OIST PhD Graduates

Theses are published in the OIST Institutional Repository and are available online.

Graduated in AY2021 (Total as of August 2022: 21)

 

Tim Keller

Supervisor Name: Thomas Busch

Research Unit: Quantum Systems Unit

Thesis:Controlling Superfluid and Insulating States in Interacting Quantum Gases

Graduation Date: 2022 August, 31

 

Dmitrii Koldaev

Supervisor Name: Eliot Fried

Research Unit: Mechanics and Materials Unit

Thesis: Mathematical Modeling and Numerical Analysis of Unstretchable Elastic Ribbons

Graduation Date: 2022 August, 31

 

Alexandru Mihai

Supervisor Name: Eliot Fried

Research Unit: Mechanics and Materials Unit

Thesis: Soap Film Mediated 3D Self-Assembly: Suspended and Displacement Driven Geometries Using Centimeter-Scale Tiles<

Graduation Date: 2022 August, 31

 

Shan Zou

Supervisor Name: Denis Konstantinov

Research Unit:Quantum Dynamics Unit

Thesis: Detection of the Rydberg States of Electrons on Superfluid Helium Confined in Microchannel Devices

Graduation Date: 2022 August, 1

 

Agneesh Barua

Supervisor Name: Vincent Laudet

Research Unit: Marine Eco-Evo-Devo Unit

Thesis: The Evolutionary Genetics of Venoms: How Nature Created the Perfect Chemical Weapon

Graduation Date: 2022 July, 1

 

Makoto Tokoro Schreiber

Supervisor Name: Matthias Wolf

Research Unit: Molecular Cryo-Electron Microscopy Unit

Thesis: Diffraction-Based Experiments in Transmission Electron Microscopy: Lensing, Charging, and Amorphous Structures

Graduation Date: 2022 July, 1

 

Ratnesh Kumar Gupta

Supervisor Name: Sile Nic Chormaic

Research Unit: Light-Matter Interactions for Quantum Technologies Unit

Thesis: Evanescent Field Mediated Interactions of Cold Rubidium Atoms with Optical Nanofiber Guided Light

Graduation Date: 2022 June, 1

 

Mai Omar Abdulrahman Ahmed

Supervisor Name: Ichiro Masai

Research Unit:Developmental Neurobiology Unit

Thesis: Investigating the Function of Strip1 in Ganglion Cell Survival and Neural Circuit Formation of the Developing Zebrafish Retina

Graduation Date: 2022 March, 31

 

Swathy Babu

Supervisor Name: Ichiro Masai

Research Unit: Developmental Neurobiology Unit

Thesis:Banp Regulates DNA Damage Response and Chromosome Segregation to Promote Cell-cycle Progression and Cell Survival in Zebrafish Retina

Graduation Date: 2022 March, 31

 

Jigyasa Arora

Supervisor Name:Tom Bourguignon

Research Unit: Evolutionary Genomics Unit

Thesis:Functional Metagenomics and Evolution of Termite Gut Microbiome

Graduation Date: 2022 March, 31

 

Mohieldin Magdy Mahmoud Youssef

Supervisor Name:Tadashi Yamamoto

Research Unit: Cell Signal Unit

Thesis: Role of TOB in the Brain: An Insight into Stress Coping Machinery

Graduation Date: 2022 March, 31

 

Larisa Sheloukhova

Supervisor Name: Hiroshi Watanabe

Research Unit:Evolutionary Neurobiology Unit

Thesis:  Molecular Dissection of Ancestral Glia

Graduation Date: 2022 March, 31

 

Xunwu Hu

Supervisor Name: Ye Zhang

Research Unit:Bioinspired Soft Matter Unit

Thesis: Developing Integrin-targeted Peptide Assemblies to Direct Cancer Cell migration

Graduation Date: 2022 January, 31

 

Evropi Toulkeridou

Supervisor Name: Evan P. Economo

Research Unit: Biodiversity and Biocomplexity Unit

Thesis: Automated segmentation of micro-CT images by deep learning and its application to comparative morphology

Graduation Date: 2022 January, 31

 

Masakazu Taira

Supervisor Name: Kenji Doya

Research Unit: Neural Computation Unit

Thesis: The Role of Serotonin Neurons in Mouse Reward-based Behaviors

Graduation Date: 2022 January, 31

 

Yuka Suzuki

Supervisor Name: Evan P. Economo

Research Unit: Biodiversity and Biocomplexity Unit

Thesis: The effects of dispersal network structure on biodiversity pattern and stability in metacommunities

Graduation Date: 2022 January, 31

 

