Rajyashree Sen, Ph.D.

Rajyashree (a.k.a Rai, like “rye”) was born and raised in India. She completed her Bachelor's in Microbiology at St. Xavier's College Kolkata, and her Master's in Biotechnology at the University of Hyderabad. She conducted her PhD in the lab of Dr. Barry Dickson, initially at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology in Austria and later at Janelia Research Campus in the US, when the Dickson lab relocated. As a graduate student, she dissected the neuronal pathways for evasive (backward) walking in fruit flies. As a postdoc in the Axel lab, she uses mice as a model system to study how the brain builds cognitive maps and other internal representations that enable generalization and inference beyond direct experience. Her postdoctoral work has also grown through collaborations with Drs. Stefano Fusi and Larry Abbott at the Zuckerman Institute’s theory center, and with Dr. Bianca Jones Marlin’s lab. 

In parallel with her scientific work, Rai loves teaching and bringing scientists and general audiences into conversation. In 2024, she founded The Lab, an improvisational comedy show inspired by interviews with scientists that uses comedy to make neuroscience accessible to broad audiences.


Personal website
Email
Google Scholar
Twitter