Francesca Iacobucci

Entering Class - 2023

E-MAIL: [email protected]

Undergraduate Institution and Major:

Castleton State College, B.A. in Psychology, 2017
CUNY Hunter College, M.A. in Animal Behavior and Conservation, 2021

Graduate Advisor

Mark Thomas, Ph.D., Department of Neuroscience

Graduate Publications

  • Sachse, E. M., Dastin-van Rijn, E. M., Bennek, J. P., Buccini, M. C., Mensinger, M. E., Iacobucci, F. A., Reimer, A. E., & Widge, A. S. Unilateral striatal deep brain stimulation improves cognitive control. Journal of Neuroscience, 2026 June 9. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1925-25.2026 
  • Dastin-van Rijn, E.M., Nielsen, J., Sachse, E., Li, C., Mensinger, M., Simpson, S.G., Iacobucci, F.A., Titus, D.J., Widge, A.S. Pybehave: a hardware agnostic, Python-based framework for developing behavioral neuroscience experiments. Journal of Open Source Software, 9(98), 6515. 2024 June 6. https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.06515. 
  • Song, Z., Alpers, A., Warner, K., Iacobucci, F., Hoskins, E., Disterhoft, J.F., Voss, J.L., Widge, A.S. Chronic, re-usable, multi-day Neuropixel recordings during free-moving operant behavior. eNuro. 2024 Jan 22. doi: 10.1523/ENEURO.0245-23.2023. 
  • Dastin-van Rjin, E.M., Sachse, E.M. Iacobucci, F.A., Mensinger, M.E., Widge, A.S. OSCAR: An open-source controller for animal research. BioRxiv, 2023 Feb 3. https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.02.03.527033.

 

Graduate Presentations

  • Iacobucci, F.A., Lind, E.B., Esguerra, M., Argenta, D., Thomas, M.J. Differential effects of cocaine experience on input-specific oICSS strategies in the nucleus accumbens. Winter Conference on Brain Research; 2026 Jan. 24-29; Big Sky, Montana.
  • Iacobucci, F.A., Esguerra, M., Thomas, M.J. Role of genetically targeted neuronal cell-types in reward-seeking. Graduate Program in Neuroscience Annual Retreat; 2025 February 15; Minneapolis, MN. 
  • Iacobucci, F.A., Cooper, D.C., Dastin-van Rjin, E.M., Widge, A.S. Deep brain stimulation in rats performing a multi-armed bandit. 2023 Society of Biological Psychiatry Annual Meeting; 2023 April 27-29; San Diego, CA. 
  • Iacobucci, F.A., Cooper, D.C., Dastin-van Rjin, E.M., Widge, A.S. DBS disrupts reinforcement-based decision making in rats. 2022 Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting; 2022 Nov 12; San Diego, CA.

 

Graduate Awards/Honors

  • Medical school graduate fellowship (2023) 
  • MnDrive fellow associated with T32 training grant T32-NS105604 (2023-2024)

 

Rotations

Ganesh Vasan, Ph.D., Department of Neuroscience 
Alik Widge, Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry 
Esther Krook-Magnuson, Ph.D., Department of Neuroscience

Undergraduate Awards/Honors

  • Psi Chi Honor Society (2016) 
  • Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society (2014)
Picture of Francesca Iacobucci