Dora Balog

Dora Balog is a PhD candidate in Biomedical Engineering at Boston University. She earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Novi Sad, Serbia. Between her undergraduate and master’s studies, she spent a summer at Rice University working with Dr. Robert Raphael, where she studied the murine vestibular system and developed machine learning algorithms to classify different anatomical structures of the inner ear.

For her PhD research, Dora is using computational neuroscience models of layer 5 pyramidal cells to investigate how neuromodulators, such as acetylcholine and norepinephrine, influence neuronal computations. She aims to develop statistical models that capture the patterns emerging from varying levels of neuromodulators. She is co-advised by Dr. Emily Stephen and Dr. Anna Devor. In the future, Dora hopes to contribute to the development of algorithms capable of decoding neuromodulatory dysregulation, which could help in the early detection of mental illness.

Beyond her research, Dora is committed to fostering diversity and inclusion in STEM. She currently serves on the board of Graduate Women in Science and Engineering (GWISE) as the Director of Operations and co-hosts the Neurophotonics Podcast, where she engages with experts on topics of neuroscience, photonics, data science and more.