// neuroscientist · toolmaker · the rockefeller university · new york

RishikaMohanta

Ree-shee-ka Moh-hun-tah · she/her

Insect neuroscience · tools for discovery

Theorist at heart, tool-builder by skill, experimentalist by ambition, comparative neuroethologist by philosophy. I study how sensory anatomy shapes neural computation across species, and I build the rigs and software that make that question answerable.

research ↓models ↓tools ↓contact ↓CV (pdf) ↗
Comparative olfactory circuit of fly and ant brainsSide-by-side frontal views of the Drosophila melanogaster and Ooceraea biroi brains. In each, odor signals flow from the olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) to the antennal lobe, then to the mushroom body and lateral horn, on to the central complex, and out through descending neurons (DNs).Drosophila melanogasterOoceraea biroiORNsORNsDNsDNsconserved cell types,varied connectivity,what about function?
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// research

Three questions I keep returning to

Insects keep roughly the same classes of olfactory cells across species, but those cells vary in number, distribution, and wiring, and occasionally new cell types appear. I combine comparative neuroanatomy, connectomics, behavior, imaging, and modeling to ask what computational problems these circuits are optimized to solve.

  • 2023–Bilateral olfactory navigation in O. biroi and Drosophila, using FlyCLOPS and MultiBiOS to compare behavioral algorithms across species with different sensory anatomy (Ruta + Kronauer Labs).
  • 2026First neuroanatomical reference brain for the clonal raider ant, published in Current Biology and now a shared community resource.
  • 2018–22Locust antennal-lobe dynamics under fluctuating odor inputs (Assisi Lab).
// models

Models I've built

I build models to make assumptions explicit and intuitions testable. Most predictions are wrong the first time, and the deviations are where the understanding is.

M01

Connectome-based antennal-lobe model

2025– · Ruta Lab · Rockefeller

Connectomic and computational models of the Drosophila antennal lobe that predict glomerulus-specific trade-offs between detecting an odor and telling which side it came from. Late-breaking poster at SfN 2026, with Chidera Udedibia.

M02

ArthroScape

2025– · Rockefeller

Simulation toolkit for arthropod behavior: chemosensory navigation, trail formation, and collective behavior emerging from individual neural rules.

github ↗
M03

Mushroom-body model of perseverance

2022–23 · Turner Lab · Janelia

A proposed neural implementation of olfactory perseverance, the habit-like pull toward recent choices over more rewarding ones: dopamine-gated plasticity at Kenyon cell–MBON synapses, plus a feedback loop onto reward dopamine neurons found in the connectome. The model reproduces perseverance seen in 360 flies on the 16FlYMaze, and cutting the loop abolishes it. Contributed talk at Cosyne 2024.

talk ↗
M04

Value-learning models of fly choice

2021–22 · MS thesis · Turner Lab

Inferring the learning rules behind fruit-fly olfactory choices two ways: fitting increasingly complex reinforcement-learning models, and training tiny neural networks (under five neurons) to find rules from scratch. The tiny networks out-predicted the best RL models, and both pointed to perseverance, a habit-like tendency beyond reward-seeking. MS thesis, IISER Pune / HHMI Janelia.

thesis ↗
M05

Locust antennal-lobe network model

2018–22 · Assisi Lab · IISER Pune

A network model of the locust antennal lobe asking how an odor stays recognizable when it arrives in turbulent, intermittent plumes. The structure of the sub-network an odor perturbs, readable from transient synchrony, acts as an invariant code, and intermittent sampling makes it easier to recover.

poster ↗
// tools

Software I've built

tracking2025

HYDRA Suite

Holistic YOLO-based Detection, Recognition, and Analysis. Multi-animal tracking, pose labeling, classification, and interactive proofreading in one toolkit.

Pythongithub ↗
lab ops2024

D. Manager

Drosophila stock-keeping for research labs: genotype tracking, crossing schedules, vial aging.

Pythongithub ↗
lab ops2025

MiniVentory

Minimal lab inventory tracker: consumables checkout, low-stock email alerts, and automated replenishment. No login required.

Pythongithub ↗
AI tooling2026

Drosophila Stocks MCP

MCP server that lets AI assistants search Drosophila stock centers (BDSC, Kyoto, VDRC, KDRC, NIG-FLY, FlyORF, NDSSC) by genotype or gene, using FlyBase bulk data.

Pythongithub ↗
lab ops2026

Quick Lab Requisitioner

Browser extension that turns vendor product pages into spreadsheet-ready requisition rows. Supports 20+ vendors, from Thorlabs and Addgene to BDSC.

JavaScriptlab-internal
// rigs

Behavioral rigs

R01

Fly-on-ball olfactory VR

2019 · Turner Lab · Janelia

Closed-loop walking arena with calibrated odor delivery, used to probe how olfactory learning shapes exploratory behavior in Drosophila.

R02

16FlYMaze

2022 · Turner Lab · Janelia

High-throughput 2AFC olfactory maze for flies, used to probe perseverance and other decision-making strategies in olfactory learning.

R03

FlyCLOPS optogenetic trail system

2023 · Ruta Lab · Rockefeller

Closed-loop optogenetic system for virtual pheromone trail following. Light activation of specific olfactory receptor neurons generates bilateral odor gradients in freely-walking flies, with no chemistry required.

