Kayla Maanum

  • Current Program Year: Grad1
  • M.D./Ph.D. Program Students, School of Medicine

Biography

Kayla received her B.A. in Integrative Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. She recently joined the lab of Tianyi Mao, where she plans to investigate behaviorally relevant neural circuits in the mouse insular cortex using ex vivo slice electrophysiology and in vivo cellular imaging. Her clinical interests include neurology and critical care. In her leisure time, Kayla loves scoping out the best latte in Portland and exploring the beautiful PNW.

Research interests: Cellular and systems neuroscience, neural circuits

Clinical interests: Neurology and psychiatry

Education and training

  • Degrees

    • B.A., 2019, University of California, Berkeley

  • Fellowship

    • Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, SURF Program, University of California, Berkeley, 2018

Honors and awards

  • Marian Diamond Award for Research and Teaching, Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, 2019

Publications

Selected publications

  • El-Quessny M, Maanum K, and Feller MB. (2020). Visual experience instructs dendrite orientation but is not required for asymmetric wiring of the retinal direction selective circuit, Cell Reports, 31(13): 107844.
  • Waung MW, Maanum KA, Cirino TJ, Driscoll JR, O'Brien C, Bryant S, Mansourian K, Morales M, Barker DJ and Margolis EB. (2022). A diencephalic circuit in rats for opioid analgesia but not positive reinforcement, Nature Communications, 13(764).

Publications