
I was originally from Budapest, Hungary, and moved to New York City in 2015 to pursue my undergraduate degree. I graduated from CCNY, where my research focused on the development of cone photoreceptors in chicken embryos. Moving West to Cal Tech, I began my graduate studies at Carlos Lois' lab to explore the neuronal mechanisms underlying memory conservation in motor circuits. For this work, I received the Chen Innovator Grant to understand how adult birdsong is maintained following perturbation. In the Ingraham lab, I wish to understand how estrogen regulates glial and neuronal cells in aging and injury repair. Outside of work, my two passions are hiking and reading.
- Babey ME, Krause WC, Chen K, Herber CB, Torok Z, et al. 2024. A maternal brain hormone that builds bone. Nature
- Torok Z, Luebbert L, Feldman J, Duffy A, Nevue AA, et al. 2025. Resilience of A Learned Motor Behavior After Chronic Disruption of Inhibitory Circuits. Elife, April 25, 2025
- Wang B*, Torok Z*, Duffy A, Bell DG, Wongso S, et al. 2024. Unsupervised restoration of a complex learned behavior after large-scale neuronal perturbation. Nat Neurosci 27: 1176-86 (Co-First Authors)
2025 UCSF-MSK T32 Fellowship Award
2024 UCSF-MSK T32 Fellowship Award
2020 Chen Innovator Award, Chen Institute of Neuroscience
2017 Olivia McKenna Excellence in Neuroscience Award, CCNY
2015–2017 City College Fellow, CCNY
2015–2017 Honors Research, CCNY