Kara Presbrey, BS
Fascinated by the brain since childhood, over the years I've been given opportunities to participate in a variety of research efforts studying topics ranging from emotion and addiction to decision-making, cognitive flexibility and mathematical modeling of nonlinear neural dynamics. Now in the Wang Lab, I'm exploring motor sequence learning and memory in patients with Parkinson's Disease.
My hobbies include learning as much about as many things as possible, dissecting human individual and collective behavior, philosophy, the arts and tending to my indoor jungle.
2012 - 2016: BS, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT
2017 - 2020: MS, Neuroscience, UCSF
2017 - Present: PhD, Neuroscience, UCSF
Amygdala Inputs to Prefrontal Cortex Guide Behavior Amid Conflicting Cues of Reward and Punishment
Burgos-Robles A, Kimchi EY, Izadmehr EM, Porzenheim MJ, Ramos-Guasp WA, Nieh EH, Felix-Ortiz AC, Namburi P, Leppla CA, Presbrey KN, Anandalingam KK, Pagan-Rivera PA, Anahtar M, Beyeler A, Tye KM.
Nat Neurosci. 2017 Jun;20(6):824-835. doi: 10.1038/nn.4553. Epub 2017 Apr 24.
Inhibitory Input from the Lateral Hypothalamus to the Ventral Tegmental Area Disinhibits Dopamine Neurons and Promotes Behavioral Activation
Nieh EH, Vander Weele CM, Matthews GA, Presbrey KN, Wichmann R, Leppla CA, Izadmehr EM, Tye KM.
Neuron. 2016 Jun 15;90(6):1286-1298. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2016.04.035. Epub 2016 May 26.
Decoding neural circuits that control compulsive sucrose seeking
Nieh EH, Matthews GA, Allsop SA, Presbrey KN, Leppla CA, Wichmann R, Neve R, Wildes CP, Tye KM.
Cell. 2015 Jan 29;160(3):528-41. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2015.01.003.