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We are a collaborative and curious team, united by a passion for understanding the brain and behavior and inspired by the creativity and dedication of each member. Having just opened in January 2026, we are excited to grow our team and build a vibrant, dynamic research environment.
Céline Drieu, PhD
Principal Investigator
cdrieu1@jhu.eduAssistant Professor
Department of Neuroscience
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
Maricela Vela Mirelez
Research Specialistmmirele1@jhu.eduMari received a B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Neuroscience and an M.S. in Microbiology from Texas A&M University. She joined the Drieu Lab when it first opened in January 2026. Mari is interested in expanding her understanding of learning and memory, while also providing administrative and managerial support to help her fellow lab members thrive. Outside the lab, Mari enjoys cooking, woodworking, and spending quality time outdoors with her family.
Isabelle Kim
Undergraduate Research Assistantikim49@jh.eduIsabelle grew up in central Pennsylvania and is currently pursuing a degree in Neuroscience at Hopkins. She joined the Drieu Lab in October 2025, and her current research interests are in the neural bases of reward processing and decision-making. Outside of the lab, she enjoys exercising with friends, curating playlists on Spotify, and playing violin.
An Tran
Undergraduate Research Assistantatran56@jh.eduAn grew up in Northern Virginia and is currently a sophomore majoring in Neuroscience at Kopkins. She joined the lab in January 2026 and is interested in studying the neural circuits underlying learning and reward-based decision-making. Outside of the lab, she enjoys playing field hockey, crocheting, and baking for friends and family.
Ravikrishnan Jayakumar
Postdoctoral Researcher (Joining soon!)rperurj1@jhu.eduOriginally from India, Ravi moved to the U.S. for his Masters in Robotics and to pursue his Ph.D. with Prof. Noah Cowan, focusing on a control-theoretic approach to the study of locomotion and navigation in biological systems. Leveraging his engineering background, he developed high-resolution behavioral systems and state-estimation algorithms for two key projects: non-invasively monitoring the behavior and social electrocommunication of weakly electric fish and building a custom virtual-reality platform to study hippocampal spatial maps in rodents.Seeing the many biological analogues and implementation of engineering principles during the study of hippocampal spatial navigation sparked a fascination with computational algorithms in the brain. This led to postdoctoral work with Prof. James Knierim, investigating how the brain integrates multi-modal sensory inputs to maintain coherent internal representations. Ravi’s central research interest lies on how circuit dynamics and plasticity define computational manifolds that can be flexibly leveraged by task demands for memory encoding, representing latent variables, and the execution of complex behavioral actions. Outside the lab, Ravi’s innate curiosity leads him on a "random walk" through diverse interests, with common mainstays being reading, climbing, and exploring new cuisines.
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