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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.

Xiaopeng Liu
Postdoctoral Research Associate
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.
He is currently investigating central auditory pathology in rodent models of autism and hearing disorders.

Noelle James
Lab Manager / Postdoc
Noelle earned her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She majored in Psychology at Washington University in St. Louis.
Her current work in the lab is on behavioral assaying and measuring auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) for hearing sensitivity.
Undergraduate Researchers

Zaria George
Molecular & Cellular Biology, '23
Concentration in Neuroscience
Zaria George
Molecular & Cellular Biology, '23
Concentration in Neuroscience
Laurel Hart
Molecular & Cellular Biology, '24
Omer Khan
Biochemistry, '23
Minor in Psychology
Amritha Kumar
Psychology, '22
Sarika Kumar
Molecular & Cellular Biology, '24
Gabe Predescu
Psychology, '25
Joseph Salerno
Molecular & Cellular Biology, '23
Liz Soellner
Molecular and Cellular Biology & Sociology, '24
Haichao Wang
Biochemistry, '24
Former Lab Members

Vrushhabh Patel
Computer Science, '24
Chemistry, '24