Vinci Parks
Scientific Name: T. Vincenza Parks, PhD
Neuroscientist and overall data geek. I am currently a postdoc in the Phillips Mood and Brain Lab at the University of Pittsburgh.
Education
University of Pittsburgh
Doctorate of Philosphy
Neurobiology, Center for Neuroscience
Dissertation: Development of novel approaches for noninvasive neuronal circuit characterization and modulation using transcranial focused ultrasound
April 2025
University of California, Davis
Bachelor of Science
Psychology with a Mathematics Emphasis
June 2016
Publications
Parks, T. V.*, Corigliano, M.R.*, Guretse, S.G., Letica, L., Rollin I.Z., Pell, S.K.A, Campos, V.P., Szczupak, D., & Schaeffer, D. J. (2026). Noninvasive focal gene transfer of chemogenetic proteins in the primate brain. Cell Reports Methods, June 2026
Parks, T. V., Szczupak, D., Choi, S.-H., & Schaeffer, D. J. (2024). Noninvasive focal transgene delivery with viral neuronal tracers in the marmoset monkey. Cell Reports Methods, 4(2).
Parks, T. V., Szczupak, D., Choi, S.-H., Alikaya, A., Mou, Y., Silva, A. C., & Schaeffer, D. J. (2023). Noninvasive disruption of the blood-brain barrier in the marmoset monkey. Communications Biology, 6(1), 806.
Remington, E. D., Parks, T. V., & Jazayeri, M. (2018). Late Bayesian inference in mental transformations. Nature Communications, 9(1), 4419.
Wright, E. C., Parks, T. V., Alexander, J. O., Supra, R., & Trainor, B. C. (2018). Activation of kappa opioid receptors in the dorsal raphe have sex dependent effects on social behavior in California mice. Behavioural Brain Research, 351, 83–92.
Tinkering
When the City of Pittsburgh retired the Wayfinder signs in 2026, they claimed the color code was "largely unknown." Like any reasonable person, I put together a psychophysics task to ask the question, "But is there a latent understanding/mapping of colors to region?" By the time I was satisfied with the task design, I had unintentionally taught myself the explicit association.
You can try it for yourself and opt to send me your results at the end! You'll need a keyboard (don't worry, I've already heard, "Wow...Vinci...this is a lot.")
(Knows) About Dogs
I love learning about learning, thinking about thinking, learning about thinking, and thinking about learning. I also love animals.
After years of fostering, I adopted my dog Zina in my first year of grad school. She started as a foster fail who had been rescued from a house with 117 dogs, and fostered my own love of nosework and dog sports in general.
You can learn more about my dog life here:
Nose About Dogs
