Spotlight: Jacob Roshgadol, PhD Student, Biomedical Engineering Graduate Group

• Tell us a bit about yourself, your background and interests. 

I grew up in a small modern-orthodox Jewish community outside Baltimore where I had access to amazing academic and employment opportunities. I studied mechanical engineering with a minor in global engineering leadership at the University of Maryland, and I applied the skills I gained from my training in places like the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and the tank development unit of the Israel Defense Forces. Unfortunately, I got ill with meningitis while serving in the military, but my experience with the illness ignited a passion within me for neuroscience and neuroengineering. I have been working in neuroengineering labs since 2018 where I have been focusing on improving the animal behavior testing equipment researchers use to unravel the mysteries of the brain. I joined the Tian lab at UC Davis for my PhD in 2020, and I recently moved to Dr. Lin Tian's new lab at Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience for the duration of my PhD training.

• What do you like to do when you are not in the lab or at work / not doing science?

My favorite activities are hiking and water sports like kayaking and paddleboarding, especially with my dog Moses.

• How do you describe your research? 

The goals of the research projects I'm working on for my thesis are to identify dopamine signaling dynamics throughout the brain that support behavioral processes like goal-seeking and learning. These experiments are answering some of the fundamental questions about what dopamine is doing in the brain to shape behavior.

• Tell us more about your entrepreneurial endeavors.

I took part in the Big Bang! Business Competition in May 2024 as a Keller Pathways Fellow. The fellowship aims to assist students with ideas for the competition by providing workshops, seminars, and pitch practices throughout the year to refine the pitches. The venture I planned to develop over the fellowship offers automated rodent behavior testing equipment designed for neuroscience and psychology researchers. These are similar to outreach demos I presented at past NeuroFest and Picnic Day outreach events at UCDavis.

Given the highly specialized nature of the equipment, conveying my pitch to those outside my target market proved challenging. Initially, when I presented to my fellow Keller Pathways Fellows, I noticed quizzical looks on their faces because I hadn't tailored my pitch to the audience. However, over the year, I honed my pitching skills for various audiences, including investors, customers, laypeople, and even grant funding agencies like the NIH. This refinement helped me hone my pitch such that it enabled the Big Bang! Business Competition judges not only to grasp my pitch but also to recognize the value my product offers to its target customers.

Although I did not win the "Animal Health" sector cash prize, I believe my pitch was the best it could have possibly been. We - the “Microbehavior” team of Davis - did win a laboratory space residency award at Inventopia with an estimated value of $4,000. The Big Bang! competition and Keller Pathways Fellowship have boosted my confidence in sharing my ideas with the world. I now feel more assured about my venture than ever before and am eager to progress. My plan is to utilize the Inventopia residency award I received to further refine my product as I pursue an SBIR grant through the NIMH BRAIN Initiative.

• Do you have a favorite quote or a mantra or something that you use to keep yourself motivated? 

Failures are a part of the journey.

• What got you hooked on science? Who inspired you? 

When I was sick with meningitis, I tried to read as much about neuroscience as I could to understand how the physical changes in my brain affected my mood and behavior. Books by Dr. Robert Sapolsky, Dr. Karl Deisseroth, and Dr. Oliver Sacks have been extremely influential on me.

• Please share a less-than-perfect experience, like a failure or a challenge.

Getting a PhD is hard – picking up and moving in the middle of it (summer 2024) adds to the challenge. In many ways it feels like starting over. 

• And how about a favorite success? 

Getting a funded F31 grant. I was not expecting my application to be discussed, but it scored pretty highly and had positive feedback from reviewers. I made very minor edits for a resubmission and received a "Notice of Award" half a year later.

• Do you have a favorite piece of advice for high school or undergraduate students interested in neuroengineering?

It's never too early to get involved in this field if it's something you are interested in. Reach out to researchers at your local university – they want to help you discover your passion.

Jacob designed automated rodent behavior testing equipment that can be used by neuroscience and psychology researchers and presented his demos during outreach events at UC Davis. Watch this video to learn more about his demo.

We look forward to attending Jacob’s exit seminar for his PhD dissertation on the UC Davis campus! Meanwhile, congratulations to Jacob and his colleagues for his most recent publication titled “Phasic locus coeruleus activity enhances trace fear conditioning by increasing dopamine release in the hippocampus”.