Yasmin Padovan-Hernandez

Research Interests

Yasmin joined the Aponte Lab as a PhD candidate in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience. She received a BS in psychology with a focus on behavioral and cognitive neuroscience at the University of Florida. As an undergraduate, Yasmin worked in the lab of Dr. Lori Knackstedt exploring the neurobiological basis of cocaine addiction and relapse, and she completed an internship in the lab of Dr. Patricia Janak studying the role of the central nucleus of the amygdala in compulsive alcohol drinking. As a graduate student, Yasmin completed a rotation in the lab of Dr. Gül Dölen investigating the re-opening of a social reward critical period with different classes of psychedelic compounds. Now in the Aponte Lab, Yasmin uses a combination of behavioral studies, optogenetics, and ex vivo electrophysiology to better understand hypothalamic circuits underlying interoceptive hunger.