Diversity in Life Sciences

Dr. Biafra Ahanonu studies the neural circuit and molecular mechanisms of pain. He is currently an HHMI Hanna H. Gray Fellow in the lab of Prof. Allan Basbaum at the University of California, San Francisco. To enable novel studies of the spinal cord in awake, behaving animals, he developed surgical, experimental, and computational methods that allow long-term—for months to over a year—optical access to the rodent spinal cord. Then, to identify molecular changes that occur in chronic pain and find novel therapeutic targets, he conducts proteomic analysis of pain-related circuits in neuropathic and inflammatory models. Dr. Ahanonu obtained his BSc from MIT in Brain & Cognitive Sciences and in Biology along with his PhD in Biology from Stanford University working in the lab of Prof. Mark Schnitzer, with support from HHMI Gilliam and NSF Graduate Research Fellowships. His doctoral studies used optical techniques in behaving animals to identify neural codes for pain processing, decision-making, and locomotion in the amygdala and striatum. He also developed computational tools and methods for calcium imaging analysis (e.g. CIAtah). He advocated for students as Biosciences Student (SBSA) President.