Kyle Cekada

Graduate Student

Advisor

Research Area

Neuroscience and Behavior

Biography

I earned my B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, CA. After graduating from Cal Poly, I joined Dr. Yi Gu’s Lab at the National Institutes of Health as a postbaccalaureate fellow to investigate how spatial navigation is encoded in the medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) and how tauopathy affects the MEC. In 2025, I joined Dr. Ikuko Smith’s lab and started the PBS PhD program. In my free time, I enjoy weightlifting, playing sports, and spending time at the beach.

Research

I am interested in using two-photon imaging to study how visual and auditory information are encoded and integrated in the brain. I am interested in understanding how the activity of neuronal dendrites is involved in processing information.

Keywords: Sensory processing, dendritic activity, two-photon imaging