Lab Members
Principal Investigator
Anish Mitra
Anish Mitra is a neuroscientist and psychiatrist who studies how macroscale brain networks generate cognition. He earned a bachelor’s degree with honors in mathematics and a master’s in biophysics from Stanford University, where he focused on machine learning algorithms inspired by neural systems. Dr. Mitra then completed his MD-PhD at Washington University in St. Louis, before returning to Stanford for his adult psychiatry residency and postdoctoral research. Now, as an Assistant Professor at Stanford, Anish practices interventional psychiatry and leads a research team investigating control principles and cognitive functions in macroscale brain networks, aiming to translate these research insights into innovative treatments for psychiatric disorders.
Lab Manager
Cephra Raja
Cephra Raja is a Life Science Research Professional at Stanford University's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, specializing in rodent behavior and optical engineering. In her current role as lab manager at Mitra Lab, Cephra oversees daily operations and coordinates project logistics, fostering a productive and collaborative environment.
Postdoctoral Researcher
Patrycja Dzialecka
Patrycja Dzialecka is a neuroscientist and engineer developing novel neural interfaces, specializing in electrical brain stimulation and imaging, software development and large-scale data analysis. Prior to her current appointment as a postdoctoral researcher, she completed her PhD at the Centre for Neurotechnology at Imperial College London and an MEng degree in Biomedical Engineering at UCL. Currently, Pat is combining widefield optical measurements of cortex-wide brian activity with electrical brain stimulation to explore macroscale network control principles.
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Graduate Student Researcher
Kaiwen Sheng
Kaiwen Sheng earned his B.S. in Computer Science and Technology at Peking University, where he worked with Prof. Kai Du on machine learning applications in neuroscience and with Prof. Heping Cheng on analyzing calcium data in the SCN. He then pursued an MRes in Biosciences, focusing on Neuroscience at UCL, collaborating with Prof. Michael Hausser and Prof. Beverley Clark on a theoretical framework for studying computational specialization among cortical cell types. Currently, as a Bioengineering student in the Deisseroth and Mitra labs, Kaiwen is exploring the neural mechanisms underlying hallucinations and dreams, employing both optical and machine learning techniques.
Postdoctoral Researcher
Adam Pines
Adam Pines is a postdoctoral scholar investigating how the brain adapts and changes over time. His background is in neurocognitive development, including cognitive function in mood disorders in youth, hierarchical brain development, and hierarchical cortical processing broadly. His degree is in neuroscience.
Research Scholar
Naseem Moussa
Naseem Moussa graduated from UC San Diego in 2025 with a B.S in Neurobiology, where he worked in Dr. Kay Tye's Lab at the Salk Institute studying the neural mechanisms underlying social behaviors and valence processing. He is now a REACH postbac scholar at Stanford, with the goal of bridging the gap between science and medicine to create better health outcomes for patients with psychiatric disorders. In the lab, Naseem assists with widefield calcium imaging and electrical brain stimulation experiments.
Lab Mascot
Ozone
Ozone is in charge of morale and keeping the mice in line.
Graduate Student Researcher
Faith Aloboudi
Faith earned her B.S. in Neurobiology from University of California, San Diego in 2022. As an undergraduate, she worked at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies with Dr. Kay Tye studying how social exclusion modifies the behavioral response and insular cortex representation of physical pain. Continuing as a research technician, she went on to investigate how shared trauma alters medial prefrontal cortex dynamics and social affiliation behavior. She joined the Stanford Neurosciences IDP in September 2024 to further investigate neurobiological mechanisms to expand on biopsychosocial models underlying mental health disorders. For her thesis work, Faith aims to combine preclinical modeling with widefield optical imaging to elucidate neural mechanisms underlying psychiatric disorders. Outside of the lab, Faith enjoys sharing good food with friends, concerts, urban hiking, and window shopping vintage markets.