معرفی
Arpiar Saunders is an Assistant Professor at the Vollum Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, leading research on neural circuit organization through innovative genomic approaches. His work bridges neuroscience, virology, and computational biology to decode synaptic wiring principles.
His educational background includes:
- B.A. in Biology and Linguistics from Swarthmore College (2006)
- Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard Medical School (2014)
Dr. Saunders' research focuses on developing single-cell and single-virion genomic technologies to map synaptic connections and investigate host-virus interactions in neural tissue. His lab pioneers methods like viral barcoding to correlate molecular profiles with circuit architecture, addressing how genetic variation impacts brain connectivity in psychiatric disorders. Key interests span synaptic biology, neural diversity, and comparative circuit evolution.
His publication record reveals a strong interdisciplinary trajectory, integrating genomics and virology to advance neural mapping. Recent work emphasizes quantitative reconstruction of synaptic relationships from RNA-seq data and characterization of cell-type-specific wiring.
Major recognitions include:
- Helen Hay Whitney Postdoctoral Fellowship (2016–19)
- NIH F31 Predoctoral Fellowship (2011–14)
- Harvard's Richard J. Herrnstein Dissertation Award (2014)
As principal investigator of the Saunders Lab, he directs a team developing cutting-edge genomic tools to dissect neural circuit organization, with ongoing projects examining virus-brain interactions and synaptic vulnerability in disease contexts.
