Benjamin D. Auerbach

Principal Investigator

Ben Auerbach is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is also a full-time member of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science & Technology.

Dr. Auerbach received his Ph.D. in neuroscience at MIT, where he studied mechanisms of synaptic plasticity in Fragile X syndrome and related neurodevelopmental disorders. He did his postdoctoral training at the Center for Hearing and Deafness at the University at Buffalo, where he investigated the neural circuits mechanisms underlying auditory perceptual disorders associated with hearing loss.

Team Members

Xiaopeng Liu

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Xiaopeng is currently investigating central auditory pathology in rodent models of autism and hearing disorders.

Dr. Xiaopeng Liu earned his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Science and Technology of China in Heifi and had 4+ years of post-graduate research training at the Center for Hearing and Deafness at the University at Buffalo.

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Walker Gauthier

Graduate Student in Neuroscience

Walker is planning to work on the relationship between long range frontal cortical circuits and local auditory circuits and how this relationship is altered with Fragile X syndrome. Along this line of inquiry, he would like to explore this framework developmentally. He is also interested in Ultrasonic Vocalizations of rats and how their verbal communication and social adaptions are altered with Fragile X syndrome.

Walker has a B.S. in Neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University.

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Manasi Inamdar

Graduate Student in Molecular & Cellular Biology

Manasi’s current work in lab is focused on investigating the molecular links between inhibitory interneuron dysfunction and circuit hyperexcitability in genetically distinct rat models of autism. She is planning to work on identifying convergent or divergent molecular changes underlying the pathophysiology of Fragile X Syndrome and Tuberous Sclerosis Complex.

Manasi has a M.S. in Applied Cognition and Neuroscience from University of Texas at Dallas.

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Noelle James

Lab Manager & Postdoc

Noelle's current work in the lab is on behavioral assaying and measuring auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) for hearing sensitivity.

Dr. Noelle James earned her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She majored in Psychology at Washington University in St. Louis.

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