Main
Matias Leandro Andina
Education
PhD. Student, Neuroscience
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts, USA
Current - 2021
MSc., Neuroscience
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Massachusetts, USA
2018 - 2016
Biology Degree
University of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, ARG
2015 - 2010
Research Experience
Graduate Research Assistant
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts, USA
Current - 2022
- Designed and built behavioral setup for synchronized behavior and physiology recordings
- Designed experiments and collected terabyte datasets to study hunger, sleep, and torpor in mice
Technical Associate
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts, USA
2021 - 2018
- Provided technical support for lab procedures (surgeries, wet lab, colony management)
- Designed continuous home cage monitoring system for movement, temperature, and food intake
Graduate Research Assistant
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Massachusetts, USA
2018 - 2016
- Designed experiments and collected data to study maternal behavior in rats
Undergraduate Researcher
University of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, ARG
2015 - 2013
- Tested a novel device to measure escape responses in crabs
- Designed experiments and collected data to study learning and memory mechanisms
Skills
Biological Domain Expertise
Rodent behavior, thermoregulation, energy balance, neural circuits.
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Experimental Design
Skilled at evaluating scientific evidence, hypothesis generation and designing relevant experiments.
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Quantitative Analysis
R (tidyverse, GLMMs), Python (numpy/polars/pandas, scikit-learn), signal processing, time-series, behavioral analysis.
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Machine Learning
Automated sleep/behavior state scoring with a custom ML pipeline. Achieved ~150x speedup per electrode (5h → 2min) and ~1500x throughput boost across multi-electrode sessions, enabling full-cohort analysis within minutes rather than days.
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Experimental & Technical
Rodent surgery (stereotaxic, abdominal), telemetry systems, sensor integration, open hardware design.
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Tool-building
R/Python package development and pipelines, documentation, reproducible workflows, Git/GitHub.
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Project Management
Managed multi-device experiments and analysis pipelines involving hundreds of mice per project. Mentored 10+ trainees.
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Selected Publications
Two spaced training trials induce associative ERK-dependent long term memory in Neohelice granulata.
Behavioral Brain Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2021.113132
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2021
- Ojea Ramos S., Andina M., Romano A., Feld, M
Interleukin-17a restores sociability in several mouse models for neurodevelopmental disorders.
Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1843-6
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2020
- Reed M.D., Yim Y.S., (…), Andina M., (…), Huh J.R., Choi G.B.
Complete publication list at Google Scholar.
Teaching Experience
Teaching Assistant: Statistics for Brain and Computer Sciences
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts, USA
2022
- Taught statistics recitation lectures.
Teaching Assistant: Methods of Inquiry in Psychology
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Massachusetts, USA
2018
- Taught statistics recitation lectures.
Instructor of Record: Animal Behavior
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Massachusetts, USA
2017
- Selected topics in animal behavior and designed curriculum.
- Taught weekly seminars in animal behavior for 40 students
- CITRL associate
Selected Conferences
Interleukin-17a restores sociability in several mouse models for neurodevelopmental disorders.
Society For Neuroscience
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2019
- Reed M.D., Yim Y.S., (…), Andina M., (…), Huh J.R., Choi G.B
Long-term memory induced by two training trials in the crab Neohelice granulata
Federation of European Neuroscience Societies
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2018
- Ojea Ramos S., Andina M., Feld M
Two-trial long-term memory in the crab Neohelice granulata
Argentinean Society of Neuroscience Research
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2015
- Andina M., Romano A., Feld M
Measuring crab ́s memory: improving conditioning
Argentinean Society of Neuroscience Research
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2013
- Andina M., (…), Romano A., Feld M.
Complete conference list in this archive.
Selected Awards
Picower Neurological Disorder Research Fund
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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2024 - 2022
- Secured $75,000 to lead a collaborative research effort
Arete Fellowship
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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2021
- Participated on weekly seminars in Effective Altruism discussion panel
IBRO-LARC
Talleres Open Source
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2021
- Secured $5,000 to organize open-hardware workshop in Latin America. https://tallerneurolatam.netlify.app/
Presidential Fellowship
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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2021
- Secured $43,000 to fund my PhD research
College of Natural Sciences Fellowship
University of Massachusetts Amherst
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2017
- Awarded fellowship to design and teach a first year seminar class
Neuroscience and Behavior Program Fellowship
University of Massachusetts Amherst
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2016
- Secured $27,000 to fund my MSc research
Young ISN Neurochemistry
University of Buenos Aires
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2015
- Secured travel funding to present my Undergraduate Research at a conference
Complete award list in this archive.
Mentoring
Matthew Alkire
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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2025
- Stereotaxic and abdominal surgery. Experimental design.
Jenna Raffael
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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2025
- Stereotaxic and abdominal surgery. Basic laboratory techniques in rodents.
Penelope Herrero
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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2022 - 2021
- Open Hardware design and fabrication
John Eastman
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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2021
- FedWatcher. Open Software & Hardware design and fabrication
Idil Tuncali
University of Massachusetts Amherst
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2018 - 2017
- Statistics, R programming, and Analysis of Ultrasonic Vocalizations
Nneka Southwell
University of Massachusetts Amherst
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2017
- Basic laboratory techniques in rodents
Selected Talks & Invited Lectures
Building a user-driven database of open neuroscience projects
Organisation for Human Brain Mapping
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2021
- bit.ly/OHBM-21-MLA
Data Visualization
Harvard Philantrophy Advisory Fellowship
Massachusetts, USA
2019
- bit.ly/PAF-2019-MLA
Service
Team member
Open Neuroscience
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2023 - 2020
- Repository of open-source neuroscience tools
- https://open-neuroscience.com/
Co-founder and team member
Talleres Open Source
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2021 - 2020
- Organization of workshops for Open Source tools in Neuroscience.
- https://talleresos.netlify.app/
NSB Seminar Committee
University of Massachusetts Amherst
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2018 - 2016
- Organization of invited Faculty weekly talks
NSB Mentoring Committee.
University of Massachusetts Amherst
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2018 - 2017
- Organization of first year graduate student activities and mentoring events
Software Development
I have a strong commitment towards using and developing open source tools.
FedWatcher
Open-source Python tool enabling real-time closed-loop communication with FED3 behavioral devices. Used to automate feeding, fasting, and stimulus-delivery paradigms in rodent experiments. https://github.com/matiasandina/FEDWatcher
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uid
R package for preprocessing, cleaning, and analyzing high-resolution telemetry data (temperature, activity) from rodent monitoring systems. Includes data QC, interpolation, artifact removal, and downsampling. https://github.com/matiasandina/uid
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nobrainr
R package providing fast visualization tools for Mouse Allen Brain Atlas plate drawing, useful for figure preparation and exploratory analysis. https://github.com/matiasandina/nobrainr
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Complete List of Software at Github.
Selected Data Science Writing
I love to visualize data. I post my visualizations and insights in my personal blog