Team - Stellwagen Lab

David Stellwagen, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator
Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center
Associate Professor
Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine

David Stellwagen is an associate professor at McGill University since 2014. He opened his lab at the Centre for Research in Neuroscience (CRN) in 2007 to conduct research on the role of TNF-alpha in homeostatic synaptic plasticity. Pr. Stellwagen has been

receiving numerous awards to fund his research from a broad range of institutes such as National Institute on Drug Abuse, Huntington Society Canada or ALS Canada, but also NSERC and CIHR funding. These institutes reflect the variety of research interests in the Stellwagen lab, which main focus is investigating the role of TNF-alpha on homeostatic synaptic plasticity in various contexts that include stress, neurodegeneration, addiction or the healthy brain.

Pr. Stellwagen obtained his PhD from University of California, Berkeley, where he worked under the supervision of Pr. Carla J. Schatz on the visual system of mammals. He was then already a well-trained electrophysiologist focusing his project on synaptic plasticity changes in the visual cortex and more specifically on retinal waves. After completing his PhD degree, Pr. Stellwagen became a post-doctoral fellow in the Malenka lab at Stanford University Medical Center. During his post-doc he developed a specific interest for the cytokine TNF-alpha, which is involved in many inflammatory as well as homeostatic processes in the entire human body but also more specifically in the brain. Pr. Stellwagen’s research showed an important role for this molecule in regulating homeostatic synaptic plasticity processes in the healthy brain of rodent models.

After completing a brilliant post-doctorate at Stanford University, Pr. Stellwagen was given the opportunity to open a laboratory at the renowned institute that is the Centre for Research in Neuroscience. Established in 1986, the CRN has been and remains home to some of Canada’s most distinguished neuroscientists (http://www.mcgill.ca/crn/). CRN labs are focused on cellular and molecular approaches to nervous system function, with particular emphasis on synaptic function and glial-neuronal interactions. It is in this flourishing environment that Pr. Stellwagen has built a dynamic lab well-equipped for electrophysiology as well molecular biology research. A lab where the Stellwagen team is currently developing new stem cells models for diseases as well as pursuing research projects in the addiction and neurodegeneration fields.

the students

dionysia moschou, ph.d Candidate

Dionysia (Denny) Moschou join the Stellwagen Lab in 2021 as a PhD student. Her main goal is to characterize the neuroimmune interactions governing the wiring of the developing visual system before and after eye-opening using the mouse model.
Dionysia completed her BSc in Molecular Biology and Genetics at Democritus University of Thrace, Greece. She later obtained her MSc in Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Germany. She conducted her MSc thesis project at Yale University, investigating the effects of prenatal inflammation on cortical development. Outside of the lab, Dionysia has served as a PGSS councilor and the chair of the BRaIN EDI Committee, and she is currently an active member of the BRaIN Trainee Committee.
Contact: [email protected]

Adam r. klyczek, Master student

Hailing from New York, Adam joined the Stellwagen team in 2021. Bringing with him a background as a cognitive behavioral therapist, Adam’s research focus within the Stellwagen team includes characterizing Rett Syndrome at a synaptic and molecular level. Adam utilizes hiPSCs and cell culture along with electrophysiological approaches to expand our current understanding of E/I imbalance in healthy and disease models. Adam works with mouse, rat, and human models… mostly in the laboratory.
Contact: [email protected]

houaria adaïdi, ph.d Candidate

Houaria started her PhD in the Stellwagen Lab in 2022. She works on the stress-response her main objective being identifying TNF implication in the behavioral and synaptic response to long-lasting stress focusing on a mouse model of PTSD, as well as its potential role in the resilience to stress. She first obtained a bachelor degree in Cellular Biology and Physiology from the University of Auvergne, followed by a master degree in Neuroscience from Bordeaux University, where she specialized in pain research.
Contact: [email protected]

Adora (Jiaqi) Wang, Ph.D Candidate

Adora (Jiaqi) joined the Stellwagen Lab as a PhD student in 2024, her research focus on unraveling the mechanisms of neuroinflammation in high-fat, high-sugar diet-induced obesity. Before that, she finished master of philosophy in neuroinflammation at Lab of Neurodegeneration Disease at the University of Hong Kong and completed bachelor of medicine and got medical training from Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University.
Contact: [email protected]

Ulfuara shefa, PH.D student

Ulfuara started her PhD in the Stellwagen Lab in 2025. Her research focuses on testing homeostatic synaptic plasticity in the striatum from wild-type (WT) and Huntington’s disease (HD) mouse models, with an emphasis on understanding the role of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) in modulating synaptic changes. She earned both her Bachelor & Master of Pharmacy degree from the Khulna University, Bangladesh, followed by a Master of Science in Medicine from Kyung Hee University, South Korea, where she studied vastly the peripheral nervous system disorders and glial cell biology. She later worked as a Pharmacist at Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd.,Bangladesh, before pursuing her doctoral research here at McGill University.
Contact: [email protected]

Maria petryk, MASTER STUDENT

Maria joined the Stellwagen Lab in the Fall of 2025 to complete her Masters degree. Her project investigates the neural correlates of social buffering and how these might contribute to the resultant behaviors of stressed mice. Before starting her Masters degree, Maria completed her undergraduate degree in the Neuroscience Honours program at the University of Calgary. In Calgary, Maria worked under the Dufour Lab, which uses proteomic techniques to develop hypotheses on the molecular characteristics of various disease states.
Contact: [email protected]

Atousa Yarahmadi, PH.D Student

Atousa is a PhD student in the Integrated Program in Neuroscience (IPN) at McGill University. Her academic journey began with exploring the human body through radiology and human anatomy, but her curiosity gradually drew her toward the brain. She completed her master’s degree at the University of Tehran, where her thesis focused on inflammation following spinal cord injury. In 2025, she joined the Stellwagen Lab, where she now explores how tumour necrosis factor (TNF) shapes neuronal plasticity and connectivity within brain circuits.
Contact: [email protected]