Lab News


April 12, 2026: Thai awarded the NSF GRFP!
Apr
12

April 12, 2026: Thai awarded the NSF GRFP!

Huge congrats to Thai for being awarded the Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation!! Congratulations to all the awardees this year!

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April 3, 2026: Jenna accepted into a PhD program!
Apr
3

April 3, 2026: Jenna accepted into a PhD program!

Massive congratulations to Jenna, who was accepted into the Georgia Tech BME PhD program! In addition, she was recently awarded the GEM Fellowship, which funds 5 years of her graduate training. Jenna was the first undergraduate to join the Gonzales Lab, we couldn’t be more proud of her success!!

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January 11, 2026: The lab's first paper!
Jan
11

January 11, 2026: The lab's first paper!

Our first paper titled “Repeatable, low-drift recordings in behaving non-human primates using flexible microelectrodes” is now live on bioRxiv! Huge congrats to first-author Daniel Woods and second author Grace Adams.

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November 14, 2025: NanoDay!
Nov
14

November 14, 2025: NanoDay!

The lab attended VINSE’s NanoDay again! Grace and Daniel W. both presented their latest work. Huge congrats to Daniel for a second place finish in the poster competition!

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November 13, 2025: Daniel @ VISE
Nov
13

November 13, 2025: Daniel @ VISE

Daniel G. presented the lab’s latest work at the Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering

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October 24, 2025: Lab Halloween party
Oct
24

October 24, 2025: Lab Halloween party

Our first annual lab Halloween costume party!

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October 8, 2025: BMES
Oct
8
to Oct 12

October 8, 2025: BMES

We made our first trek out to a major conference and traveled to San Diego for BMES. Both Grace and Daniel W. presented posters on their work!

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September 29, 2025: School of Engineering Highlight
Sep
29

September 29, 2025: School of Engineering Highlight

Check out this wonderful write-up from the Vanderbilt School of Engineering about the work going on in our lab.

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September 15, 2025: Daniel @ NAE
Sep
15

September 15, 2025: Daniel @ NAE

Daniel presented the lab’s latest work at the National Academy of Engineering’s Frontiers of Engineering symposium. This meeting brought together early-career innovators from across industries to tackle some of the nation’s most challenging problems. Topics ranged from neural engineering and quantum computing to fusion energy and sustainable aerial mobility.

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September 4, 2025: Gonzales Lab @ Neuroscience-Engineering Symposium
Sep
4

September 4, 2025: Gonzales Lab @ Neuroscience-Engineering Symposium

The whole lab attended the Symposium for Community Engagement Across Neuroscience and Engineering, a local event organized by the Vanderbilt Brain Institute and sponsored by the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative

Grace, Daniel W., and Max all presented their work! Huge congrats to Max for being awarded FIRST PLACE for his poster on his open-source, multi-purpose beveler for neuroscience!!!

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August 20, 2025: Thai and Lauren join the lab!
Aug
20

August 20, 2025: Thai and Lauren join the lab!

We are so excited to welcome Thai and Lauren as our newest PhD students! Happy first day of 17th grade!

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August 16, 2025: Dr. G. wins the annual lab 5K
Aug
16

August 16, 2025: Dr. G. wins the annual lab 5K

The lab joined 2000 other people and ran in the Titans 5K in Nashville. In Herculean effort that some are saying rivaled the original Rocky movie, Daniel G. ran away with the annual title. Maybe the students will have better luck next year.

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July 31, 2025: Taylor presents her summer work
Jul
31

July 31, 2025: Taylor presents her summer work

Taylor presented her work at the VUSE summer research symposium! She made fantastic progress on a combination of materials to create transparent, flexible, and mechanically stable neural interfaces

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July 29, 2025: Burgers, Beers, Shakes
Jul
29

July 29, 2025: Burgers, Beers, Shakes

Taylor’s time with us is already nearing its end! The summer has flown by. We got together for food and drinks before her big upcoming summer symposium.

