People

Undergraduate: Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Cell & Molecular Biology

Master’s (Current): Biomedical Science with a concentration in Stem Cell Science. 

Research Appointment: Visiting Scholar in the Paredes Lab through the CIRM Bridge Science Master’s

Program Research Focus: Investigating the developmental characteristics (proliferation and migration) of inhibitory neurons in human Temporal Cortex.

Selina Li received her B.S. in Molecular & Cell Biology (emphasis in Cell Biology, Development & Physiology) and Public Health from UC Berkeley in 2025, with a minor in Middle East studies. There, she joined Dr. Dan Feldman's lab and studied the neural circuits for attentional selection in the mouse somatosensory cortex with Dr. Deepa Ramamurthy. Selina joined the Paredes Lab as an undergraduate research volunteer and works with Dr. Oier Pastor-Alonso to explore the prenatal and postnatal development of the human hippocampus.

Clara received her BS in Biology and MS in Modern Human Anatomy, working with Dr. Ethan Hughes on learning-related myelin plasticity in cortex in health and disease.  Clara joined the Paredes Lab as a Neuroscience PhD student in 2021, studying developmental myelination in visual cortex. Her research interests include myelin plasticity and neuron-glia interactions, with a special focus on their functional ramifications during development and in adulthood.

Oier Pastor-Alonso got a PhD in Neuroscience from the University of the Basque Country in 2020. Using mouse models, he studied the developmental formation and establishment of adult hippocampal neural stem cells and the mechanisms guiding their response in the context of medial temporal lobe epilepsy. He joined the lab in 2021 to explore the prenatal and postnatal development of neural stem and progenitor cells in the human hippocampus. His current interests move towards the study of the human infant and adult hippocampus and plasticity changes after seizures.

I am an MD/PhD candidate interested in how early-life injuries shapes neurodevelopment. I was born and raised in the Bay Area and attended Columbia University for my undergraduate degree. Currently, my research is focused on how oxygen deprivation at birth influences the survival and migration of newborn neurons in the subventricular zone. My aim is to combine single cell transcriptomics and primary tissue culture methods to generate mechanistic insights into neonatal brain injury.

Jaz is a PhD candidate in UCSF's  Developmental and Stem Cell Biology program. She completed her Bachelor's of Science in Material Science and Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2018. Her current research interests focus on molecular characterization of neurodevelopmental diseases such as epileptogenic malformations of cortical development to define novel therapeutic targets. Outside of lab her interests include being in nature with her dog, music, reading, cooking, and rock climbing.

I’m a PhD candidate in the Development & Stem Cell Biology Graduate Program at the University of California, San Francisco. I study how inhibitory neurons develop in the embryonic brain, focusing on stem cell populations in the caudal ganglionic eminence.