Franco Pestilli
Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience (by courtesy) at the University of Texas at Austin. His research integrates neuroscience, artificial intelligence, data science and software engineering to investigate how the brain’s structural connections support perception, cognition, learning and development. His laboratory develops computational methods and digital infrastructure for mapping the human brain, analyzing large-scale neuroimaging data and accelerating scientific discovery Prof. Pestilli is an affiliated member of the Center For Perceptual Systems, and Center for Learning and Memory. Pestilli is the founder and director of brainlife.io, a cloud platform that connects neuroscience data, computational tools and analysis pipelines within a unified research environment. His group develops technologies for neuroimaging standardization, tractography, distributed computing and scientific automation, including ezBIDS, dicompare and emerging AI systems that connect datasets, models, software and research infrastructures. This work now supports major national brain-mapping programs. Pestilli is Principal Investigator of the Axonal Projectome Exchange (APEX), the data coordination centre for the US National Institutes of Health BRAIN CONNECTS program (brain-connects.org). APEX integrates large-scale imaging, microscopy and connectivity datasets with computational pipelines, data standards and interactive services for mapping the brain across spatial scales. He is Director of Data Informatics for the BRAIN CONNECTS Center for Mesoscale Connectivity, which develops technologies to acquire, integrate and analyse high-resolution multimodal data from human and non-human primate brains. Pestilli also leads BRIDGE (braindatagovernance.org, a Wellcome Trust programme developing international frameworks and technology for brain and mental-health data sharing and governance, and has led the BIDS Connectivity Project to extend neuroimaging standards to connectivity data and computational workflows. He chairs the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility and serves on the Steering Committee of the Brain Imaging Data Structure. He is Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and Psychonomics Society. His distinctions include the Microsoft Investigator Fellowship, gifts from the Kavli Foundation, and the APS Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions. Pestilli received his Laurea in Experimental Psychology, summa cum laude, from La Sapienza University of Rome and his PhD in Cognition and Perception from New York University. He completed postdoctoral training at Columbia University and Stanford University before joining Indiana University, where he earned tenure, and subsequently moving to UT Austin. At The University of Texas, he teaches Data Science and Cognitive Neuroscience and has developed a Study Abroad Program in Cognitive Neuroscience in Geneva, Switzerland.
Team The following are the exceptional students, postdocs, staff members, and faculty colleagues whose dedication and expertise make our science possible.
Anibal S. Heinsfeld
Computer Science PhD Student (Computer Science, Software Engineering, Agentic AI)
Yang Zhang
Neuroscience PhD Student (Neuroimaging Pipelines, Aging and Dementia, Network Neuroscience)
Community It takes the world to understand the brain, and the world is a village rich with people of different backgrounds.
A successful lab thrives when it embraces diverse ideas, cultures, and life experiences. Our Principal Investigator hails from Italy, and our team includes software engineers from Asia, Latin America, and North America. This positive mix of individuals working together fosters a collaborative environment that advances our understanding of the brain and enhances the work of scientists globally.
Engagement Inclusion and engagement mean being open and safe for all.
We are dedicated to engaging with all individuals interested in neuroscience, particularly those in communities that might otherwise lack access to these resources. Our lab's resources have been utilized in smaller U.S. colleges, as well as in Africa and Latin America, to teach neuroscience and neuroimaging to under-resourced communities.
Collaborators
Sarah Heilbronner
Assistant professor University of Minnesota
Together we are working on understanding the connectivity of the Parietal cortex.
Damian Eke
Assistant Professor, University of Nottingham, UK
Ricardo Chavarriaga
Professor, Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Switzerland
Fernanda Tovar Moll
MD/Phd, CEO D’Or Institute of Research and Education (IDOR), Brazil
Amadi Ihunwo
Professor, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), South Africa
Thomas Nichols
Professor, Oxford University, UK
Alexander Huth
Assistant Professor of Neuroscience and Computer Science, University of Texas
Ariel Rokem
Research Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Washington
Elizabeth Lippard
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Dell Medical Center University of Texas
Dan Stanzione
Associate Vice President for Research Executive Director, TACC
Chris Rorden
Professor and Endowed Chair of Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina
Russell Poldrack
Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychology, School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University
Daniel J. McDonald
Associate Professor, Department of Statistics, The University of British Columbia
Together we are developing approaches to tractography methods optimization.
Nicholas Port
Associate Professor of Vision Science and Neuroscience at Indiana University
Together we are trying to understand brain concussion using brainlife.io.
Anastasia Yendiki
Associate Professor in Radiology, Harvard Medical School; Associate Investigator, Massachusetts General Hospital
Alumni
Daniel Levitas
Software Developer
After leaving our team, Dan took on a Data Analyst position in North Carolina.
