Team
Dimitar Kostadinov, PhD
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellow
Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, King’s College London
[Email], [CV], [Google Scholar], [ORCID]
Background: Dimitar obtained a BSc in Physiology from McGill University in 2009 and a PhD in the lab of Josh Sanes at Harvard University in 2015, where he studied dendritic self-avoidance in the retina. He was then a postdoctoral fellow in Michael Häusser’s lab at UCL where he discoverd that climbing fiber inputs encode reward. Dimitar started the lab in the CDN at King’s in 2023.
Scientific interests: Encoding properties of climbing fibers, long-range connectivity, neual population dynamics, 2p imaging and stimulation, bespoke lab equipment
Personal interests: Travel, cycling around London, classic movies, AFC Wimbledon
Current lab members
Cristiana Iosif, PhD
POSTDOCTORAL SCHOLAR
Background: Cristiana earned her BSc in Physiology and Pharmacology in 2018 and MSc in Neuroscience in 2019 from the University of Leicester. She then completed her PhD at the University of Bristol in the labs of Richard Apps and Zafar Bashir in 2023, working on cholinergic input to the cerebellar nuclei. She joined the Kostadinov lab in 2024.
Scientific interests: Cristiana’s project is focused on understanding how neuromodulatory inputs to cerebellar cortex influence learning.
Personal interests:
Subham Ganguly
PhD STUDENT
MRC-ITND Programme in Neurodevelopmental Disorders
[Twitter], [LinkedIn], [Github]
Background: Subham received his BSc in Neuroscience from King’s College London and an MRes in Brain Sciences from UCL, where he built a thick-tissue multiplexed in-situ hybridization protocol in Yoh Isogai’s lab at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre. He joined the Kostadinov lab in 2024 through the MRC-ITND PhD program.
Scientific interests: Subham’s project focuses on the cerebellum’s role in shaping neural dynamics in the neocortex during reaching behaviour. He is driven by a desire to develop seamless brain-computer interfaces.
Personal interests:
Carolina Soares
PhD STUDENT
LIDo PHD PROGRAM
[Twitter], [LinkedIn], [Neuroverse podcast]
Background: Carolina received a BSc in Biochemistry from Queen Mary University of London in 2021 and an MRes in Integrative Neuroscience from the the University of Edinburgh in 2022. She then worked in Sonja Hofer’s lab at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre as a research technician as part of International Brain Laboratory. She joined the Kostadinov lab through the LIDo PhD program in 2024.
Scientific interests: Carolina’s project is focused on understanding how cerebellar input to the basal ganglia influences decision making.
Personal interests: Carolina is a science communicator and hosts a neuroscience podcast, Neuroverse, to engage audiences in science and philosophy.
Ceren Arslan
PhD STUDENT
MRC-ITND Programme in Neurodevelopmental Disorders
[Twitter]
Background: Ren received a BSc in Medical Sciences from the University of Brighton in 2022 and an MSc in Biomedical & Molecular Sciences from King’s College London in 2023, where she worked in Matt Grubb’s lab. She worked as a Reserach Technician in the Kostadinov lab for two years, before starting as a PhD student in 2025 through the MRC-ITND PhD program.
Scientific interests: Cerebello-cortical communication in the context of neurodevelopmental disorder models
Personal interests:
Emily Hallsworth
RESEARCH TECHNICIAN
Background:
Scientific interests:
Personal interests:
Huma Ozbek
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANT
Background:
Scientific interests:
Personal interests:
Former lab members
Maxime Beau
PhD STUDENT COLLABORATOR (at UCL)
[Google Scholar], [Github]
Background: Maxime was a PhD student in Michael Häusser’s lab at UCL. He and Dimitar worked closely for several years studying cerebellar coding during goal-directed behaviour. In his PhD work, Maxime pioneered the use of Neuropixels probes in cerebellar neurophysiology research and developed tools to analyze and interpret these recordings.
Current whereabouts: Postdoctoral fellow, Brody Lab, Princeton University
Opportunities in the lab
We are a new team of researchers interested in understanding how brain regions work together to drive adaptive behaviour. We are looking for ambitious and motivated researchers at all levels to join our team, and our aim is to create a research environment where scientific discovery and the development of lab members go hand-in-hand. Trainees with interact closely with the lab’s PI (Dimitar), and we will collaborate in solving problems in service of our scientific goals. You can find information about our specific research questions and how we plan to answer them here and about our vision for the lab’s research culture here.
Postdoctoral fellows
We are actively seeking postdoctoral researchers with experience in applying modern neurophysiological and/or molecular methods to understand the organization and function of neural circuits. Experience with techniques such as two-photon imaging, electrophysiology, single-cell sequencing, and large-scale data analysis are desirable but not strictly required. We have funding for multiple postdoctoral positions, but trainees should also apply for independent funding. There are a variety of funding opportunties available, and you can apply for most of these even before starting in the lab. Possible funding sources include: the BBSRC Discovery Fellowship, the EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship, the HFSP Postdoctoral Fellowship, the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship, the Newton International Fellowship, the Wellcome Early-Career Award, and others.
If you are interested in doing a postdoc in the lab, please send inquiries with your research interests and CV directly to Dimitar.
PhD students
We are actively seeking enthusiastic and motivated PhD students to join the lab. Experience with neuroscience experiments and data analysis are desirable but not required. A primary goal of your PhD will be the acquire the skills needed to be an independent scientist. PhD students may be hired directly to the lab or come through established PhD programs at King’s.
If you would like to inquire about available PhD positions or are a PhD student who is interested in a rotation in our laboratory, please get in touch with Dimitar.
Undergraduate and Masters students
Opportunities for undergraduate and masters students enrolled at King’s will arise as the lab grows and established researcher can take on and mentor students at earlier career stages. These projects may be either experiment- or analysis-focused, so we encourage students from a variety of backgrounds who are interested in doing their research projects in the lab to email Dimitar about potential opportunties.
Research assistants
The lab is not currently looking for a research assistant / technician. Please check back in the future as opportunities may arise.