Staff
Dr. Usdin is the Director of the Systems Neuroscience Imaging Resource in the NIMH Intramural Research Program. He attended college at Johns Hopkins University. His graduate work in the Medical Scientist Training Program at Washington University in St. Louis with Dr. Gerald Fischbach focused on the identification of factors responsible for neuromuscular junction development. Dr. Usdin completed a residency in psychiatry at Stanford University and then in 1990 joined the NIMH Laboratory of Cell Biology. Before establishing the SNIR, he was Chief of the Section on Fundamental Neuroscience where he explored the biological role of tuberoinfundibular peptide, a neuropeptide that his group discovered.
Dr. Williams Avram received her B.S. in Behavioral Neuroscience Magna Cum Laude from the University of Florida in 2005. During that time, her research focused on changes in serotonergic signaling following various physical therapy treatments after spinal contusion injury. She earned her Ph.D. in Neurobiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, studying the impact of drugs of abuse (alcohol, nicotine, cocaine) on maternal-infant behavioral interactions and underlying neuroendocrine basis of dysregulation. During her postdoctoral work at the NIMH IRP, she studied social memory and aggression using genetic knockouts, opto-and chemogenetics, and behavioral tests. She joined the SNIR in 2018 and serves as the director of training on microscopes and image analysis software supported by the SNIR. In this role, Sarah aims to aid investigators in the use of rigorous, reproducible, and efficient image acquisition and analysis procedures.
Dr. Roy received his M.S.E. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, where he specialized in machine learning and artificial intelligence in medical image processing. During his postdoctoral research at the Henry M. Jackson Foundation, he developed algorithms to analyze brain MR and CT images of patients or animals with traumatic brain injuries. Snehashis joined NIMH in 2019 and is a Staff Scientist working within the Systems Neuroscience Imaging Resource and the Section on Neural Function. His work at the SNIR has focused on methods for processing and analyzing big data generated by lightsheet, slide scanning, and confocal microscopy.
Dr. Boyko received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Biochemistry and Molecular Virology from Moscow State University with a focus on genome structure, bioinformatics and RNA trafficking. During his postdoctoral work at the Friedrich-Miescher Institute in Basel, Switzerland and at the NCI-Frederick, he focused on visualization and molecular dissection of transport of single RNA molecules in vivo. From 2012-2020, Dr. Boyko served as a Senior Research Scientist at the Molecular Cytology Core Facility of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He was responsible for training and supervision of students and scientists in advanced microscopy techniques and quantitative image analysis. He joined the IRP (NIH/NIBIB) in 2021, working towards establishment of multi-modal multiplexing imaging environments in vivo. Dr. Boyko joined SNIR in 2023, bringing his expertise in optical and computer hardware, multiplexing, Fluorescent Lifetime Imaging Microscopy to SNIR users.
Jonathan Kuo received his B.S. in Computer Science from University of Maryland, and his M.S. in Biochemistry from Old Dominion University. He worked at Life Technology/Invitrogen Inc. in both the Production and Research and Development departments for many years, focusing on technology tools for biological research, such as restriction and modification enzymes, DNA fingerprinting, and high throughput plasmid purification systems. From 2001-2018, he worked in the Section on Fundamental Neuroscience in the NIMH IRP, contributing to dissecting the role of tuberoinfundibular peptide. Since 2018, Mr. Kuo has served as the SNIR senior biologist, supporting the ongoing research projects and training scientists in slide scanning microscopy and In situ hybridization.