Menglin Wang

Supervisor Name: Tom Bourguignon

Research Unit: Evolutionary Genomics Unit

Thesis: Worldwide Historical Biogeography of Termites (Blattodea: Isoptera)

Graduation Date: 2021 December, 31

 

Po-Shun Chuang

Supervisor Name: Satoshi Mitarai

Research Unit: Marine Biophysics Unit

Thesis: From Polyps to Colonies: Applying Polyp Bail-Out to Study Coral Coloniality

Graduation Date: 2021 December, 31

 

Tsung-Han Hsieh

Supervisor Name: Hiroki Ishikawa

Research Unit: Immune Signal Unit

Thesis: Deciphering the Role of AP-1 Transcription Factor JunB in CD4+ T Cells

Graduation Date: 2021 October, 31

 

Dong Cao

Supervisor Name: Ichiro Maruyama

Research Unit: Information Processing Biology Unit

Thesis: Investigation of Circular RNA Regulation by Cis and Trans Elements in Caenorhabditis Elegans

Graduation Date: 2021 September, 30

 

Joel Perez Urquizo

Supervisor Name: Keshav Dani

Research Unit: Femtosecond Spectroscopy Unit

Thesis: Terahertz Patch Antenna Microcavity Lasers with Integrated Beam Control

Graduation Date: 2021 September, 30

 

Kun-Lung Li

Supervisor Name: Hiroshi Watanabe

Research Unit: Evolutionary Neurobiology Unit

Thesis: A Study of Horizontally Transferred Glycosyl Hydrolase Family 6 Genes in Tunicate Genomes

Graduation Date: 2021 September, 30

 

Graduated in AY2020 (Total as of August 2021: 17)

Awarded at AY2020 Graduation Ceremony on May 21 2021

2021 Graduation Ceremony webpage 

YouTube Video of Graduation Ceremony

 

Andreas Thomasen

Supervisor Name: Nic Shannon

Research Unit: Theory of Quantum Matter Unit

Thesis: Topology of Band-Like Excitations in Frustrated Magnets and Their Experimental Signatures

Graduation Date: 2021 August, 31

 

Jason Robert Ball

Supervisor Name: Denis Konstantinov

Research Unit: Quantum Dynamics Unit

Thesis: Investigating Color Centers in Diamond for Microwave Quantum Technologies

Graduation Date: 2021 August, 31

 

Afshan Jamshaid

Supervisor Name: Yabing Qi

Research Unit: Energy Materials and Surface Sciences Unit

Thesis: Scanning Probe Microscopy Studies of Metal Halide Perovskite Materials

Graduation Date: 2021 May, 31

 

Mathias Mikkelsen

Supervisor Name: Thomas Busch

Research Unit: Quantum Systems Unit

Thesis: Quenched and Driven Dynamics of One-Dimensional Quantum Systems

Graduation Date: 2021 April, 30

 

Seyedeh Sahar Seyed Hejazi

Supervisor Name: Thomas Busch

Research Unit: Quantum Systems Unit

Thesis: Atom-Light Interactions via Evanescent Fields

Graduation Date: 2021 April, 30

 

Shoko Igarashi (Ota)

Supervisor Name: Kenji Doya

Research Unit: Neural Computation Unit

Thesis: Intrinsic Motivation in Creative Activity

Graduation Date: 2021 April, 30

 

Sandrine Burriel

Supervisor Name: Tadashi Yamamoto

Co-Supervisor: Professor Nicholas Luscombe

Research Unit: Cell Signal Unit

Thesis: Functional analysis of LMTK1 in lung adenocarcinoma

Graduation Date: 2021 March 31

 

Shivani Sathish

Supervisor Name: Amy Shen

Research Unit: Micro/Bio/Nanofluidics Unit

Thesis: Surface-based Microfluidic Systems for Enhanced Biomarker Detection

Graduation Date: 2021 March 31

 

Kamila Mustafina

Supervisor Name: Yohei Yokobayashi

Research Unit: Nucleic Acid Chemistry and Engineering Unit

Thesis: Engineering Synthetic Riboswitches for Mammalian Cells

Graduation Date: 2021 February 28

 

Sakurako Watanabe

Supervisor Name: Jeff Wickens

Research Unit: Neurobiology Research Unit

Thesis: Interaction of multiple inputs in plasticity of the corticostriatal synapses

Graduation Date: 2021 January 31

 

Ayaka Usui

Supervisor Name: Thomas Busch

Research Unit: Quantum Systems Unit

Thesis: Control and measurement of non-classical properties of cold atomic and optical systems

Graduation Date: 2020 December 31

 

