79. Nanthia Suthana: Invasive brain recordings in humans, learning as a PI, and the joys of mentorship

Nov 3, 2023

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Nanthia Suthana is an Associate Professor at UCLA. In this conversation, we talk about her research using invasive brain recordings from humans, how the technologies have changed and what might happen in the future. We also talk about how she runs her lab, how to learn as a PI, and what Nanthia enjoys about mentoring students and postdocs.

We had some minor audio issues, so Nanthia switched her recording setup twice during the conversation. Sound should still be good though.

Support the show: https://geni.us/bjks-patreon

Timestamps
00:00: Was it good that Nanthia finished school so young?
01:27: How invasive recordings in humans have changed over the past 15 years
10:45: The future of invasive recordings in humans
19:29: Mentorship in academia
30:01: Learning as a PI
36:02: Book or paper more people should read
40:53: Something Nanthia wishes she'd learnt sooner
45:42: Advice for PhD students and postdocs

Podcast links

Website: https://geni.us/bjks-pod
Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-pod-twt

Nanthia's links

Website: https://geni.us/suthana-web
Google Scholar: https://geni.us/suthana-scholar
Twitter: https://geni.us/suthana-twt

Ben's links

Website: https://geni.us/bjks-web
Google Scholar: https://geni.us/bjks-scholar
Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-twt

References and links

Nanthia's episode in Stories of Women in Neuroscience:
https://www.storiesofwin.org/profiles/2021/3/24/dr-nanthia-suthana

Episodes w/ Matthias Stangl and Gareth Barnes:
https://geni.us/bjks-barnes
https://geni.us/bjks-stangl
https://geni.us/bjks-postdoc-stangl

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Stangl, Maoz & Suthana (2023). Mobile cognition: imaging the human brain in the ‘real world’. Nature Reviews Neuroscience.
Topalovic et al (2023). A wearable platform for closed-loop stimulation and recording of single-neuron and local field potential activity in freely moving humans. Nature Neuroscience.