email: karina.bistrong@nyulangone.org

Karina Bistrong, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

Karina received her PhD in Neuroscience from the University of California, Berkeley, and her B.S. in Behavioral Neuroscience from Northeastern University. As an undergraduate, she conducted research in the laboratories of Bernardo Sabatini and Chenghua Gu, studying neuronal populations in the basal forebrain and the development and integrity of the blood–brain barrier. She later worked as a research technician in the lab of Jerry Chen at Boston University, where she used systems neuroscience approaches to investigate neuronal cell types involved in somatosensation.

For her PhD, Karina joined the lab of Marla Feller, where she studied the development of visual circuits underlying motion detection. Using population imaging and electrophysiology, her work revealed that neural activity during development is particularly important for reliably detecting horizontal motion, highlighting a deficit that arises from improper inhibitory synapse formation.

As a postdoctoral researcher, Karina aims to broaden her neuroscience toolkit and integrate her diverse research background to study sensorimotor integration and motor control. She is excited to develop projects that bridge her expertise and serve as a foundation for her future research program.