Deren Aykan

Deren is a senior research technician in the Hofer Lab at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre. Her primary research interest is in uncovering the neural mechanisms of sensory-guided learning and memory. She received her Bachelor's degree in psychology from Bogazici University (Istanbul, Turkey), where she investigated how environmental factors modulate cognitive-affective processes and antidepressant efficacy in Dr Gunes Unal's lab. During her postbaccalaureate research, she worked in Dr Gyorgy Buzsaki's and Dr Tanya Sippy's labs at NYU Langone Health (NY, USA), where she used large-scale electrophysiology to understand how coordinated neural activity supports cortico-hippocampal communication. In the Hofer Lab, she investigates how visual sensory processing contributes to flexible behaviour.