Who is miruna narendradarsan?

Miruna Narendra is an Indian American neuroscientist and Assistant Professor of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. Her research focuses on understanding how the brain learns and remembers, with a particular interest in the role of sleep in memory consolidation.

Early life and education

Narendra was born in Iasi, Romania, and immigrated to the United States with her family when she was nine years old. She earned her bachelor's degree in neuroscience from Harvard University in 2009 and her Ph.D. in neurobiology from Stanford University in 2015.

Research

Narendra's research has shown that sleep is essential for the formation of long-term memories. In one study, she and her colleagues found that people who were allowed to sleep after learning a new task performed better on a memory test the next day than those who were kept awake.

Narendra's work has also shed light on the role of the hippocampus in memory consolidation. The hippocampus is a brain region that is involved in the formation and retrieval of memories. Narendra and her colleagues found that the hippocampus is more active during sleep than during wakefulness and that this activity is essential for the formation of long-term memories.

Awards and honors

Narendra has received several awards for her research, including the McKnight Scholar Award, the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, and the Rita Allen Foundation Scholar Award. She was also named one of MIT Technology Review's "35 Innovators Under 35" in 2020.

Personal life

Narendra is married to neuroscientist Rahul Desikan. They have two children.