Our Team
Principle Investigator: Tina Liu, PhD
Assistant Professor (Tenure Track)
Department of Neurology
Georgetown University Medical Center
Office: 4000 Reservoir Rd NW, Building D, Rm 285, Washington DC 20057
Lab: 4000 Reservoir Rd NW, Building D, Rm 277, Washington DC 20057
Email: tina.liu@georgetown.edu | CV: https://tinaliutong.github.io/
Dr. Liu is a cognitive neuroscientist specializing in human visual cognition and brain plasticity. She runs the Visual Perception and Plasticity (VPP) Lab in the Department of Neurology at GUMC. The long-term goal of her research program is to reveal core principles of neuroplasticity in healthy and clinical populations across the lifespan. Additionally, she aims to leverage this knowledge to develop better rehabilitation strategies for patients coping with brain lesions, including traumatic brain injury, stroke, brain tumor, and epilepsy surgery.
Education & Postdoctoral Training
2023-2024 Research fellow, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health
2018-2023 Postdoctoral fellow, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health
2013-2018 PhD in Psychology (Cognitive Neuroscience), Carnegie Mellon University
2011-2013 MPhil in Psychology (Visual Cognition), The University of Hong Kong
2008-2011 BSocSc (First Class Honors) in Psychology (Major), Politics and Public Administration (Minor), The University of Hong Kong
Lab Manager and Clinical Research Associate: Kyungji Moon
Kyungji joined VPP in July 2024. She received her BPE degree with a major in Sport Science and MS degree in Kinesiology from Pusan National University. She then continued her education at Georgetown University, where she earned a second MS degree in Integrative Neuroscience in 2024 under the mentorship of Dr. Ella Striem-Amit at the Sensory and Motor Plasticity Lab. Kyungji’s long-term research goal is to bridge global medical disparities by developing at-home neurological rehabilitation programs that are accessible worldwide. Outside of the lab, she enjoys playing the piano, watching baseball games, and practicing Taekwondo, a Korean martial art.
Rotation PhD student: Beth Rispoli
Beth is a PhD student in the IPN. She earned her bachelors in cognitive neuroscience and product design from Carnegie Mellon in 2020. She then completed a postbac fellowship with Chris Baker in the Laboratory of Brain and Cognition at the NIH before joining Stanford in the Fall of 2022 where she worked with Kalanit Grill-Spector in the Vision and Perception Neuroscience Lab and completed her MA. Beth is interested in the relationship between structure, organization, and function that facilitates perceptual processing and scaffolds neuroplasticity in the brain. Outside of the lab, she enjoys thrifting, sewing, figure skating, and traveling with friends.
We are currently recruiting a postdoc and multiple undergraduate research interns.
We are also recruiting PhD students through the Georgetown Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience (IPN).
Current Collaborators
Marlene Behrmann, PhD
PI at University of Pittsburgh
Eli Merriam, PhD
PI at NIMH/NIH
Krystel Huxlin, PhD
PI at University of Rochester
Benjamin Osborne, MD
Neuro-ophthalmologist at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital
Kareem Zaghloul, MD, PhD
PI at NINDS/NIH
Matthew Cavanaugh, PhD
Research Assistant Professor at University of Rochester
Shruti Japee, PhD
Staff Scientist at NIMH/NIH
Sara Inati, MD
PI at NINDS/NIH
Berkeley Fahrenthold, PhD
Staff Scientist at University of Rochester
Paulo Ventura, PhD
PI at University of Lisbon, Portugal
Gang Chen, PhD
Staff Scientist at NIMH/NIH
Sharif Kronemer
Postdoc at NIMH/NIH
Michal Ramot, PhD
PI at Weizmann Institute, Israel
Yuhui Chai, PhD
Research Assistant Professor at University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign
Weizhen (Zane) Xie, PhD
PI at University of Maryland College Park
Fan (Nils) Yang, PhD
Research Fellow at NINDS/NIH
Michael Granovetter, MD, PhD
Resident at New York University
Sophia Robert, BA
PhD Student at Carnegie Mellon University
Bing Li, BA
PhD Student at Princeton University
Tori Gobo, BS
PhD Student at Baylor College of Medicine
Elena Ock, BS
MD/PhD Student at University of Colorado Boulder
Francisco Cruz, BA
PhD Student at University of Lisbon, Portugal