OIST PhD Graduates
Theses are published in the OIST Institutional Repository and are available online.
Graduated in AY2020 (Total as of February 2021: 9 )
Kamila Mustafina
Supervisor: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor Pinaki Chakraborty
Research Unit: Fluid Mechanics Unit
Thesis: Storm moisture and landfalling hurricanes
Graduation Date: 2020 December, 31
Christina Ripken
Supervisor: Professor Síle Nic Chormaic
Research Unit: Light-Matter Interactions for Quantum Technologies Unit
Thesis: Micro- and Nanoplastic in Okinawa: Potential impacts on planktonic microalgae and Endosymbiotic Dinoflagellates
Graduation Date: 2020 November, 30
Adrian David
Supervisor: Professor Shinobu Hikami
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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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 )
Eligible for award at the combined AY2019-2020 and AY2020-2021 Graduation Ceremony on May 21, 2021
The Graduation Ceremony for AY2019-2020 originally planned for May 22, 2020 was cancelled.
Hong Huat Hoh
Supervisor: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor Noriyuki Satoh
Research Unit: Marine Genomics Unit
Thesis: Genomic insights on secondary metabolism in symbiotic dinoflagellates
Graduation Date: 2019 April 30
Yafei Mao
Supervisor: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor Thomas Busch
Research Unit: Quantum Systems Unit
Thesis: State engineering in one-dimensional quantum gases
Graduation Date: 2019 March 31
Kazuto Kawamura
Supervisor: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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: Professor 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
Kalale Chola
Supervisor: Professor Tsumoru Shintake
Research Unit: Quantum Wave Microscopy Unit
Thesis: Development of an SPH variant of implicit LES for studying wave energy transport
Graduation Date: 2018 August 31
Tsai-Ming Lu
Supervisor: Professor Noriyuki Satoh
Research Unit: Marine Genomics Unit
Thesis: Comparative genomic studies on Dicyema japonicum: the phylogenetic position of dicyemids and the genomic adaptations to parasitic lifestyle
Graduation Date: 2018 August 31
E Laine Wong
Supervisor: Professor Keshav Dani
Research Unit: Femtosecond Spectroscopy Unit
Thesis: Ultrafast spatiotemporal control of photocarriers in doped semiconductors
Graduation Date: 2018 July 31
Chris Reinke
Supervisor: Professor Kenji Doya
Research Unit: Neural Computation Unit
Thesis: The Gamma-Ensemble - Adaptive Reinforcement Learning via Modular Discounting
Graduation Date: 2018 June 30
Dongrong Zhang
Supervisor: Professor Gustavo Gioia
Research Unit: Continuum Physics Unit
Thesis: Spectral theory of turbulent flows
Graduation Date: 2018 June 30
Lashmi Piriya Ananda Babu
Supervisor: Professor Tomoyuki Takahashi
Co-Supervisor: Professor Jeff Wickens
Research Unit: Cellular & Molecular Synaptic Function Unit
Thesis: Functional roles of microtubules in a giant presynaptic terminal
Graduation Date: 2018 May 17
Daisuke Takahashi
Supervisor: Professor Hirotaka Sugawara
Research Unit: Advanced Medical Instrumentation Unit
Graduation Date: 2018 February 21
Keita Ikegami
Supervisor: Professor Noriyuki Satoh
Research Unit: Marine Genomics Unit
Graduation Date: 2018 February 9
Nino Espinas
Supervisor: Professor Hidetoshi Saze
Co-Supervisor: Professor Ulf Skoglund
Research Unit: Plant Epigenetics Unit
Thesis: rCBP-dependent regulation in rice innate immunity
Graduation Date: 2018 February 9
Cong Liu
Supervisor: Professor Evan Economo
Research Unit: Biodiversity and Biocomplexity Unit
Graduation Date: 2018 January 31
Caroline Starzynski
Supervisor: Professor Mitsuhiro Yanagida
Research Unit: G0 Cell Unit
Graduation Date: 2017 December 31
Zafer Hawash
Supervisor: Professor Yabing Qi
Research Unit: Energy Materials and Surface Sciences Unit
Graduation Date: 2017 December 20
Rico Pohle
Supervisor: Professor Nic Shannon
Research Unit: Theory of Quantum Matter Unit
Thesis: Signatures of novel spin liquids in kagome-like lattices
Graduation Date: 2017 December 7
Graduated in AY2016 (Total as of August 2017:7)
Awarded at AY2016 Graduation Ceremony, February 24 2018
Kenneth Baughman
Supervisor: Professor Noriyuki Satoh
Research Unit: Marine Genomics Unit
Thesis: Decoding and analysis of the Crown-of-Thorns Starfish Acanthaster planci genome
Graduation Date: 2017 August 25
Dongxin Zhang
Supervisor: Professor Fujie Tanaka
Research Unit: Chemistry and Chemical Bioengineering Unit
Thesis: Amine catalyzed functionalization of enolizable ketones
Graduation Date: 2017 August 14
Yi-Jyun Luo
Supervisor: Professor Noriyuki Satoh
Research Unit: Marine Genomics Unit
Graduation Date: 2017 August 14
Mart Toots
Supervisor: Professor Ulf Skoglund
Research Unit: Structural Cellular Biology Unit
Graduation Date: 2017 July 18
Faisal Mahmood
Supervisor: Professor Ulf Skoglund
Co-Supervisor: Professor Hiroaki Kitano
Research Unit: Structural Cellular Biology Unit
Thesis: Algorithmic and architectural developments for cryo-electron tomography
Graduation Date: 2017 March 10
Lee O'Riordan
Supervisor: Professor Thomas Busch
Research Unit: Quantum Systems Unit
Thesis: Non-equilibrium vortex dynamics in rapidly rotating Bose-Einstein condensates
Graduation Date: 2017 March 10
Mark Daly
Supervisor: Professor Síle Nic Chormaic
Research Unit: Light-Matter Interactions Unit
Thesis: Light-induced interactions using optical near-field devices
Graduation Date: 2017 March 10