Whitney Stevens-Sostre, PhD
Credentials: Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
Position title: Postdoctoral Researcher
Pronouns: (photo credit: Ilana Bar-av / AP Images)
Email: stevenssostr@wisc.edu
Website: Hoon Laboratory
Address:
WIMR II, 9th Floor
Advisor: Mrinalini Hoon, PhD
Keywords: retina, synaptic adhesion protein, synapses, receptors and ion channels, retinal neurons
Education
BS 2015, Biology, University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez (UPRM)
PhD 2023, Neuroscience, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
Research
Dr. Stevens-Sostre is interested in understanding the mechanisms of circuit establishment and function in the mammalian retina. Her graduate training in the biophysics of voltage-gated potassium channels led her to study how ion channels contribute to retinal circuit function and the intrinsic excitability of retinal neurons. Whitney is a 2024 Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Hanna Gray Fellow and an alumna of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Blueprint Diversity Specialized Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Advancement in Neuroscience (D-SPAN) F99/K00. In addition, Whitney is the Founding President of Black In Biophysics organization, which aims to recognize and celebrate Black biophysicists.