Systems and Circuits Neuroscience Banner
Credit: Michael Goard

 Research

The Systems and Circuits Neuroscience research area is focused on how neural circuits support sensory processing, motor action, and more complex behaviors. The area is comprised of broad faculty interests that include sensory coding, motor execution, learning, reward, spatial coding, and goal-directed behavior.

Systems and Circuits Neuroscience researchers employ a range of cutting-edge techniques to measure and manipulate neural circuitry in organisms spanning from worms to humans.

 Affiliated Faculty

F. Gregory Ashby

Distinguished Professor
Psychological & Brain Sciences
Professor Ashby is interested in the basic cognitive and neural mechanisms that mediate human learning. His approach combines experimental psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and mathematical modeling.
Cognitive Neuroscience
Computational Neuroscience
Systems and Circuits Neuroscience

Jean Carlson

Professor
Department of Physics
Cognitive neuroscience, learning, memory, categorization, decision processes in perception and cognition.
Cognitive Neuroscience
Computational Neuroscience
Systems and Circuits Neuroscience

Adele Doyle

Assistant Professor
Mechanical Engineering
Neural & cardiovascular tissue engineering/regenerative medicine. Stem cells, mechanobiology, molecular control systems.
Computational Neuroscience
Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience
Systems and Circuits Neuroscience

Barry Giesbrecht

Professor
Psychological & Brain Sciences
Visual attention; Cognitive neuroscience; Brain Imaging; Exercise physiology.
Cognitive Neuroscience
Systems and Circuits Neuroscience

Michael Goard

Associate Professor
Psychological & Brain Sciences
Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology
The Goard lab focuses on how the mammalian neocortex processes and stores incoming sensory information.
Computational Neuroscience
Systems and Circuits Neuroscience

Skirmantas Janusonis

Associate Professor
Psychological & Brain Sciences
Spatial and temporal organization of stochastic axon systems in the brain.
Computational Neuroscience
Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience
Systems and Circuits Neuroscience

Ron Keiflin

Assistant Professor
Psychological & Brain Sciences
Neural circuits of appetitive associative learning and decision-making; Circuits alterations in maladaptive behaviors (e.g. addiction)
Systems and Circuits Neuroscience

Sung Soo Kim

Assistant Professor
Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
Neural circuit dynamics and behavior; navigation in a visual environment; neural mechanisms of object selection and decision-making.
Computational Neuroscience
Systems and Circuits Neuroscience

Tod Kippin

Professor
Psychological & Brain Sciences
Our lab focuses on the factors that lead to drug addiction and the impact of substance abuse on the brain. A major component of our research is development of biosensors to enhance our understanding of neurochemistry and pharmacology.
Systems and Circuits Neuroscience

Regina Lapate

Assistant Professor
Psychological & Brain Sciences
Our lab uses neuroimaging and causal methods to investigate neural mechanisms underlying emotion perception, metacognition and emotion regulation.
Cognitive Neuroscience
Systems and Circuits Neuroscience

Matthieu Louis

Associate Professor
Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
Combining theory and experimentation to understand how navigational decisions come about in terms of neural-circuit computation.
Computational Neuroscience
Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience
Systems and Circuits Neuroscience

Jeff Moehlis

Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Dynamics and control of neural populations for treatment of Parkinson's disease, coupled oscillators, synchronization, decision making, biological dynamics, machine learning.
Computational Neuroscience
Systems and Circuits Neuroscience

Linda Petzold

Distinguished Professor
Mechanical Engineering
Computer Science
Computational methods, mathematical modeling, and machine learning, with application to a wide range of problems from systems biology, neuroscience and engineering.
Cognitive Neuroscience
Computational Neuroscience
Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience
Systems and Circuits Neuroscience

Benjamin Reese

Professor Emeritus
Psychological & Brain Sciences
Organization, development and plasticity of the retina and visual pathway.
Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience
Systems and Circuits Neuroscience

Joel Rothman

Distinguished Professor
Wilcox Family Chair in Biotechnology
Director, Biomolecular Science and Engineering Program
Regulation of development and differentiation; regulation of programmed cell death and cell division; mechanisms of tumorigenesis.
Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience
Systems and Circuits Neuroscience

Julie H. Simpson

Associate Professor
Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
Systems neuroscience, neuroethology, and genetics, applied to dissecting the neural circuits that control a flexible motor sequence of grooming in fruit flies.
Systems and Circuits Neuroscience

Ambuj Singh

Professor
Computer Science
Data-centric modeling of systems and he focuses on the development of new methods that can be applied to real-world applications.
Cognitive Neuroscience
Computational Neuroscience
Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience
Systems and Circuits Neuroscience

Ikuko Smith

Assistant Professor
Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
Psychological & Brain Sciences
Information processing by neural circuitry with a special focus on the role of active dendrites in nonlinear modes of synaptic integration.
Systems and Circuits Neuroscience

Spencer LaVere Smith

Associate Professor
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Exploring neural circuitry and illuminating its function, using new neurotechnology.
Computational Neuroscience
Systems and Circuits Neuroscience

William Smith

Professor
Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology
We research in two primary areas: (1) the mechanisms of neural tube closure in Xenopus and Ciona; (2) and behavior and neural circuity in Ciona.
Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience
Systems and Circuits Neuroscience

Luke Theogarajan

Professor
Electrical & Computer Engineering
Novel reporters for neural activity, CMOS image sensors and circuits for neurotechnology.
Cognitive Neuroscience
Computational Neuroscience
Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience
Systems and Circuits Neuroscience

René Weber

Professor
Department of Communication
In the Media Neuroscience Lab (MNL) we study attention disorders and media-multitasking, aggressive conduct disorders and media violence, moral conflict and narrative performance, and the neural mechanisms of persuasion, flow experiences, and general cognitive control.
Cognitive Neuroscience
Systems and Circuits Neuroscience
Computational Neuroscience