Raghav K. Chhetri

Team Lead

Raghav K. Chhetri has a background in designing, building, and applying custom bioimaging technologies to diverse biological problems. He obtained his PhD in Physics (2013) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed his postdoctoral training (2013-2016) in Philipp Keller’s lab at HHMI Janelia Research Campus, where he continued as a Research Scientist (2016-2021) and a Senior Scientist (2021-2022) prior to joining the Rockefeller University in 2022. In his current role as a Team Lead at the MBO, he leads the operation of the Brain Observatory by transitioning, refining, and extending cutting-edge neuroimaging technologies and associated data pipelines, and provides scientific support and oversight over MBO projects. He also advises and guides the Rockefeller scientists on custom/advanced optical system instrumentation and open-source analysis ecosystem.  

Diego E. Hernández-Trejo

Optical NeuroImaging Engineer

Diego E. Hernández-Trejo has a background in neuroscience and microscopy for both cellular and systems-level research. He earned his PhD in Biology from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in 2017 and completed postdoctoral training (2018–2025) in Florin Albeanu’s lab at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. As an Optical Neuroimaging Engineer, he integrates biology, neuroscience, optics, and data analysis to develop and deploy MBO microscopy resources to facilitate research across The Rockefeller University community.

Alipasha Vaziri

Director

Alipasha Vaziri is the Head of the Laboratory of Neurotechnology and Biophysics at the Rockefeller University. He stated the vision of the Brain Observatory and orchestrated support from the University to establish the MBO. Under his leadership, the MBO was founded in 2022 through joint financial support from the Kavli Neural Systems Institute (KNSI) and the University. In the role as a Director, he oversees the scientific direction of the Brain Observatory and interfaces with the MBO and the University to fulfill the mission of the Observatory. 

SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Cori Bargmann

Charles D. Gilbert

Vanessa Ruta

Winrich A. Freiwald