Lucas Encarnacion-Rivera

(He, Him)
Lucas received his B.S. in Neuroscience from Emory University where he studied ion-channels and developed machine learning-based tools for histology. Lucas also trained at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute where he studied locomotor coordination and internal states in the fly, and at the University of Pennsylvania where he studied the role of sodium leak in neuronal hyperexcitability. At Stanford, Lucas is a PhD student in the Neurosciences program co-advised by Karl Deisseroth and Liqun Luo where he studies the neural mechanisms of motivated drive and its influence on behavior. 

I am interested in how our internal state shapes the way we behave. Specifically, I am interested in understanding the neural basis for hunger and thirst drive. Moreover, I also seek to explain how such brain states are consequential for action.