Dr. Lisa Giocomo

Lisa is an Associate Professor at Stanford University who studies biophysical and network properties of grid cells in the entorhinal cortex. Although she hesitates to describe herself as a “card-carrying computational neuroscientist ”, Lisa has quite a bit of computational experience in her past. In her interview with Dakota, she reveals why grid cells are so incredibly interesting, and how this interest and her thirst for understanding led her all the way to Norway to study them experimentally and to model their unique coding properties. Lisa also recalls the challenges she faced as a new PI and shares some valuable advice on how to navigate the uncertainty and the many ups and downs accompanying a career in academia: “At the end of the day, you have to find inspiration in the questions you’re trying to address.”