Ipshita Zutshi, PhD
Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor,
Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology
Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center
Rutgers University
Ipshita grew up in New Delhi, India, and obtained her undergraduate degree at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of California, San Diego, where she worked with Stefan Leutgeb on circuit implementations of spatial tuning in the hippocampal–entorhinal network. She then joined György Buzsáki’s lab at New York University School of Medicine for her postdoctoral work, investigating how hippocampal activity reflects behavioral goals. She is a Simons Foundation Transition to Independence Fellow, the recipient of the 2025 Peter and Patricia Gruber International Research Award, and a 2025 finalist for the Blavatnik Regional Award for Young Scientists, alongside previous HHMI International Student Research and Leon Levy Fellowships.
Ipshita is fascinated by how the brain extracts features of the world to guide even the simplest behaviors. She hopes, over her lifetime, to uncover at least a few of the principles that make this possible.
Outside the lab, Ipshita enjoys yoga, reading fiction, and exploring new cuisines. These days, she’s also happily navigating the adventures of parenthood with her baby girl.
MEET THE LAB
The Zutshi Lab is a new research group set to begin in early 2026. Stay tuned as we grow our team and research program.
Ruvanthika Sivaprakasini Veerasikku
Undergraduate Student
BIO
Ruvanthika was born in India and moved to the United States as a baby, growing up in Edison, New Jersey. She is currently an undergraduate student at Rutgers University majoring in Cell Biology and Neuroscience and minoring in Philosophy on a Pre-Med track. Her research interests focus on how entorhinal and hippocampal circuits encode memory, and how intrinsic neuronal properties contribute to spatial learning and cognitive function. In the future, she hopes to explore how disruptions in these mechanisms contribute to neurodevelopmental disorders. In her free time, Ruvanthika enjoys reading and drawing. She also loves trying new experiences, such as snowboarding and learning Mandarin, and is always looking to pick up new skills.