Yevheniia Ishchenko

Yevheniia is a first-generation graduate. She received a bachelor’s degree in applied math and physics in 2011 from Kyiv Polytechnic University (Ukraine) and completed her master’s degree in the same field in 2013 at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (Russia). Yevheniia completed her PhD in Dr. Rashid Giniatullin’s in 2017 (University of Eastern Finland, UEF; Finland) she used patch-clamp electrophysiology and live cell imaging to explore the neuronal circuitry and molecular mechanisms of aversive pain, focusing on the flipper region’s role in P2X3 and P2X7 receptor function. During a short postdoc in Dr. Tarja Malm’s lab (UEF), she used 2-photon calcium imaging and immunohistochemistry in organotypic human brain biopsies and microglial stem cells to study how Alzheimer’s Disease pathology impacts neuronal circuits and microglial mechanosensitive function.

Yevheniia joined Dr. Koleske’s lab at Yale in late 2018, where she honed techniques in biochemistry, molecular biology, and the use of NDD-associated mouse models. Currently, Yevheniia is an Associate Research Scientist in Dr. Koleske’s lab, her main goal is to establish her own neuroscience lab in the near future. Her primary interest is identifying the role of neurotransmitter release and presynaptic plasticity in development and synaptogenesis, and how their disruption yields autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) phenotypes.

Outside the lab, she enjoys CrossFit, scuba diving, traveling with off-the-grid hiking and mountaineering, and growing rare tropical plants.