Lin Li

Supervisor Name: Pinaki Chakraborty

Research Unit: Fluid Mechanics Unit

Thesis: Storm moisture and landfalling hurricanes

Graduation Date: 2020 December 31

 

Christina Ripken

Supervisor Name: Síle Nic Chormaic

Co-Supervisor: Professor Noriyuki Satoh

Research Unit: Light-Matter Interactions for Quantum Technologies Unit

Thesis: Micro- and Nanoplastics in Okinawa – Potential Impacts on Planktonic Microalgae and Endosymbiotic Dinoflagellates

Graduation Date: 2020 November 30

 

Adrian David

Supervisor Name: Shinobu Hikami

Co-Supervisor: Professor Yasha Neiman

Research Unit: Mathematical and Theoretical Physics Unit

Thesis: Higher-spin holography in de Sitter space: horizon modes, black holes, and the boundary partition function

Graduation Date: 2020 November 30

 

Shijin Zhang

Supervisor Name: Ye Zhang

Research Unit: Bioinspired Soft Matter Unit

Thesis: Design and Synthesize Small Molecular Self-Assembling Peptides for Biomedical Applications

Graduation Date: 2020 November 30

 

Andrew Winchester

Supervisor Name: Keshav Dani

Research Unit: Femtosecond Spectroscopy Unit

Thesis: Spatially and temporally resolved microscopy of traps in hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites

Graduation Date: 2020 October 31

 

Krishna Priya Subramonian Rajasree

Supervisor Name: Síle Nic Chormaic

Research Unit: Light-Matter Interactions for Quantum Technologies Unit

Thesis: Rydberg Excitation and Other Multiphoton Processes in Cold Rubidium Atoms Near an Optical Nanofibre

Graduation Date: 2020 September 30

 

 

Graduated in AY2019 (Total as of August 2020: 25 )

Awarded at AY2020 Graduation Ceremony on May 21 2021

2021 Graduation Ceremony webpage 

YouTube Video of Graduation Ceremony

 

Hong Huat Hoh

Supervisor Name: Tadashi Yamamoto

Co-Supervisor: Professor Ye Zhang

Research Unit: Cell Signal Unit

Thesis: Study on Alteration of Cellular Phenotypes and Processes in Cancer Using Exogenous Biological Agents

Graduation Date: 2020 August 31

 

Sebastien Lapointe

Supervisor Name: Julia Khusnutdinova

Research Unit: Coordination Chemistry and Catalysis Unit

Thesis: Nickel Complexes of New Electron-Rich, Sterically-Hindered PNP Pincer Ligands

Graduation Date: 2020 August 31

 

Ankur Dhar

Supervisor Name: Tsumoru Shintake

Co-Supervisor: Professor Nic Shannon

Research Unit: Quantum Wave Microscopy Unit

Thesis: Imaging Monopoles in Spin Ice via Electron Holography

Graduation Date: 2020 August 31

 

Farzana Rahman

Supervisor Name: Kenji Doya

Co-Supervisor: Professor Alexander Mikheyev

Research Unit: Neural Computation Unit

Thesis: Identifying the Evolutionary Conditions for the Emergence of Alternative Reproductive Tactics in Simulated Robot Colonies

Graduation Date: 2020 June 30

 

Hemanta Sarmah

Supervisor Name: Tadashi Yamamoto

Co-Supervisor: Professor Yohei Yokobayashi

Research Unit: Cell Signal Unit

Thesis: Molecular and Physiological function of the mammalian CCR4-NOT subunit CNOT9

Graduation Date: 2020 May 31

 

Margaret Mars Brisbin

Supervisor Name: Satoshi Mitarai

Research Unit: Marine Biophysics Unit

Thesis: Characterization of Acantharea-Phaeocystis photosymbioses: distribution, abundance, specificity, maintenance and host-control

Graduation Date: 2020 May 31

 

Sona Rani Roy

Supervisor Name: Ye Zhang

Co-Supervisor: Professor Mitsuhiro Yanagida

Research Unit: Bioinspired Soft Matter Unit

Thesis: Design Integrin-targeted Molecular Self-assembling Peptides for Studying Cancer Migration Inhibition

Graduation Date: 2020 May 31

 

Nishtha Ranawat

Supervisor Name: Ichiro Masai

Research Unit: Developmental Neurobiology Unit

Thesis: Behavioral and transcriptomic analysis of embryonic microglia during colonization and degeneration of zebrafish retina

Graduation Date: 2020 April 30

 

Collin Stecker

Supervisor Name: Yabing Qi

Research Unit: Energy Materials and Surface Sciences Unit

Thesis: Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Photoelectron Spectroscopy Studies of Lead Halide Perovskite Surfaces, Defect Dynamics and the MAPbX 3 - CuPc Interface

Graduation Date: 2020 April 30

 

Noa Burshtein

Supervisor Name: Amy Shen

Research Unit: Micro/Bio/Nanofluidics Unit

Thesis: Flow Instabilities and Vortex Dynamics in Intersecting Flows

Graduation Date: 2020 April 30

 

Han Yan

Supervisor Name: Nic Shannon

Research Unit: Theory of Quantum Matter Unit

Thesis: Fracton States of Matter: From Holography to Frustrated Magnetism

Graduation Date: 2020 April 30

 

Tadashi Kozuno

Supervisor Name: Kenji Doya

Research Unit: Neural Computation Unit

Thesis: Efficient and Noise-Tolerant Reinforcement Learning Algorithms via Theoretical Analysis of Gap-Increasing and Softmax Operators

Graduation Date: 2020 March 31

 

Leonidas Georgiou

Supervisor Name: Bernd Kuhn

Research Unit: Optical Neuroimaging Unit

Thesis: Astrocyte calcium activity mapping in behaving mice using anterograde axo-astrocytic AAV transfer

Graduation Date: 2020 March 31

 

Shohei Takaoka

Supervisor Name: Tadashi Yamamoto

Co-Supervisor: Professor Hiroaki Kitano

Research Unit: Cell Signal Unit

Thesis: Role of 5’ - 3’ exoribonuclease Xrn1 in energy expenditure and control of obesity

Graduation Date: 2020 March 31

 

Viktoras Lisicovas

Supervisor Name: Keshav Dani

Research Unit: Femtosecond Spectroscopy Unit

Thesis: Improvements in optical techniques to investigate the behavior and neuronal network dynamics over long timescales

Graduation Date: 2020 March 31

 

Stefan Pommer

Supervisor Name: Jeff Wickens

Research Unit: Neurobiology Research Unit

Thesis: The effect of serotonin receptor 5-HT1B on lateral inhibition between spiny projection neurons in the mouse striatum

Graduation Date: 2020 February 29

 

Hsieh-Fu Tsai

Supervisor Name: Amy Shen

Research Unit: Micro/Bio/Nanofluidics Unit

Thesis: Glioma on Chips Analysis of glioma cell guidance and interaction in microfluidic-controlled microenvironment enabled by machine learning

Graduation Date: 2020 February 29

 

Dina Mostafa

Supervisor Name: Tadashi Yamamoto

Research Unit: Cell Signal Unit

Thesis: Functional Analysis of CCR4-NOT Complex in Pancreatic β Cell

Graduation Date: 2020 February 29

 

Paavo Parmas

Supervisor Name: Kenji Doya

Research Unit: Neural Computation Unit

Thesis: Total stochastic gradient algorithms and applications to model-based reinforcement learning

Graduation Date: 2020 January 31

 

James Schloss

Supervisor Name: Thomas Busch

Research Unit: Quantum Systems Unit

Thesis: Massively parallel split-step Fourier techniques for simulating quantum systems on graphics processing units

Graduation Date: 2019 December 31

 

Mayank Aggarwal

Supervisor Name: Jeff Wickens

Research Unit: Neurobiology Research Unit

Thesis: The Role of Ventral Tegmental Area and Nucleus Accumbens in the Kamin Blocking Effect

Graduation Date: 2019 November 30

 

Bianca Sieveritz

Supervisor Name: Gordon Arbuthnott

Co-Supervisor: Professor Jeff Wickens

Research Unit: Brain Mechanism for Behaviour Unit

Thesis: Ventral motor thalamic projections to prelimbic cortex in cost-benefit decision-making

Graduation Date: 2019 November 30

 

Simon Peter Mekhail

Supervisor Name: Síle Nic Chormaic

Co-Supervisor: Professor Gordon Arbuthnott 

Research Unit: Light-Matter Interactions for Quantum Technologies Unit 

Thesis: Optical Fiber Probes for in-Vivo Neuronal Compressive Microendoscopy and Mode Analysis in Nanofibers

Graduation Date: 2019 September 30

 

Neil Dalphin

Supervisor Name: Bernd Kuhn

Research Unit: Optical Neuroimaging Unit

Thesis: Two-Photon Voltage Imaging of Supragranular Barrel Cortex in Mice: Oscillations and Responses

Graduation Date: 2019 September 30

 

Sho Kasumie

Supervisor Name: Síle Nic Chormaic

Research Unit: Light-Matter Interactions for Quantum Technologies Unit 

Thesis: Hollow Whispering Gallery Mode Resonators: from Fabrication to Application

Graduation Date: 2019 September 30

 

