Kurt Masiello, M.Sc.

Kurt is a research assistant interested in studying top-down attentional systems, perceptual-parsing dynamics, and multisensory integration. He utilizes electrophysiological, behavioral, chemogenetic, imaging, and computational methods. He is currently looking to pursue a doctoral degree in neuroscience.

Kurt received his M.Sc. from the CUNY Graduate Center in 2023 while working in the Developmental Neurolinguistics Laboratory under advisement of Dr. Valerie Shafer and Dr. Lucas Parra. His work focused on event-related potential (ERP) markers of semantic integration (discourse coherence) while subjects listened to audio narratives to better understand the neural processes involved in speech comprehension.

Model of acute ethanol toxicity:

Kurt started at NKI researching mouse models of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) in Dr. Mariko Saito’s lab. There he researched the developmental effects of acute ethanol exposure, which revealed significant anatomical and behavioral disruptions that persist into adulthood. The working hypothesis links these behavioral consequences to changes in GABAergic interneuron population size, specifically those expressing parvalbumin and calretinin, and how these changes affect sleep-wake structures. In his last year, he was performing embryonic micro-dissections and subsequent cellular transplantation in an attempt to reverse the developmental consequences.

Active sensing and neural dynamics in the non-human primate:

Kurt works with the Translational Neuroscience Laboratories (Drs. Barczak, Falchier, Hartig and Russ), where scientific investigations involve functionally dissecting neuronal dynamics and integrating sensorimotor processes under the emerging paradigms of Active Sensing and Oscillatory Entrainment. Specifically, investigations have utilized fMRI in anesthetized and awake behaving macaques, eye-tracking measures during dynamic visual tasks, and laminar activity recordings paired with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). One of the aims is to elucidate the complex role cholinergic and dopaminergic circuits play in behavioral states using Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADDS).

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=hMZdypcAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao