People

Meet the Team

Principal Investigator

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Travis E. Baker, PhD

Associate Professor
Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience
Rutgers University
Email: travis.e.baker@rutgers.edu
Room: 307D
Tel: 973-353-35485

Research Interests: The overarching goal of Dr. Baker’s research program is to understand the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie goal-directed navigation, how to empirically identify and characterize these functions in the brain, and how these functions are disrupted in clinical populations (e.g. addictions, affective disorders, neurodegenerative disorders). He has adopted a variety of empirical approaches to investigate these functions, including genetics, electroencephalography, event-related brain potentials, functional magnetic resonance imaging, diffusion magnetic resonance imaging, and transcranial magnetic stimulation. Ultimately, Dr. Baker hopes that his research will converge to help improve psychiatric care.

Background: Born in Canada, Travis Baker earned his PhD in 2012 from the University of Victoria in the Brain and Cognitive Science program under the supervision of Dr. Clay Holroyd. He also holds a Masters of Science degree in Experimental Neuropsychology (University of Victoria) and received a B.A. (with distinction: Psychology) from Vancouver Island University. Prior to joining Rutgers University faculty, he worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the Montreal Neurological Institute in the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery under the supervision of Dr. Alain Dagher, and at CHE Sainte-Justine Children’s Hospital Research Center under the supervision of Dr. Patricia Conrod.

Postdocs

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Name: Komal Bharti, PhD
Research: Brain stimulation and multimodal neuroimaging methods focusing on addiction and affective disorders. 
Method: TMS, resting-state fMRI, fMRI, DTI

Email: bkomalcct@gmail.com
For more information, click here

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Name: Daniel Robles
Research: Mobile EEG, alpha oscillations and attention, the relationship between attention and rewards in current substance users
Methods: Mobile-EEG, TMS, diffusion weighted imaging

Email: dr1147@newark.rutgers.edu
Tel.: 973-353-3509

PhD students

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Name: Malte Güth, M.Sc.
Research: EEG informed closed-loop neuromodulation of goal-directed navigation
Methods: EEG-fMRI, MEG, EEG, TMS, data fusion
Email: malte.r.gueth@rutgers.edu
Tel.: 973-353-3509

Spatial Navigation in Virtual and Augmented Reality

Name: Galit Karpov, B.Sc.
Research: Effects of Childhood Maltreatment on Adult Threat Processing.
Methods: EEG, fMRI. 
Email: galit.karpov@rutgers.edu
Tel.: 973-353-3509
For more information, click here

jaleesa

Name: Jaleesa Stringfellow-James, B.A.
Research: Measuring and modulating reward functioning in addiction with TMS
Methods: Augmented and Virtual Reality, EEG, fMRI, EEG-fMRI, machine learning
Email: jss388@newark.rutgers.edu
Tel.: 973-353-3509

yifan

Name: Yifan Gao, MA, BSc
Research: Measuring and manipulating brain connectivity in addiction with TMS
Methods: fMRI, EEG, TMS
Email: yg566@rutgers.edu
Tel.: 973-353-3509

For more information, click here

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Name: Nicole Lalta
Research: Measuring and manipulating brain connectivity in addiction with TMS
Methods: fMRI, EEG, TMS
Email: nicole.lalta@rutgers.edu
Tel.: 973-353-3509



Research Assistants

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Name: Emily Zhang
Research: Utilizing EEG to examine reward processing in clinical populations such as mood disorders and addiction, and learning how neural biomarkers can be used to inform clinical interventions.

Methods: EEG, fMRI, TMS

Email: emilydzhang896@gmail.com
Tel.: 973-353-3509

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Name: Merna Zaki 
Affiliation: Post-Baccalaureate Research Experience (PREP) Pilot Program
Research Interests: Reward processing and addiction

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Name: Keya Thaker
Affiliation: Rutgers Undergraduate Neuroscience Major
Research Interests:

Cognitive control functioning in opioid use disorder

Name: Mr. Roboto
Affiliation: research assistant in Dr. Baker's lab.
Research Interests: Holding things precisely. I like to use MRI images to set brain stimulation targets, and then continuously track and adapt to the movements of the cranium in real-time. My goal is to guarantee a precise mm coil to target position for Dr. Baker's experiments. This is far better than my last job in the culinary world. click here



Collaborators

Andrew Reid, PhD http://andrew.modelgui.org/

Omer Liran, MD: Co-Director, Virtual Medicine Program, Cedars-Sinai

Elisa Kallioniemi, PhD, NJIT www.elisakallioniemi.com/

CMBN collaborators

Mike Cole, PhD colelab.org

Drew Headley, PhD    mimoneuro.org

Vince McGinty, PhD mcgintylab 



 

Bakerlab Alumni

Mei-heng Lin, PhD - Post-doc

Kathryn Biernacki, PhD - Post-doc now a research fellow at the National Institute of Drug Abuse)

Sally Cole, M.A. - RA now at KATLAB, Florida State)

Marissa Cortright - NIDA summer intern

Daniel Rynerson, M.A. - Undergrad RA

Gray Garrard - Undergrad RA

Pavlina Coleska - Undergrad RA

Peter Shafeek - Undergrad RA

Juan Cadavid - Undergrad RA

Neeta Bauer - Undergrad RA

Seema Parikh, B.A. - Undergrad RA

Fernanda Juarez, B.A. - Undergrad RA

Martin Hochheimer, B.Sc. Visiting Scholar from Germany



Team Meetings & Lab Life