Graduated in AY2018 (Total as of August 2019: 15)

Awarded at AY2018 Graduation Ceremony on May 25, 2019

2018 Graduation Ceremony webpage 

YouTube Video of Graduation Ceremony

 

Jiabao Chen

Supervisor Name: Denis Konstantinov

Co-Supervisor: Professor Thomas Busch

Research Unit: Quantum Dynamics Unit

Thesis: Coherent control of charged particle systems strongly interacting with microwave photons

Graduation Date: 2019 August 31

 

Thomas Nieddu

Supervisor Name: Síle Nic Chormaic

Research Unit: Light-Matter Interactions for Quantum Technologies Unit 

Thesis: Optical Nanofibers for Multiphoton Processes and Selective Mode Interactions with Rubidium

Graduation Date: 2019 July 31

 

Girish Beedessee

Supervisor Name: Noriyuki Satoh

Research Unit: Marine Genomics Unit

Thesis: Genomic insights on secondary metabolism in symbiotic dinoflagellates

Graduation Date: 2019 April 30

 

Yafei Mao

Supervisor Name: Noriyuki Satoh

Co-Supervisor: Professor Evan Economo

Research Unit: Marine Genomics Unit

Thesis: Whole-genome sequence analysis of the evolutionary history of the reef-building coral genus Acropora (Scleractinia, Cnidaria)

Graduation Date: 2019 April 30

 

Nilupaer Abudukeyoumu

Supervisor Name: Gordon Arbuthnott

Research Unit: Brain Mechanism for Behaviour Unit

Thesis:  Cholinergic interneurons in striatal microcircuit dynamics studied with anatomical and behavioral methods

Graduation Date: 2019 March 31

 

Haytham Mohamed

Supervisor Name: Tadashi Yamamoto

Research Unit: Cell Signal Unit

Thesis:  Post-transcriptional regulation of circadian rhythm: Involvement of the CCR4-NOT complex

Graduation Date: 2019 March 31

 

Irina Reshodko

Supervisor Name: Thomas Busch

Research Unit: Quantum Systems Unit

Thesis:  State engineering in one-dimensional quantum gases

Graduation Date: 2019 March 31

 

Kazuto Kawamura

Supervisor Name: Ichiro Maruyama

Research Unit: Information Processing Biology Unit

Thesis: Forward genetic screen for Caenorhabditis elegans mutants with a progressive decline in adult locomotor function

Graduation Date: 2019 March 31

 

Tosif Ahamed

Supervisor Name: Ichiro Maruyama

Co-Supervisor: Professor Greg Stephens

Research Unit: Information Processing Biology Unit

Thesis:  Capturing the nonlinear dynamics of animal behavior with applications to the nematode C. elegans

Graduation Date: 2019 March 31

 

Masakazu Igarashi

Supervisor Name: Jeffery Wickens

Research Unit: Neurobiology Research Unit 

Thesis: The role of interhemispheric cortico-cortical connections in bimanual coordination in the rat

Graduation Date: 2019 February 28

 

Hiroaki Hamada

Supervisor Name: Kenji Doya

Co-Supervisor: Professor Greg Stephens

Research Unit:  Neural Computation Unit

Thesis:  Serotonergic control of brain-wide dynamics

Graduation Date: 2019 January 31

 

Jessica Verena Schulze

Supervisor Name: Kenji Doya

Research Unit: Neural Computation Unit

Thesis: Spatial and modular regularization in effective connectivity inference from neural activity data

Graduation Date: 2018 December 31

 

Patricia Himeka Wepfer

Supervisor Name: Satoshi Mitarai

Co-Supervisor: Professor Evan Economo

Research Unit: Marine Biophysics Unit

Thesis: Spatial genetic structure in the coral genus Galaxea (Euphyllidae) and their associated Symbiodiniaceae communities

Graduation Date: 2018 November 30

 

Ray Xin Lee

Supervisor Name: Bernd Kuhn

Co-Supervisor: Professor Greg Stephens

Research Unit: Optical Neuroimaging Unit

Thesis: Nature and source of animal spontaneous behaviors: Insights from psychobehavioral development and neuronal population dynamics in mice

Graduation Date: 2018 November 30

 

Jui-Yin Lin

Supervisor Name: Denis Konstantinov

Research Unit: Quantum Dynamics Unit

Thesis Title: Transport properties of strongly correlated 2D electrons confined in microchannels

Graduation Date: 2018 September 30

 

Graduated in AY2017 (Total as of August 2018:13)

Awarded at AY2017 Graduation Ceremony, February 24 2018

2017 Graduation Ceremony page

YouTube Video of Graduation Ceremony