Elom Amematsro, a soccer fan from Utah, wants to know how mastery of one skill transfers to learning another. A graduate student in the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience at the Zuckerman Institute, he uses computer code to build mathematical models that predict the behaviors of brain cells that move our bodies. He then tests these models with his own experiments and through collaborations with experimental neuroscientists in many different labs, to see if they can explain real-world behavior. The photos here, taken by Thomas Barlow, are part of an ongoing photo essay series that documents the lives of neuroscience graduate students in this lab: A Portrait of the Scientist.

Amematsro at his computer

Mathematical models of how motor skills are represented in the brain

Amematsro and fellow theorist Larry Abbott holding a model of the brain

Equipment used to monitor brain activity

Amematsro discussing experiments with mentors Mark Churchland (left) and Larry Abbott (right)

Amematsro