Welcome to the 2025 Grass Fellows

The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is pleased to welcome the 2025 Grass Fellows.

The Grass Fellowship program brings early-career investigators to the MBL for 14 weeks to pursue a self-designed, independent research project in neuroscience. The Grass Foundation provides full support for the fellows, who become part of the vibrant intellectual and social dynamic within the MBL scientific community while sharing space in the Grass Laboratory.

We're proud to announce the 2025 Grass Fellows:

Zeeshan Banday - University of Chicago
Multi-modal evaluation of mechanoelectrical transduction (MET) in nematocytes of jellyfish (Aurelia aurita)

Sam Chakrabarti - Max Delbruck Center
Sensation of pain in chain catsharks (Scyliorhinus retifer)

Alex Chen - Harvard University
The development and fusion of the ctenophore nerve net, towards understanding nervous system evolution

David Hildebrand - The Rockefeller University
Examining circuit mechanisms underlying face recognition in the northern paper wasp

Chris Hoffmann - German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases
Establishing a behavioral and cellular toolkit for studying the environmental impact on the nervous system of sea slugs

Hannah Oberle - University of Michigan
Synaptic plasticity and microcircuitry of the shell inferior colliculus

Kyra Schapiro - Brandeis University
Exploring sensory-neural contributions to Molluscan shell pattern and production

Alex Yarger - Imperial College London
Multimodal adaptation of dragonfly flight control

This year’s Grass Lab is directed by Heather Rhodes of Denison University. The associate director is Oscar Arenas Sabogal of the University of California, Berkeley.