Max Melin

Max Melin is in his third year of training at the UCLA-Caltech Medical Scientist Training Program, performing graduate research in neuroscience. He completed his B.S in bioengineering at Stanford University while working with Dr. Thomas Sudhof to study fear memory and essential tremor. In the Churchland lab, he now studies learning and behavioral state — specifically how these are represented and evolve in the brain as mice learn decision-making tasks. When not in the lab, he can be found playing drums, ultimate frisbee or rock climbing in Yosemite or the High Sierra. In addition to scientific mentorship, Max has mentored several undergraduates who have continued on to medical and graduate school and is willing to provide application mentorship to any students who plan to pursue medical, graduate or M.D./Ph.D. training.

Principal Investigator: Anne Churchland

Co-Mentor: Felicia Davatolhagh

Fellow: Kaela Evans

Project
Learning is a dynamic process that engages multiple neural circuits across the brain. Despite our understanding of learning-related changes at individual circuits and behavior, how learning organizes circuits at a broader spatial scale remains unclear. To assess learning-related changes in neural activity, this project will use a combination of widefield calcium imaging and dense electrophysiological recordings as animals learn a visual-based behavioral task. The SURF fellow will be involved in analyzing behavioral strategies throughout learning using video-tracking computational models of mouse behavior. The fellow will be able to explore mouse decision-making strategies during early and late learning, and how these strategies are represented in the brain. Additionally, the fellow can assist experimentally, gaining hands-on experience in mouse behavioral training. This project is a joint co-mentorship between a postdoctoral scholar Felicia Davatolhagh and M.D./Ph.D. student Max Melin.