Michael S. Bienkowski, PhD
Mike received his B.S. from the University of Pittsburgh (2007) where he developed a love of scientific research while working in the laboratory of Dr. Linda Rinaman. Mike continued in Dr. Rinaman's laboratory as a graduate student in the University of Pittsburgh Center for Neuroscience and Center for Neural Basis of Cognition at Carnegie Mellon University. After graduating with his PhD in 2012, Mike immediately began postdoctoral research working on the Mouse Connectome Project in the laboratory of Dr. Hong-Wei Dong, first at the University of California, Los Angeles and then at the University of Southern California. Mike created the Hippocampus Gene Expression Atlas (HGEA) to drive investigations of Alzheimer's disease and begin his lab at USC in 2020.
Education
Postdoctoral
University of Southern California (2013-2019)
University of California, Los Angeles (2012-2013)
Advisor: Hong-Wei Dong, PhD
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Graduate
PhD in Neuroscience (2007-2012)
University of Pittsburgh
Advisor: Linda Rinaman, PhD
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Undergraduate
B.S. in Neuroscience with honors (2003-2007)
University of Pittsburgh
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awards and honors
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"Best images of 2017" in Spectrum=
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NIH/NIMH Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship (F32 MH107071)
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Andrew Mellon Predoctoral Fellowship
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NIH Institutional Digestive Diseases Training Grant (T32 DK063922)
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James E. Bradler Jr. Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research
Research projects and goals
My research is dedicated toward understanding brain architecture and How neural circuits are disrupted by alzheimer's disease and Retinal Disease
Major research questions
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What are the different neuronal cell-types of the brain and how do they wire together to form systems-level networks that influence our behavior?
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How is the mammalian hippocampus organized as a whole structure across species and what is the relationship between hippocampal gene expression, morphology, connectivity, and function?
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Which specific cell types are disrupted by neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and retinal disease?
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research approach
Circuit tracing connectomics
multiple Classic and Viral Anterograde and retrograde tracers
3-D multiphoton and lightsheet microscopy
3D microscopy imaging of neuronal morphology
Spatial Transcriptomics
RNAscope in situ hybridization
merfish spatial transcriptomics
Digital Pathology and machine learning
Whole slide imaging of human post-mortem brain tissue
connectomics and network analyses
zingg et al, 2014, cell
