News
Latest Updates and Announcements
Exciting things are happening! Follow along for the latest on publications, awards, talks, and lab milestones.
Recent Highlights
2026
April 29, 2026 — 📄 New eLife Publication!
Baas-Thomas, N., Mahmood, A., Wang, Y., Maigler, K.C., Mukherjee, N., & Katz, D.B. (2026). The ingestive response reflects neural dynamics in gustatory cortex. eLife. [Link]
April 22, 2026 — 🎉 New Publication!
Another one! Mukadam, N., Mahmood, A., Cronin-Golomb, A., DeGutis, J. (2026). Subjective Cognitive Concerns and Global Metacognitive Bias in Prodromal Parkinson’s and Parkinson’s Disease without Cognitive Impairment. Neuropsychology. Epub ahead of print. [Link] [Press Release]
February 11, 2026 — 🚀 Two More Publications!
2026 is off to a blazing start — two more papers out:
- Mahmood, Abuzar, et al. “Sensory and Palatability Coding of Taste Stimuli in Cortex Involves Dynamic and Asymmetric Cortico-Amygdalar Interactions.” Journal of Neurophysiology, Jan. 2026, p. jn.00503.2025. [Link]
- Mahmood, A. (2026). pytau: A Python package for streamlined changepoint model analysis in neuroscience. Journal of Open Source Software, 11(117), 8509. [Link]
2025
December 2, 2025 — 📄 New Preprints on bioRxiv
Two new preprints are up — check them out!
- Mahmood A, Steindler JR, Katz DB (2025) “Sensory and palatability coding of taste stimuli in cortex involves dynamic and asymmetric cortico-amygdalar interactions” [Link]
- Baas-Thomas N, Mahmood A, Mukherjee N, Maigler KC, Wang Y, Katz DB (2025) “The Ingestive Response Reflects Neural Dynamics in Gustatory Cortex” [Link]
October 14, 2025 — 🎙️ Collaboration Spotlighted at AChemS Career Networking Seminar
Our collaborative work got some well-deserved attention! Thomas Gray (Brandeis University) presented research from our collaboration on retronasal odor processing in gustatory cortex at the AChemS Career Networking Seminar Series. The talk, “Neural and behavioral correlates of flavor perception,” dove into how retronasal odor is processed in gustatory cortex, its influence on taste responses, and how flavor experiences shape odor preferences.
October 9, 2025 — 🏆 Poster of Distinction at MCRI Annual Retreat!
Thrilled to have received the Poster of Distinction award at the MCRI Annual Retreat 2025!
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October 9, 2025 — 💻 NSF Compute Grant Awarded
Excited to receive the ACCESS-CI Compute Grant MED250058 (CoPI) from NSF — more computational power for bigger science!
October 9, 2025 — 🎤 Invited Talks
Had a great time sharing our work at three venues:
- Mathematical Biology Seminar, Brandeis University
- Insights Team Meeting, Appcast Inc.
- Systems Neuroscience Journal Club, Harvard Medical School
October 9, 2025 — 🧑🏫 Guest Lecturer
Taught a session on LLMs and AI Agent pipelines for the Advanced Data Analysis course at Brandeis University — always fun to bring cutting-edge tools into the classroom!
May 1, 2025 — 🎓 Congratulations, Vincent!
Vincent absolutely crushed his thesis defense and earned High Honors — what an achievement! He’s heading off to do a post-bac in Angela Langdon’s lab at the NIMH. The future is bright for this one! [NIMH Lab Link]
2024
2024 — 🏅 Polak Young Investigator Award
Honored to receive the Polak Young Investigator Award from the Association for Chemoreception Sciences and to deliver the award lecture at the ACHEMS Annual Meeting! And doubly honored to have been presented the award by none other that Dr. Alfredo Fontanini!
2024 — 🎤 Invited Presentations
Presented at two exciting venues:
- Swartz Foundation Annual Meeting
- Brandeis Neuro Postdoc Symposium
2024 — 🧠 Computational Neuroscience Fellowship
Awarded the Computational Neuroscience Fellowship from the Swartz Foundation (2023–present) — grateful for the support to push the boundaries of computational approaches in neuroscience!
2023
2023 — 🎓 Ph.D. Complete!
Officially a Doctor of Neuroscience! Completed my Ph.D. at Brandeis University with the thesis “Multi-region Coordination for Taste Processing in the Rodent Brain.” [PDF]
Advisor: Donald B. Katz
2023 — 🔬 Postdoctoral Positions
Excited to continue the science in two postdoctoral roles:
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Tufts Medical Center
- Postdoctoral Fellow, Brandeis University
2023 — 🎙️ Invited Talk — PyMCon Web Series
Gave a talk at the PyMCon Web Series: “The Only Constant is Change: Bespoke Changepoint Modelling in PyMC” [Link]
2023 — 💻 NSF Compute Grant Awarded
Awarded ACCESS-CI Compute Grant BIO230103 as PI from NSF — fueling large-scale neural data analysis!
2023 — 🏆 Trainee Professional Development Award
Received the Trainee Professional Development Award from the Society for Neuroscience.
2023 — 📄 Publication
Mahmood, A., Steindler, J., Germaine, H., Katz, D.B., “Coupled Dynamics of Stimulus-Evoked Gustatory Cortical and Basolateral Amygdalar Activity,” Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 43, no. 3, pp. 386–404 [Link]