Lab News

Zhang Lab Selected for Anthropic's "Built with Claude: Life Sciences" Hackathon

The Zhang Lab has been selected to participate in Built with Claude: Life Sciences, a global virtual hackathon hosted by Anthropic & Cerebral Valley in partnership with the Gladstone Institutes (July 7–13, 2026). Just 500 participants were chosen worldwide to build with Claude Science and Claude Code across a Research track and a Build track, competing for $100k in credits. Excited to see what we can build in one week!

Welcome Our Remote High School Researchers

We are thrilled to welcome three talented high school students joining the lab remotely (off-campus, virtual): Arjun Kode (Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology), Jihyo Lee (Deep Run High School, Richmond), and Neha Yashawini Karthikeyan (Maggie L. Walker Governor's School, Richmond). Welcome to the team!

Welcome Sara-Cristina Romanescu — International Visiting Scholar

We are excited to welcome Sara-Cristina Romanescu as an international visiting scholar, joining the lab from January 2027 through September 2027. Her visit is jointly supported by the Erasmus+ traineeship program and the Zhang Lab. Welcome, Sara!

Welcome Ava Gardner — Summer Post-Bacc Student

We are happy to welcome Ava Gardner, a post-baccalaureate pre-med student at VCU, to the lab for the summer. Welcome, Ava!

Zhang Lab Receives VCU Convergence Seed Award

The Zhang Lab has been awarded a VCU Convergence Seed Award, supporting a collaborative project with Dr. Dean Krusienski (VCU School of Engineering) and Dr. Priyodarshan Goswamee (Department of Neuroscience and Anatomy). This award will fuel a cross-disciplinary effort bridging neuroscience, engineering, and neural circuit research.

Dr. Zhang Selected for the 2026 NIA Butler-Williams Scholars Program

Dr. Guang-Wei Zhang has been awarded a place in the 2026 Butler-Williams Scholars (BWS) Program, sponsored by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The program will be held August 3–6, 2026, bringing together a distinguished group of scientists for information sharing and network building — a career advancement tradition that has continued for over 30 years. Congratulations!

Welcome Wakas Mustafa — Summer Undergraduate Researcher

We are happy to welcome Wakas Mustafa, a VCU undergraduate student, to the lab for the summer. Welcome, Wakas!

Welcome Aarushi Rao — WSURP Summer Undergraduate Researcher

We are excited to welcome Aarushi Rao, a VCU undergraduate student, to the lab through the Wright Center Summer Undergraduate Research Program (WSURP). Aarushi will join us from May 27 through July 24, 2026. Welcome, Aarushi!

Welcome Lindsey Wilson — Rotation Student

We are excited to welcome Lindsey Wilson from VCU's MSTP (MD-PhD) Program for a rotation in the lab starting June 2026. Welcome, Lindsey!

Welcome Henry Oo — Our First Graduate Student

We are thrilled to welcome Henry Oo as the lab's first graduate student, starting May 2026. Henry joins us from VCU's Neuroscience PhD Program. Welcome to the team, Henry!

Dr. Can Tao Awarded 2026 Chen Institute Science Writers Fellowship

Dr. Can Tao has been awarded the 2026 Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute Science Writers Fellowship. Congratulations, Can!

Dr. Zhang Presents at the Chen Institute Symposium at USC

Lab Meeting: Henry Presents on the Fly Connectome

Henry Oo presented on Dorkenwald et al., "Neuronal wiring diagram of an adult brain," Nature, 2024.

First Lab Member Gathering