R04

MultiBiOS bilateral olfactometer

2024 · Ruta + Kronauer Labs · Rockefeller

Hardware-clocked bilateral odor delivery (NI-DAQ + Teensy 4.1) for comparative pheromone trail-following experiments in both ants and flies.

// publications

Papers & preprints

  1. 01
    Kasenberg, D., Castro, P.S., Eckstein, M.K., Éltető, N., Dabney, W., Wang, C., Engelcke, M., Mohanta, R., Dev, A., et al.
    AI-Discovered Cognitive Models Reveal Novel Insights into Human and Animal Learning
    bioRxiv (preprint)·2026
  2. 02
    Frank, D.D., Lopes, L.E., Mohanta, R., Seckler, I., Lacroix, I., Kronauer, D.J.C.
    A reference brain for the clonal raider ant
    Current Biology 36(1):227–235.e3·2026
  3. 03
    Castro, P.S.*, Tomasev, N.*, Anand, A., Sharma, N., Mohanta, R., Dev, A., et al.
    Discovering Symbolic Cognitive Models from Human and Animal Behavior
    ICML 2025 · PMLR 267:6849–6890·2025
  4. 04
    Grima, L.L., Haberkern, H., Mohanta, R., Morimoto, M.M., Rajagopalan, A.E., Scholey, E.V.
    Foraging as an ethological framework for neuroscience
    Trends in Neurosciences 48(11):877–890·2025
  5. 05
    Ma, T.*, Mohanta, R.*, Turner, G.C., Hermundstad, A.M.
    Enumerating and discovering highly discriminative tasks for probing the cognitive architecture underlying complex behavior
    CCN 2023·2023
  6. 06
    Mohanta, R. & Assisi, C.
    Parallel scalable simulations of biological neural networks using TensorFlow: a beginner's guide
    Neurons, Behavior, Data Analysis, and Theory 1·2022
  7. 07
    Gupta, M., Parameswaran, G.G., Sra, M.S., Mohanta, R., et al.
    Contact tracing of COVID-19 in Karnataka, India: Superspreading and determinants of infectiousness and symptomatic infection
    PLOS ONE 17(7):e0270789·2022
  8. 08
    Mohanta, R.
    Deciphering value learning rules in fruit flies using a model-driven approach
    MS thesis · IISER Pune Digital Repository·2022
  9. 09
    Gupta, M.*, Mohanta, R.* et al.
    Transmission dynamics of the COVID-19 epidemic in India and modeling optimal lockdown exit strategies
    International Journal of Infectious Diseases 103:579–589·2021
  10. 10
    Thimmegowda, G.G. et al. (incl. Mohanta, R.)
    A field-based quantitative analysis of sublethal effects of air pollution on pollinators
    PNAS 117(34):20653–20661·2020
  11. 11
    Mazumder, A. et al. (incl. Mohanta, R.)
    Geographical variation in case fatality rate and doubling time during the COVID-19 pandemic
    Epidemiology & Infection 148:e163·2020

* equal contribution

// talks

Selected talks and posters

// teaching

Teaching, mentorship & service

  • 2026–Mentor to a Ruta Lab research assistant: FlyCLOPS operation, experimental design, and data analysis.
  • 2025–Community Book Club at Rockefeller. Secured a microgrant from the Office of University Life; brought Dr. Azra Raza and Dr. Nathan Lents into conversation with students, postdocs, and staff across departments.
  • 2024Co-organizer · HHMI Janelia Conference on “Bridging Diverse Perspectives on the Mechanistic Basis of Foraging”. Brought together systems neuroscientists, ethologists, ecologists, and theorists; seeded a Trends in Neurosciences review.
  • 2023–Annual volunteer · Science Saturday (RockEDU): interactive tables for the Kronauer ant lab and Ruta optogenetics lab.
  • 2023–Journal Club Mentor · Rockefeller Summer Neuroscience Program.
  • 2023Lead TA · Neuromatch Deep Learning Summer School: supervised 6 TAs, mentored 10 international students across 3 weeks (120 h).
  • 2023Mentor · Tri-Institute Mentorship Initiative: 1-on-1 mentoring for a graduate school applicant.
  • 2021Project TA · Neuromatch Deep Learning: mentored 7 international student groups across 3 weeks.
  • 2021TA · Neuromatch Computational Neuroscience: daily tutorials for 6 students.
  • 2017Workshop instructor · IISER Pune: Python for data analysis and introduction to deep learning.
// path

Academic path

  • 2023–
    PhD · David Rockefeller Graduate Program in Biosciences
    Ruta + Kronauer Labs · The Rockefeller University
  • 2022–23
    Research Technician & Offsite Consultant
    Turner Lab · HHMI Janelia
  • 2017–22
    Integrated BS-MS in Biology · CGPA 9.8/10 · with Distinction
    IISER Pune
  • 2018–21
    Student Researcher
    Assisi Lab · IISER Pune
  • 2019
    Janelia Undergraduate Scholar
    Turner Lab · HHMI Janelia
  • 2018
    Summer intern · chemical ecology
    NICE Lab · NCBS Bangalore
// contact

Reach out

Rishika Mohanta
workrmohanta [at] rockefeller.edu
personalneurorishika [at] gmail.com
locationThe Rockefeller University · New York
GitHub ↗
Scholar ↗
ORCID ↗
LinkedIn ↗
YouTube ↗
CV (pdf) ↗
off-hoursI also run tabletop RPGs (Pathfinder 2e, currently).