cooking, and snowboarding.
Yihan (Sophy) Xiong, BA/BS

PhD Student
Sophy received her BS in Psychobiology and BA in Linguistics from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2018. Her undergraduate research work involved novel treatments for mood disorders (under Drs. Michelle Craske and Eliza Congdon), and neurogenetics of autism using rodent models (under Drs. Daniel Geschwind and Katrina Choe). She then worked as a research assistant in addiction and emotion regulation research using human neuroimaging methods (under Dr. Hedy Kober) at Yale University. She joined the Bastos Lab in Fall 2021 to pursue her PhD in Psychological Sciences, starting her training in non-human primate research and investigating the neurophysiology of prediction in the brain. When not in lab, she can be found salsa-dancing, video-gaming, and trapeze-flying.
Hamed Nejat, BS

PhD Student
Hamed received his BSc in Electrical Engineering at Sharif University of Technology (Iran) in 2021. His undergraduate was focused on Bio-electrical engineering and electrophysiology. For his thesis, he worked on EEG functional connectivity graph analysis with Dr. Hajipour in SUT and published his work on IEEE (ICBME-2021). He also worked on AI-based painter robot interface software for international telecom fair 2018 as part of SUT research and development team. Since early 2022, he started working with Dr. Bastos and Dr. Sherfey on DynaSim toolbox on Matlab with focus on extending it and implementation of reinforcement learning tools for dynamic neural models. He joined the Bastos Lab in Fall 2022 to pursue his PhD in Psychological Sciences, continue his work on neural simulation, training in non-human primate research, and modeling brain circuits with focus on predictive coding. He is also a violinist. When he’s not in the lab, he enjoys coffee time, talking to others, and learning how to dance.
Aidan Mulvey

Undergraduate Research Assistant I
Aidan is a junior at Vanderbilt University. He is a neuroscience major with minors in scientific computing and Spanish. He joined the lab in Spring 2023 and spent the summer quantifying inhibitory interneurons and excitatory pyramidal neurons in macaque cortex. He currently assists with animal trainings and leads anatomical projects in both NHPs and humans to quantify specific cells responsible for computing predictions. During his free time, he likes to drink sparkling waters, play tennis, and DJ.
Thomas Gonzales

Undergraduate Research Assistant I
Thomas is a senior at Vanderbilt University majoring in Neuroscience with a minor in Spanish. He assists with animal trainings on working memory tasks and programs in MATLAB to analyze behavioral data in NHPs that informs the lab on learning peformances. He also helped to develop various training paradigms for NHPs. He is spearheading a project in humans, using his working memory task design to study prediction that can compare across species differences. In his free time, he enjoys being a member of Vanderbilt Club Tennis, rollerblading, and archery.
John Alvord

Undergraduate Research Assistant I
John is a senior at Vanderbilt University and is a double major in Neuroscience and Medicine, Health, and Society with a minor in Computer Science. He joined the lab in Fall 2023 and spent his first semester working on computational neuroscience research, focused on employing and building upon an algorithm that analyzes the laminar profile of various brain regions. His current project will explore the resonant frequencies across several areas in the NHP cortex. During his free time, he likes to golf, play basketball, and cook new foods.
Mazyar Azmi

Undergraduate Research Assistant I
Mazyar is a sophomore at Vanderbilt University majoring in Neuroscience with minors in Data Science and Digital Fabrication. He assists with in-house computer aided design of implant components, as well as behavioral training interface design for NHPs. Over the following semesters, he will conduct several data driven projects using MATLAB, R, and Python to answer specific questions about cortical attentional control. In his free time, he enjoys DJing, working on his car, and playing video games.