Staff Directory

Tyler is a Junior at Columbia College pursuing a B.A. in Neuroscience and Behavior on the pre-medical track. He is originally from Colebrook, NH, where he enjoys fishing and kayaking outdoors. In the Kahn Lab, Tyler is currently involved in a study focused on lesioning cortical regions in mice, using small-animal functional MRI (fMRI) to noninvasively map and quantify changes in network segregation, automating Open Field and Novel Object Recognition assays, and implementing Motion Sequencing (MoSeq). By integrating automated behavioral assays with MoSeq analysis and resting-state fMRI, Tyler captures specific shifts in discrete motor-behavioral motifs across the mouse lifespan, linking these motifs to alterations in resting-state functional connectivity. Outside of the lab, Tyler enjoys weightlifting, spending time with friends, and working as a certified phlebotomist at his hometown hospital.

Tamar is a senior at Barnard College pursuing a major in Biological Sciences and a minor in French. She is interested in veterinary medicine and enjoys working with animals. In the Kahn lab, she is interested in investigating memory and contextual inference learning in mice. Outside of the lab she is captain of the Columbia Fencing Team and enjoys hiking and watching movies.

I am an Associate Professor at the Department of Neuroscience, a Principal Investigator at the Zuckerman Institute, and the director of the Brain Systems Organization in Health and Disease Lab (or Kahn Lab in short).

Aviv is an undergraduate student pursuing a B.Sc. in Physics and Mathematics at the Open University of Israel. In the Kahn Lab, he works on developing and interpreting artificial intelligence models for biomedical research, with a focus on women’s health. His research interests include mechanistic interpretability, particularly constructing causal maps, applying do-calculus, and studying how information propagates through complex models. He previously conducted research in quantum information at the Israeli Quantum Computing Center (IQCC) and represented Israel at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists (EUCYS) after winning Israel’s national science competition. He is also interested in relativity and high-energy physics.

Apoorva is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Kahn Lab. Her research focuses on understanding brain-wide functional changes across the lifespan in healthy aging and cognitive disorders. She employs an integrated approach—combining functional MRI, behavioral assays and blood serum/genetic markers— to develop a translational research program bridging animal and human studies. Through her collaboration with the Wig Lab at UT Dallas, she aims to study large-scale brain network organization, cognition and behavior to identify which networks are vulnerable or resilient to focal lesions. Apoorva earned her PhD degree from the City University of New York, where she studied the learning and motivation pathways in addiction pathology and relapse prevention. Her research characterized the beneficial effects of environmental enrichment against cue-induced reinstatement of heroin seeking following chronic heroin use, and the underlying cell type- and region- specific neuroadaptations. When not in the lab, she enjoys reading, writing, hiking, creating art and playing the ukulele— none peer-reviewed, all enthusiastically pursued.

Amir Lawen, a biomedical engineer that graduated from the Technion, Israel in 2019. He graduated with his PhD student from Columbia University's Neurobiology and Behavior program here at the Zuckerman Institute. Amir, co-mentored during his graduate studies with Professor Charles Zuker, aims to characterize brain-wide representation of sensory stimuli, specifically, gustatopic mapping of different taste qualities in the gustatory cortex. Amir is a pianist and a former tennis player, he enjoys exploring the intricacies of oriental music and enjoys exploring NYC.