Bio
I am an AI and ML Engineer at Alva. We’re revolutionizing how homes manage energy — building the “brain” that puts residential energy management on autopilot.
I am a trained Computer Engineer and a Neuroscientist. I hold a Ph.D in Neuroscience from La Sapienza, University of Rome in Italy and completed my postdoctoral research at University of Oslo, Norway.
When not involved in research, I spend my time on swimming, football and hiking around Oslo.
Key Experience
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Oct 2025 Present
AI and ML Engineer
Alva Technologies, Oslo, Norway
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Oct 2022 Oct 2025
Postdoctoral Researcher
University of Oslo, Norway
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Oct 2018 June 2022
Ph.D Student
European Brain Research Institute, Rome, Italy
Education & Training
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Ph.D 2022
Doctor of Philosophy
Sapienza, University of Rome, Italy
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B.E 2016
Bachelors in Computer Engineering
University of Mumbai, India
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H.S.C 2012
Higher Secondary Certificate
R. Jhunjhunwala College, Mumbai, India
Research
Over the course of time, many disciplines concerning the study of evolving and non-evolving complex systems such as neuroscience, global financial markets, resources distribution and dependency evolution. etc. have attracted my attention. Although they seem widely diverse in areas of applications, their governing principles share a common core in terms of complexity.
Many decades of research in graph theory, chaos theory, computational complexity theory and other related disciplines have been focused on laying the theoretical foundations necessary to study and forecast the behavior of non-evolving complex networks. However, the world we observe around us seems evolving with time, as in, newer variables gets added to the system in real time, may it be neurogenesis in the brain or addition/deletion of receptors in the cell membrane or new government regulations in financial markets or sudden onset of pandemic or population growth or even a discovery/extinction of natural resources. These fluctuations in the number of variables and their strength of interaction over time indicates that the system is bound to end-up in previously unknown states and trajectories in its state space. Such a volatile nature of a system makes it difficult to forecast its behavior using currently established data-driven analytical frameworks.
To understand such evolving complex systems (ECS) of volatile nature, newer sets of theoretical foundations are required to be established. Any progress in the development of such frameworks will allow scientific research to advance into new horizons.
Interests
- Systems Neuroscience
- Computational Complexity Theory
- Evolving complex systems
Research Projects (Neuroscience)
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+ Manuscript in preparation.
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+ We designed a different, multivariate, approach to simultaneously analyze interactions between multiple oscillations and applied it to rodent hippocampal LFPs.
+ Article published in eLife: Link here -
+ Performed whole-cell patch clamp recordings from hippocampal slices.
+ Wrote Matlab scripts to analyse the data.
+ Key findings: Altered Excitatory/Inhibitory (E/I) balance and network oscillations in CA2 region of neuroligin 3 knockout mouse suggesting its role in social deficits in autism. -
+ Built tetrode drive and performed surgery on rat for implantation.
+ Trained rats and conducted electrophysiological recordings in freely behaving rats.
+ Wrote Matlab scripts to analyse the data.
+ Performed perfusion to extract brain and brain slicing to confirm implant locations.
+ Key finding: Presence of head direction signals, place signals, speed signals, movement direction signals, border signals existing either independently or in conjunction in rat's retrosplenial cortex. -
+ Designed and developed a platform for students and colleges to automatic the process of getting railway concessions via cloudways.
+ It is currently used by more than 1500 students and is still in its expansion phase.
+ Website: VESIT Rail -
+ Virtual office is an ERP which helps managing all the resource of a Chartered Accoutants firm.
+ It consists of the modules like Employee management, Tasks management, Client management, Meeting management etc.
+ I have developed the CRUD functions for Employee module using CodeIgniter in PHP. -
Online Exam systems is a web portal which provides practicing for competitive examinations like Union Public Service Commision (UPSC), MPSC and Banking exams.
The key features includes:
+ Simple and Neat User Interface.
+ A complete report module which generates all statistics and reports about each student in each test and then suggests the appropriate areas of improvements to build a good score.
+ Automatic Test Generation Module which generates tests including non repetitive questions and instantaneous report generation. -
+ A website to spread the awareness and educate people about human trafficking.
+ This website includes key features like login and registration, file a complaint, suggestion box.
+ It was developed in just 2 days of time during an intercollegiate hackathon "Algorithms 1.0" .
+ We finished 1st runner up in the competition. -
+ Library Mangement System based on HTML, CSS, JQuery, AJAX, Javascript, PHP and MySql is now running in an Vivekanand Seva Mandal's Engineering library.
+ All the records of students, transactions, calculation of fine, registering a new member in library is now managed on this web application. -
+ Library Management using RFID is a project for 'Looking Beyond Syllabus Program in Vivekanand Education Society Institute of Technology.
