Ian Antón Oldenburg
Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, RWJMS
Director of the CABM Program for Holographic and Optogenetic Biology
Ian received a B.S. in biology from Carnegie Mellon University. In 2014, he completed his Ph.D. in neuroscience at Harvard University under the supervision of Bernardo Sabatini, there he investigated the interactions between the basal ganglia and motor cortex. As a postdoctoral fellow in Hillel Adesnik’s lab at the University of California Berkeley he developed new multiphoton holographic optogenetic approaches and used them to dissect the interactions between neurons in sensory cortex.
In general, Ian is interested in understanding how neurons interact with each other to give rise to behaviors. However, these interactions can be diverse, depending heavily on context, and on the specifics of which neurons are firing when. In many cases, the first step to answer these questions is to build new tools that allow ever more precise manipulations.
Barbara Gruszka
PhD Student – Neuroscience
New Jersey Commission on Spinal Cord Research Graduate Researcher
Barbara is a PhD student in the School of Graduate Studies Neuroscience Program at Rutgers – New Brunswick. Barbara graduated from Princeton University in 2020 with a degree in Neuroscience. For her undergraduate thesis work, Barbara worked in the Intelligent Performance and Adaptation (IPA) laboratory with Dr. Jordan Taylor. There, she designed a virtual reality throwing task and collected performance, motor, and eye-tracking data to further understand the effect of feedback-less practice movements on performance. After graduation, Barbara worked as a Pharmacology and Biomarkers Research Associate II for PTC Therapeutics, a company specializing in developing therapeutics for orphan diseases. In her free time, Barbara enjoys painting commissioned animal portraits, swimming, and refining her computer programming skills.
Masashi Hasegawa
Postdoctoral Researcher
Masashi is a postdoctoral fellow in the Oldenburg lab at Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine. He originally studied experimental psychology and behavioral toxicology at Hokkaido University (Japan), then moved into systems neuroscience. He conducted his dissertation research, investigating the neural mechanisms underlying motor preparation and execution by using a two-photon microscope, at the Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, under supervision of Dr. Takashi Sato. As a postdoctoral fellow in Jan Gründemann lab at University of Basel (Switzerland) and German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (Germany), he established deep brain imaging techniques by using a GRIN lens, and investigated the neural plasticity of auditory thalamus across cross-modal sensory learning.
In the Oldenburg lab, Masashi will employ multiphoton holographic optogenetic approaches to uncover how neural ensemble activities give rise to specific behaviors.
The Hasegawa Lab will be opening in the University of Heidelberg in September of 2026!
Vikshar Athreya
PhD Student – Neuroscience
Vikshar Athreya is a PhD student in the Graduate Program in Neuroscience at Rutgers University. He received his B.S. in General Biology from the University of Washington in 2022. Subsequently, he worked as a research technician in the lab of Dr. Mark Rossi investigating the role of the lateral hypothalamus in feeding behavior using 2-photon calcium imaging and optogenetics. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, working out, and participating in quiz bowl competitions with the Rutgers Academic Team.
Josh Stuckey
PhD Student – Neuroscience
Joint with Jen Mulle Lab
Joshua Stuckey is a PhD student in Rutgers’ Neuroscience Graduate program. He completed his Bachelor’s degree in Cell Biology and Neuroscience, also with Rutgers and conducted research on the contributions of stress to behavioral and psychiatric disorders (namely Addiction and Schizophrenia). Now in the Oldenburg lab, he is interested in using multiphoton holographic optogenetic approaches in disease relevant contexts. In his free time, he enjoys music production, photography and developing his podcast.
James Whitley
Postdoctoral Researcher
James Whitley joined the Oldenburg lab as a postdoctoral fellow following his doctoral training in neuroscience at the University of Louisville. He previously earned his B.S. in Biology from East Tennessee State University and completed his Ph.D. in Neuroscience in 2025 under the mentorship of Dr. Martha Bickford. During his thesis work, he investigated how inputs from multiple brain regions converge onto single neurons in the visual thalamus, integrating electron microscopy, viral tract tracing, and dual-opsin in vitro patch-clamp electrophysiology to study neural circuit organization and synaptic integration at cellular resolution.
In the Oldenburg lab, James continues this work in systems neuroscience by expanding from single neuron analyses toward understanding neural activity at the population level. His current research examines how population codes in motor cortex shape activity in downstream subcortical motor structures. Using high-density silicon probe electrophysiology alongside two-photon calcium imaging and holographic optogenetics, he studies how neural signals underlying motor planning and movement initiation are transformed and transmitted across distributed brain circuits.
Hailey Thomas
Undergraduate Researcher
Hailey joined the lab September 2023. She is a Neuroscience major Class of 2026.
Lab Alumni :
Dylan Sullivan
Research Technician June 2024 – Nov 2024
Raj Harsora
Research Technician Nov 2023 – May 2024 – Now Ph.D. student Rowan University
Kate Yashmanov
CABM SURE Undergraduate Research Assistant – June 2023 to Dec 2024
Taylor Troncoso
Undergraduate Research Assistant – Sep 2023 to Dec 2024
Elle Ketterer-Sykes
NeuroSURP Undergraduate Research Assistant
Hunain Kazi
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Priyanka Panchedula
Undergraduate Research Assistant