Rashi Pant, M.A.

Education

PhD Candidate, Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg (October 2018 – Present)

Advisor: Prof. Dr. Brigitte Röder 

Research Project: Neural mechanisms of sensitive period plasticity and recovery after sight restoration

Hector School MBA Fundamentals Program for Doctoral Researchers, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (October 2018 – Present) 

MA Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore (Aug 2015 – Aug 2016)

Advisor: Prof. Dr. Brenda Rapp

Research Experience: Data collection for fMRI experiment on a novel spelling paradigm to investigate post-stroke language disorders

BSc Physics, St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai (Jun 2012 – June 2015) 

Honours Certificates in Physics and Chemistry

Final Year Project: Muon Coincidence Counts using Scintillation Detectors

Work Experience

Research Program Coordinator/Research Assistant, Johns Hopkins University (Sep 2016 – July 2018) 

Neuroplasticity and Development Laboratory, PI: Dr. Marina Bedny

Project on sensitive periods in higher cognitive plasticity in blindness. Responsible for data analysis, recruitment, fMRI and behavioral data collection (special population: visually impaired), supervision of undergraduate assistants, administration

Summer Research Intern, National Brain Research Center, New Delhi (Mar 2014 – Jun 2014) 

Neuroimaging and Neurospectroscopy Laboratory, PI: Dr. Pravat Mandal

Awards and Grants

United Nations Sustainability Development Goals (SDG10) Poster Award (2020). Travel grant.

Hector Fellow Academy Doctoral Fellowship (2018 – 2022). Funded position to work with Hector Fellow Prof. Dr. Brigitte Röder.

JN Tata Endowment Scholar (2015). Loan Scholarship from the J.N. Tata Endowment, India .

Community Work

Neuroscience Module Teacher and Coordinator (National Federation of the Blind Youth Slam 2017, Baltimore) .

Audiobook Recording (Xavier’s Resource Center for the Visually Challenged, Mumbai, July 2014).

Teacher (Maharashtra State Women’s Council Street Children Project, Dec 2013-Mar 2014).

Teacher (The Doorstep School, Mumbai, April 2013-July 2013).                     

Skills

Programming (Shell script, MATLAB, R)

Data Analysis (fMRI, EEG and MRS data analysis, frequentist statistical analysis)

Writing, Editing, Layouts (Adobe InDesign, Adobe PhotoShop)

Languages: Hindi (native), English (native), German (A2)

Publikations

Pant, R., Ossandón, J.P., Stange, L., Shareef, I., Kekunnaya, R., & Röder, B. (2023). Stimulus-evoked and resting-state alpha oscillations show a linked dependence on patterned visual experience for development. NeuroImage: Clinical, in press.

Pant, R., Guerreiro, M., Ley, P., Bottari, D., Shareef, I., Kekunnaya, R., Röder B. (Preprint). The Size-Weight Illusion is unimpaired in sight recovery individuals after congenital patterned visual deprivation. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.10.430572

Pant R., Kanjlia S., Bedny M.(2020). A sensitive period in the neural phenotype of language in blind individuals. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 41, 100744. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2019.100744

Kanjlia S., Pant R., Bedny M. (2019). Sensitive period for cognitive repurposing of human visual cortex. Cerebral Cortex, 29(9), 3993-4005. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhy280

Poster presentations

UN Sustainability Development Goals Virtual Global Partners Forum (2021). Neural mechanisms of sight recovery after congenital blindness in humans.

Annual Conference, Society for Neuroscience 2017 (Washington DC). Visual cortices assume distinct cognitive functions in congenital and adult-onset blindness. Pant R., Kanjlia S., Bedny M.

Annual Conference, Neurobiology of Language 2017 (Baltimore, MD). A sensitive period for the modification of the language network in blindness. Pant R., Kanjlia S., Bedny M.

Annual Conference, Cognitive Neuroscience Society 2018 (Boston, MA). The neural basis of verb and noun semantic representations in congenitally blind individuals. Elli G., Pant R., Achtman R., Bedny M.