Current Members of the Francis Lab

Michael Francis, PhD - Principal Investigator

Mike Francis received his B.A. (1992) in psychobiology from the University of Virginia. He received a predoctoral National Research Service Award from NIMH to pursue his Ph.D. (1998) in the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Florida. He received a postdoctoral National Research Service Award from NIDA to pursue postdoctoral training in the Department of Molecular Medicine at Cornell University. He pursued additional postdoctoral training at the University of Utah and joined the faculty at the University of Utah as a Research Assistant Professor in 2001. Mike started his tenure-track position at UMass Chan Medical School in 2007.

Shankar Ramachandran, PhD - Instructor

Shankar is a senior research faculty, who joined the lab in 2016. He received his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he characterized calcium channels at presynaptic terminals of lamprey reticulospinal axons using calcium imaging and electrophysiology. He is currently investigating molecular mechanisms underlying synaptic connectivity and plasticity in the C. elegans motor circuit using genetic tools, optogenetics and calcium imaging.

Kasturi Biswas - Graduate Student

Kasturi  is a Neuroscience graduate student from Kolkata, India. She earned her B.Sc. with a major in microbiology from St. Xavier’s College and completed her M.Sc.in neuroscience from National Brain Research Centre in 2018. She joined the Francis lab in 2019 and is studying neural regulation of antioxidant responses and related neurodegeneration. Apart from her lab work, she enjoys cooking, painting and reading non-fiction novels, especially on brain-science and consciousness.

Samuel Liu - Graduate Student

Sam is a Neuroscience graduate student from Las Vegas, Nevada.  He earned his Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Massachusetts Amerhest in 2018. He joined the Francis lab in 2020, as part of the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences program. His interest lie in the genetic regulatory mechanisms governing synapse formation/composition, and using various optic and informatic tools to identify components that make up these mechanisms. Apart from his lab-work, he enjoys cooking and watching baseball.

Emily Norman - Graduate Student

Emily is a Neuroscience graduate student from Chelmsford, MA.  She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Neuroscience from Assumption College in 2020. She joined the Francis lab in 2024, as part of the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences program. Her interests lie in understanding the mechanisms governing age-related synapse loss. She is using various biochemistry and genetic tools to answer her research questions. Apart from her lab-work, she enjoys baking and reading.

Hannah Rogers - Graduate Student

Hannah is a Neuroscience graduate student from Dalton, Massachusetts. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2022. She joined the Francis lab in 2024 as part of the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences program. Hannah is interested in identifying molecular regulators of sensorimotor integration, and is using various genetic, behavioral, and optic tools to understand multisensory integration at a single-cell level. Apart from her lab work, she enjoys cooking and hiking.