Exploring the Future🔭: Meet the Visionary Minds of the DeepLabCut AI Summer Residency 2024🎓✨
The DeepLabCut AI Residency just started last week, marking the beginning of an incredible journey🚂. The Residency is a prestigious program that offers researchers a unique opportunity to collaborate, learn, and innovate using cutting-edge AI tools. It is designed to foster interdisciplinary research and provide hands-on experience with the latest version of DeepLabCut🐭.
The program provides participants with in-depth knowledge and practical skills, enabling them to push the boundaries of their respective fields💫. It includes workshops, mentoring sessions, and collaborative projects, ensuring that scientists gain valuable insights and develop innovative solutions.
➡️Check out the official DLC Residency website HERE and stay tuned for 2025🌟! Applications will open in autumn🍁.
The Residency program brings together passionate researchers🧑🔬👩🔬 from around the globe, each with unique backgrounds and groundbreaking projects. Here’s an inside look at the 2024 participants, their exciting research🔬, and personal journeys✈️.
Anna Stuckert, PhD Student in Neuroscience, Scotland 🏴
Anna, originally from Denmark, pursued her undergrad in Cognitive Science in Aarhus before moving to Copenhagen for her master’s in Neuroscience. Now based in Scotland, Anna’s research focuses on mouse🐭 facial expressions in response to various stimuli using computational methods for high-throughput behavioral analysis. Her aim is to identify early biomarkers of diseases like dementia by analyzing changes in these expressions.
Anna on Diversity and Representation: “As a woman in STEM, I’ve had inspiring female mentors who demonstrated that women belong in this field. However, computational areas remain male-dominated. My path to behavioral neuroscience and computer vision was unconventional, starting with a trilingual high school focus, followed by a Cognitive Science bachelor’s and a Neuroscience master’s. Notably, I’m the first in my immediate family to attend university. Programs like this are crucial for promoting diversity and showing that anyone, regardless of background, can excel in STEM.”
🧠 Research Highlight: Anna uses DeepLabCut to track key points on mouse faces, analyzing how these points change with different types of stimuli, such as sweet or bitter tastes👅. This innovative approach could lead to early detection of disease-related emotional processing impairments.
🌊 Personal Interests: Anna enjoys knitting🧶, swimming🤿, hiking🥾, and rowing🚣♀️. She finds joy in these activities outside her rigorous academic schedule, balancing her life between demanding research and relaxing hobbies.
Marc Canela, PhD Student in Biomedicine and Neuroscience, Spain 🇪🇸
Marc joined us from Barcelona and is currently in his second year of a PhD program focusing on Biomedicine and Neuroscience. His research delves into how the brain🧠 processes stimuli to learn and produce behavioral responses. Marc’s team uses DeepLabCut to study fear responses in mice, particularly how these responses vary across different genders, ages, and in conditions like Alzheimer’s disease.
Marc on Diversity and Representation: “As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, it’s heartening to see initiatives like the DeepLabCut Residency dedicated to promoting diversity in computer science. This program will help me feel more confident and motivated to pursue my interests in data science, knowing that my identity is valued and respected.”
🔬 Research Highlight: Marc is investigating mediated learning, a type of classical conditioning where a conditioned stimulus (like a light) is linked to a new neutral stimulus (like a sound) to see if the fear response transfers. This work could have significant implications for understanding how humans and animals make inferences in daily life, especially in relation to danger⚠️ and safety.
🎾 Personal Interests: Outside the lab, Marc is an avid reader📚 and enjoys playing sports, especially tennis👟 and going to the gym🏋️♀️. His interest in learning extends beyond neuroscience, as he is also keen on learning many languages.
Dikra Masrour, PhD Student in AI and Satellite Imaging, Morocco 🇲🇦
Dikra is in her first year of a PhD program at the International University of Rabat. Her research is centered on creating efficient deep learning models for analyzing hyperspectral satellite images. Although her primary focus is on satellite data, her passion for neuroscience led her to participate in the DeepLabCut residency. Previously, she worked in Sweden on a project involving behavioral classification in mice with Parkinson’s disease using DeepLabCut🐭.
Dikra on Diversity and Representation: “In Morocco, a predominantly Muslim country, women have made a name for themselves in tech. They are known for their strong work ethic, attention to detail, and great ambition to learn, improve, and share. Coming from this culture, and being passionate about neuroscience, which has less representation, I am excited about the possibility of combining my technical background in AI and neuroscience to hopefully make a tangible contribution to science through the DLC community.”
🛰 Research Highlight: Dikra’s current project aims to develop compact neural networks capable of performing image processing directly on satellites, reducing the time and cost associated with data transmission to Earth. This innovative approach could revolutionize how we monitor and respond to environmental changes and other phenomena from space.
🏐 Personal Interests: Dikra loves playing volleyball, reading novels📚, and video gaming🎮. She values spending time with her family and friends, which is an essential part of her life and culture in Morocco.
Why DeepLabCut Residency?
The DLC Residency program is more than just a learning experience; it’s a community where diversity, collaboration, and innovation thrive. Here’s what makes our program unique:
- Diverse Perspectives✨: We prioritize inclusivity and representation, bringing together individuals from varied backgrounds to enrich the AI community.
- Hands-on Learning🙌: Residents work on real projects, gaining practical experience and contributing to the open-source ecosystem.
- Mentorship and Support🙏: Our residents receive guidance from leading experts in the field, ensuring they have the resources and support needed to succeed.
- Global Impact🌍: The Residency program gathers researchers from all around the world. The skills and tools developed during the residency are used to address research challenges, in many institutions globally.
Join Us on This Exciting Journey! 🚀💡
As we follow these remarkable researchers on their path, we celebrate their dedication, passion, and innovative spirit. Their work not only advances our understanding of neuroscience and AI but also inspires future generations to explore the uncharted territories of science and technology. Stay tuned for more updates from the DeepLabCut AI Residency! 🌟🔬
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