+ The Project involves uses of wireless communication between RFID reader and tags to read the information about the books used in Library.
+ It also requires languages like PHP, SQL for backend of the library search engine.
+ On long term basis it covers the development of an Android application which allows students to remotely check the availability of books in library.
Computer Engineering Projects
Selected Publications
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Abstract
Oscillations occurring simultaneously in a given area represent a physiological unit of brain states. They allow for temporal segmentation of spikes and support distinct behaviors. To establish how multiple oscillatory components co-vary simultaneously and influence neuronal firing during sleep and wakefulness in mice, we describe a multivariate analytical framework for constructing the state space of hippocampal oscillations. Examining the co-occurrence patterns of oscillations on the state space, across species, uncovered the presence of network constraints and distinct set of cross-frequency interactions during wakefulness compared to sleep. We demonstrated how the state space can be used as a canvas to map the neural firing and found that distinct neurons during navigation were tuned to different sets of simultaneously occurring oscillations during sleep. This multivariate analytical framework provides a window to move beyond classical bivariate pipelines for investigating oscillations and neuronal firing, thereby allowing to factor-in the complexity of oscillation–population interactions.
Possible implication of the CA2 hippocampal circuit in social cognition deficits observed in the Neuroligin 3 knock-out mouse, a non-syndromic animal model of autism.
Research Article
Frontiers in Psychiatry.
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) comprise a heterogeneous group of neuro-developmental abnormalities with a strong genetic component, characterized by deficits in verbal and non-verbal communication, impaired social interactions, and stereotyped behaviors. In a small percentage of cases, ASDs are associated with alterations of genes involved in synaptic function. Among these, relatively frequent are mutations/deletions of genes encoding for neuroligins (NLGs). NLGs are postsynaptic adhesion molecules that, interacting with their presynaptic partners neurexins, ensure the cross talk between pre- and postsynaptic specializations and synaptic stabilization, a condition needed for maintaining a proper excitatory/inhibitory balance within local neuronal circuits. We have focused on mice lacking NLG3 (NLG3 knock-out mice), animal models of a non-syndromic form of autism, which exhibit deficits in social behavior reminiscent of those found in ASDs. Among different brain areas involved in social cognition, the CA2 region of the hippocampus has recently emerged as a central structure for social memory processing. Here, in vivo recordings from anesthetized animals and ex vivo recordings from hippocampal slices have been used to assess the dynamics of neuronal signaling in the CA2 hippocampal area. In vivo experiments from NLG3-deficient mice revealed a selective impairment of spike-related slow wave activity in the CA2 area and a significant reduction in oscillatory activity in the theta and gamma frequencies range in both CA2 and CA3 regions of the hippocampus. These network effects were associated with an increased neuronal excitability in the CA2 hippocampal area. Ex vivo recordings from CA2 principal cells in slices obtained from NLG3 knock-out animals unveiled a strong excitatory/inhibitory imbalance in this region accompanied by a strong reduction of perisomatic inhibition mediated by CCK-containing GABAergic interneurons. These data clearly suggest that the selective alterations in network dynamics and GABAergic signaling observed in the CA2 hippocampal region of NLG3 knock-out mice may account for deficits in social memory reminiscent of those observed in autistic patients.
Abstract
Microglia cells are active players in regulating synaptic development and plasticity in the brain. However, how they influence the normal functioning of synapses is largely unknown. In this study, we characterized the effects of pharmacological microglia depletion, achieved by administration of PLX5622, on hippocampal CA3-CA1 synapses of adult wild type mice. Following microglial depletion, we observed a reduction of spontaneous and evoked glutamatergic activity associated with a decrease of dendritic spine density. We also observed the appearance of immature synaptic features and higher levels of plasticity. Microglia depleted mice showed a deficit in the acquisition of the Novel Object Recognition task. These events were accompanied by hippocampal astrogliosis, although in the absence ofneuroinflammatory condition. PLX-induced synaptic changes were absent in Cx3cr1−/− mice, highlighting the role of CX3CL1/CX3CR1 axis in microglia control of synaptic functioning. Remarkably, microglia repopulation after PLX5622 withdrawal was associated with the recovery of hippocampal synapses and learning functions. Altogether, these data demonstrate that microglia contribute to normal synaptic functioning in the adult brain and that their removal induces reversible changes in organization and activity of glutamatergic synapses.
Teaching and Mentoring
Contact
Feel free to reach out for collaboration or stop by for a coffee!
Our offices are located at Startup Lab
Gaustadalléen 21
0349, Oslo, Norway
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Email
brijeshmodi12 [at] gmail.com
