Phone: (403) 394-3959
e-mail: molina@uleth.ca
Lab: EP 1213B
Biography and Interests
Leonardo graduated from Physics at the Universidad de Los Andes, Venezuela. Part of his training happened in the laboratory of Chaos and Complex Systems of the same university, where he became interested in the application of computational and statistical methods to study interdisciplinary problems.
Leonardo completed his M.Sc. in Neuroscience at the University of Lethbridge in Dr. Gruber’s laboratory under his and Dr. McNaughton’s supervision. He investigated the neuronal dynamics in the rat medial prefrontal cortex by an NMDAR antagonist. After graduating he became Research Technician in the same laboratory where some of his responsibilities were to acquire and analyze EEG data, program microcontrollers and graphical user interfaces to control data acquisition systems (for behavior and electrophysiology), administer computational resources of the laboratory and provide software support (MATLAB, Cheetah, and data backup).
During the Fall of 2014, Leonardo continued as a Research Technician in McNaughton lab. He is developing software modules for the acquisition software of the microscope setups to extend their functionality and to adapt it to the needs of the experimental design. For example, interfacing sensors and actuators to collect behavior and provide stimuli in return while recording with the acquisition system. His current focus is on implementing a novel virtual reality system for mice. Other responsibilities include analysis of spiking and EEG data, and maintenance and content update of this website.
Recent Publications
- Skelin, I., Hakstol, R., VanOyen, J., Mudiayi, D., Molina, L. A., Holec, V., Hong, N. S., Euston, D. R., McDonald, R. J. and Gruber, A. J. (2014), Lesions of dorsal striatum eliminate lose-switch responding but not mixed-response strategies in rats. European Journal of Neuroscience. DOI: 10.1111/ejn.12518.
- Leonardo Molina, Ivan Skelin, Aaron Gruber (2014). Acute NMDA Receptor Antagonism Disrupts Synchronization of Action Potential Firing in Rat Prefrontal Cortex. PLOS One, 9(1), e85842, 2014.