Panthea Nemat

During my undergraduate studies in psychology at Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, I became interested in the biological underpinnings of our emotions, thoughts, and behaviour, which is why I decided to follow the Master’s program in neuroscience at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

I joined the Molecular Engrams team of Dr. Priyanka Rao-Ruiz as a PhD student in November 2021 to further specialise in behavioural neuroscience and proteomics.

The focus of my PhD project is to unravel the molecular engram of aversive memory. While the learning and memory field has made considerable advances in understanding the neural circuits involved in memory consolidation, the molecular architecture of memory formation and its persistence remains a crucial challenge for neuroscience and of pivotal importance to improve our insight into the pathophysiology of memory disorders.
To systemically address this question, I am combining analysis of rodent behaviour with in vivo tagging and metabolic labeling of memory-encoding neurons and their input-specific synaptic connections, proteomic analysis, and cell-specific manipulations.