Annie Mackenzie
Lab & Project Manager
After leaving the lab, Annie took on a position as Global Regulatory Writer.
Bradley Caron
Postdoctoral Fellow
After graduating from the lab, Brad took on a position as a Translational Imaging Data Scientist at Novartis (Boston, MA).
Ashley Stewart
Visiting Postdoctoral Researcher
Ashley visited the lab from The University of Queensland.
Mohammed Mehboob
Research Assistant
After leaving the lab, Mohammed took a position as an Associate Consultant within Consulting at Adobe.
Cat Leal
Undergraduate Research Assistant (2023 Behavioral Data Science Intern)
After graduating from the lab, Cat started a Masters in Data Science at The University of Texas at Austin.
Julia Guiomar (Guio) Niso Galán
CRCNS Research Scientist
After leaving the lab, Guio started her research group at Cajal Institute in Madrid.
Soichi Hayashi
Software Engineer
After leaving the lab, Soichi took on a position as a Software Developer in a Fintech Company.
Om Pandey
Masters Student
After graduating with his Masters in Computer Science from UT, Om began working as a Machine Learning Engineer at the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation(DTCC).
Kunjal Shah
Masters Research Assistant
After graduating from the lab, Kunjal started a job as an engineer at NVIDIA.
Sophia Vinci-Booher
NSF SBE Postdoctoral Researcher
After graduating from the lab, Sophia started her lab at Vanderbilt University.
Antonio Fernandez
NIH Postdoctoral Fellow.
After leaving the lab, Dr. Fernandez started working as UI/UX Researcher in the industry.
Sandra Hanekamp
Postdoctoral Fellow
After graduating from the lab, Sandra took a position at NordicNeuroLab.
Brent C. McPherson
Ph.D. student
After graduating from the lab, Brent took a Postdoctoral Researcher position at McGill University.
Daniel N. Bullock
Ph.D. student
After graduating from the lab, Dan took on a position as Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Minnesota.
Ilaria Sani
Visiting Postdoc
Ilaria was visiting from the Laboratory of Winrich Freiwald at Rockefeller University. After visiting the lab, Ilaria took an Assitant Professor position at the University of Geneva.
Josiah Leong
Postdoctoral Fellow
After working in the lab, Josiah started his lab and became Assistant Professor in Psychology at the University of Arkansas.
Ricardo Fabrega
Undergraduate Research Assistant
After leaving the lab, Ricardo won a prestigious Medical Student Scholarship at the F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland.
Yiming Qian
Undergraduate Research Assistant
After leaving the lab, Yiming started Graduate School at Penn State University.
Lindsey Kitchell
Ph.D. Student
After leaving the lab, Lindsey took on a position as Senior Professional Scientist at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory.
Shiloh Echevarria-Cooper
Undergraduate Research Assistant
After leaving the lab, Shiloh started graduate school at Northwestern University.
Aman Arya
Undergraduate Research Assistant, NSF Summer Intern for brainlife.io
After leaving the lab, Aman took a job at Amazon.
Cesar F. Caiafa
Visiting scientist
After working in the lab, Cesar returned to Argentina to work as at the Argentinean Radioastronomy Institute (IAR) and as an Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Buenos Aires.
Steven O’Riley
High-school and Undergraduate Research Assistant
After leaving the lab, Steven took a data science job.
Melanie Collier
Lab Manager (Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience)
After leaving the lab, melanie started a Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience at the Universtiy of California, Los Angeles.
Sydney Fulton
Undergraduate Research Assistant (Neuroimaging Pipelines)
After leaving the lab, Sydney took a research assitant position at Texas A&M University.
Anna Bostoganashvili
2025 Women in Neuroscience Fellow (Intern at Icahn School of Medicine at Mt Sinai, Undergraduate in Neuroscience at Centre College)
After leaving the lab, Anna took a research assitant position in New York.
Karen Herrera
2025 Women in Neuroscience Intern (Undergraduate in Neuroscience at Vanderbilt University)
After leaving the lab, Karen took a research position.
Sihang (Suna) Guo
Ph.D. Student (Neuroscience, Machine Learning, Cognitive Neuroscience)
After leaving the lab, Suna continued her PhD at The University of California, Berkeley.
Sangmin (Alden) Yi
Post-Bachelor Research Assistant (Computational Neuroscience, fMRI Data Analysis)
After leaving the lab, Alden began his PhD at Indiana University Bloomington.
Sohmee Kim
Undergraduate Research Assistant
After leaving the lab, Sohmee started her Pharm.D at the University of Texas at Austin.
Alisha Flexwala
Undergraduate Research Assistant