NEUROSCIENCE · DEVELOPMENT · INJURY

We are finding new ways to understand, prevent and ultimately cure epilepsy.

Our laboratory studies the principles of nervous system development, epilepsy and traumatic brain injury. A hallmark of our work is its interdisciplinary breadth: we integrate molecular, cellular, developmental, electrophysiological, systems and behavioral approaches to understand how neurological disorders like epilepsy alter brain circuits - and to develop new tools and therapies to restore them.

Our goal is to discover precisely how the nervous system is changed by disorders of brain development or injury and to translate these basic science discoveries into new therapies.

Our affiliations

We are part of the Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology at the University of California, Irvine.

Jun 2022
Nature Communications

Mapping inhibitory circuits across the brain after TBI

Read highlights in UCI SOM

Nov 2019
Nature Communications

An interneuron transplant therapy for TBI and epilepsy

Read highlights in UCI SOM, US News & World Report

Latest news

Jun 2026 |Alexa Tierno awarded UC President’s Dissertation Year Fellowship
Funded for complete her thesis work on circuit dysfunction in TBI

Apr 2024 | Kevin Lozano awarded NIH T35 Fellowship
Funded for work using stem cells to study autism and metabolic disorders

Mar 2024 | Alexa Tierno receives Latino Excellence and Achievement Award.

Jun 2023 | Tamara Bustamante receives Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo (ANID) Fellowship
Will visit from Chile to perform in vivo electrophysiology research in the lab this year

Dec 2023 | Jessica Cheng and Susan Khanpour receive 2024 UROP Fellowships
Will perform undergraduate research projects in the lab this year

May 2023 | Alexa Tierno awarded Dr. Lorna Carlin Excellence in Research Award - Honorable mention prize

Apr 2023 | Bowen Hou awarded CIRM Research Fellowship
For work on visual circuit function in brain injury

Apr 2023 | Alexa Tierno awarded NIH F31 NRSA Fellowship
Funded for work on inhibitory circuit reorganization in TBI

Feb 2023 | Lab is selected for STAT Madness competition!
Please vote for us to win best idea in biomedical science.

Corona del Mar State Beach is 13 minutes away

UC Irvine is a world- class research university with highly ranked graduate programs in neuroscience and biological sciences. Our Southern California location is home to one of the largest academic research and biotechnology hubs in the United States. Lab members enjoy direct access to an outstanding community of neuroscientists and clinicians as well as a wide range of recreational activities available in our region. Learn more about working and living in Orange County, California.

1/3

Fortune 500 companies located in Irvine, CA

281

Number of sunny days a year

13

Minutes to the beach

#8

Public university ranking by US News & World Report