Our Team
Steven Shabel, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Email: Steven.Shabel@UTSouthwestern.edu
Steve was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. He received his bachelor's degree in biology from the University of California San Diego and Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of California San Francisco, where he worked with Patricia Janak. For his postdoctoral work, he returned to UCSD, where he worked with Roberto Malinow. Steve started the lab in the Department of Psychiatry at UT Southwestern in 2017.
Natalia Rodríguez-Sosa
Graduate Student
Email: Natalia.Rodriguez-Sosa@UTSouthwestern.edu
Natalia is a graduate student from the Neuroscience program. She grew up in Puerto Rico and completed a bachelor degree in Chemistry at the University of Puerto Rico, San Juan. During undergrad she was a MARC fellow and had the opportunity to be part of summer internship cohorts at the University of Minnesota, UTHSCSA and Stanford. Currently she continues to shape her professional career as a scientist and wants to be involved in outreach and community service activities. Also she is learning how to endure the cold weather as she is a tropical island girl.
Lupita Ríos
Graduate Student
Email: Lupita.Rios@UTSouthwestern.edu
Lupita received her bachelor's degree in Cognitive Neuroscience from Brown University in Providence, RI. She has spent several summers conducting research at UTSW through the STARS and SURF programs. She joined the Shabel Lab in 2017 as a lab technician, and is now a graduate student in the neuroscience program at UTSW, focusing on the role of the lateral habenula in depression-related behavior. During her free time, Lupita enjoys buying plants, creating pottery, and advocating for mental health awareness.
Srijani Biswas
Graduate Student
Email: Srijani.Biswas@UTSouthwestern.edu
Srijani majored in biological sciences and mechanical engineering in undergrad at BITS Goa, India. She joined the Shabel Lab in 2019 and is working on determining the role of the lateral habenula in affective bias. When she’s not in lab, she likes to travel, sleep and stay up to date on thriller movies and books.
You-Hsin Lin, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Email: You-Hsin.Lin@UTSouthwestern.edu
You-Hsin received his bachelor’s and master’s degree from School of Veterinary Medicine of National Taiwan University. He then spent two years at the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology of National Taiwan University investigating translational regulation with single-molecule techniques. He received his Ph.D degree from Nagoya University, elucidating the molecular basis of passive avoidance learning using viral-mediated manipulation of signaling in the nucleus accumbens. As a postdoc, You-Hsin is learning patch-clamp electrophysiology and in vivo imaging and looks forward to applying what he learns into translational medicine.
Chris Botanas, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Email: ChrisleanJun.Botanas@UTSouthwestern.edu
Chris completed his bachelor’s degree in Nursing at Mountain View College, Philippines and Ph.D. in Pharmacy at Sahmyoook University, Seoul, South Korea. During his doctoral studies, he was involved in several research projects that were geared toward examining the antidepressant effects of methoxetamine, identifying potential genetic factors of ADHD, and assessing the abuse potential of new psychoactive substances. As a postdoctoral researcher in the Shabel lab, his research is focused on investigating the effects of the globus pallidus inputs on the lateral habenula using a range of techniques, such as electrophysiology, optogenetics, and behavioral assays. In his free time, he enjoys playing mobile legends (let’s go NANA!) and watching movies.