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June 26, 2025: Grace and Daniel @ NanoExchange
Jun
26

June 26, 2025: Grace and Daniel @ NanoExchange

Grace and Daniel presented their work at the VINSE Nanoexchange - a conversation-style summer seminar series on brainstorming their projects with the Vanderbilt engineering community.

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June 24, 2025: Daniel @ HHMI
Jun
24
to Jun 27

June 24, 2025: Daniel @ HHMI

Daniel traveled to HHMI Headquarters for the annual retreat for Hanna Gray Fellows program. It was great to get the 2019 cohort back together again!

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June 2, 2025: Welcome Taylor!
Jun
2

June 2, 2025: Welcome Taylor!

We’re excited for Taylor Donen from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology to join us as a summer researcher! The whole lab (and some family) got together for a delicious brunch.

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June 1, 2025: Mica joins the Tech Crew
Jun
1

June 1, 2025: Mica joins the Tech Crew

Congrats to Mica, who joined the VINSE Tech crew for the summer!

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May 16, 2025: Daniel @ Miami University
May
16

May 16, 2025: Daniel @ Miami University

Daniel visited the University of Miami Departments of Biology and Neuroscience to discuss the lab’s latest work.

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May 9, 2025: Max graduates and transitions to lab tech
May
9

May 9, 2025: Max graduates and transitions to lab tech

Huge congrats to Max Sharp on graduating and receiving his BME degree! We are very excited that he has decided to stay in the lab as a technician and use his engineering expertise to facilitate multiple projects.

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May 2, 2025: Farewell Camila!
May
2

May 2, 2025: Farewell Camila!

The lab got together for tacos and ice cream to say goodbye to Camila as she ventures off to start her PhD program at UPenn. We will miss her but are excited to see all the amazing things she accomplishes!

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April 15, 2025: The lab lands multiple NSF GRFPs
Apr
15

April 15, 2025: The lab lands multiple NSF GRFPs

The lab snagged multiple NSF GRFPs!! A huge congrats to Camila Romero and incoming BME PhD student Lauren Iskander on their awards! Hailey Edelman also received an honorable mention. We are so proud of their achievements and hard work getting these proposals submitted.

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March 2025: Successful recruiting season!
Mar
21
to Mar 22

March 2025: Successful recruiting season!

We’ve wrapped up an ultra-successful PhD recruiting season! Thaissa Peixoto (John’s Hopkins) and Lauren Iskander (Villanova) will be joining the lab in Fall 2025 as our newest BME PhD students! They were awarded the Provost’s Graduate Fellowship and IBM Fellowship, respectively. We’re so excited to have such talented scientists joining.

After receiving multiple offers, Camila has accepted an amazing offer to the UPenn Psychology PhD program. We’re sad to see her go but are so excited to see all her future accomplishments!

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January 25, 2024: Gonzales Lab @ Brain Hack
Jan
25

January 25, 2024: Gonzales Lab @ Brain Hack

The lab developed the projects “Dynamic Neural Decoding for Adaptive Neuroprosthetic Control” and “An All-Optical Brain Computer Interface” and worked with teams at the Vanderbilt Brain Hack all weekend developing analytical pipelines for our ephys and optical data.

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December 12, 2024: Let the imaging begin
Dec
12

December 12, 2024: Let the imaging begin

Our two-photon microscope is up and running!

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December 11, 2024: First single-units!
Dec
11

December 11, 2024: First single-units!

Our first single-unit spikes recorded with polymer neural interfaces we built in-house! Congrats to Grace and Daniel W., who have worked hard perfecting the implantation approach.

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December 8, 2024: Happy holidays
Dec
8

December 8, 2024: Happy holidays

Happy holidays from the Gonzales Lab! We celebrated the end of the year with food, drinks, cookie decorating, and a gift exchange

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November 22, 2024: NanoDay 2024
Nov
22

November 22, 2024: NanoDay 2024

Our first year ever at VINSE NanoDay! Daniel G. was an invited speaker. Grace and Daniel W. both presented posters. Congrats to Daniel W. on a best poster award!!!

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