Our community includes over 70 faculty members from over many academic departments who deepen our understanding of the brain and the rest of the nervous system through neurotechnology innovation and original research. Explore the research interests of Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute faculty below, and click on their name for more information.
Name | Job title | Department | Role | Research interests | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
David Feinberg | Acting Professor | Neuroscience | Faculty |
MRI technology development, mapping columnar and visual circuitry, modeling neurovascular coupling. |
david.feinberg@berkeley.edu |
Friedrich Sommer | Adjunct | HWNI | Faculty |
Theoretical principles of learning and perception |
fsommer@berkeley.edu |
Kristofer Bouchard | Adjunct Assistant Professor | HWNI | Faculty |
Functional organization and dynamic coordination of sensorimotor networks underlying learned, skilled behaviors. |
kebouchard@berkeley.edu |
Sonia Bishop | Adjunct Associate Professor | HWNI | Faculty |
Neural basis of attention, emotion and anxiety. Individual differences in cognitive control and emotional responsivity. |
sbishop@berkeley.edu |
Scott Baraban | Adjunct Professor | HWNI | Faculty |
Translational epilepsy research with a focus on interneurons, genetic forms of epilepsy, zebrafish and drug discovery. |
scott.baraban@ucsf.edu |
Corey Goodman | Adjunct Professor | HWNI | Faculty |
Translation of biomedical discoveries into therapeutics for human health. |
|
Meng-meng Fu | Assistant Professor | Molecular & Cell Biology | Faculty |
Our lab goal is to understand glial function at the animal, cell, and molecular level in order to elucidate mechanisms of normal development and disease progression. |
mengmengfu@berkeley.edu |
Preeya Khanna | Assistant Professor | Neuroscience, Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences | Faculty |
Neural basis of dexterous motor skills, neurotechnology for restoring and rehabilitating movement. |
pkhanna@berkeley.edu |
Jacob Yates | Assistant Professor | Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science | Faculty |
How populations of neurons in cortex encode the visual world, using statistical and machine learning models to understand neural activity and human perception, how information generated by eye movements is utilized by cortical circuits. |
yates@berkeley.edu |
Samantha Lewis | Assistant Professor | Molecular & Cell Biology | Faculty |
Mitochondrial biogenesis, mitochondrial genome inheritance, organelle assembly, DNA replication, cell metabolism, interactions between membrane-bound organelles. |
samlewis@berkeley.edu |
Emily Cooper | Assistant Professor | Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science | Faculty |
Computational modeling of visual perception. |
emilycooper@berkeley.edu |
Teresa Puthussery | Assistant Professor | Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science | Faculty |
Processing of visual signals in the healthy and diseased retina. |
tpu@berkeley.edu |
Yvette Fisher | Assistant Professor | Neuroscience | Faculty |
Flexibility of neural circuits for spatial navigation. |
yfisher@berkeley.edu |
Kaoru Saijo | Assistant Professor | Molecular & Cell Biology | Faculty |
Microglial cell maintenance of homeostasis in the brain and sex dimorphism in diseases. |
ksaijo@berkeley.edu |
Andrea Gomez | Assistant Professor | Molecular & Cell Biology | Faculty |
Instructive cues for neural form and function. |
gomez@berkeley.edu |
Karthik Shekhar | Assistant Professor | Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering | Faculty |
Single-cell genomics and statistical inference. |
kshekhar@berkeley.edu |
Hillel Adesnik | Associate Professor | Neuroscience | Faculty |
Plasticity, connectivity, and dynamics of neural networks |
hadesnik@berkeley.edu |
Helen Bateup | Associate Professor | Neuroscience, Molecular & Cell Biology | Faculty |
Molecular basis of synapse and circuit changes associated with epilepsy and autism. |
bateup@berkeley.edu |
Annaliese Beery | Associate Professor | Neuroscience, Integrative Biology | Faculty |
Mechanisms supporting affiliative social behavior between peers; neuroendocrinology of complex behavior. |
abeery@berkeley.edu |
Stephan Lammel | Associate Professor | Neuroscience | Faculty |
Midbrain dopamine circuits in reward-based behaviors and pathological changes in addiction, depression and schizophrenia. |
lammel@berkeley.edu |
Markita Landry | Associate Professor | Neuroscience, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering | Faculty |
Exploiting nanomaterials to probe and characterize complex biological systems at the nano-scale; nanosensors for brain chemistry. |
landry@berkeley.edu |
Michael Yartsev | Associate Professor | Neuroscience, Bioengineering | Faculty |
Neural basis of complex spatial and acoustic behaviors. |
myartsev@berkeley.edu |
Ke Xu | Associate Professor | Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering | Faculty |
Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy to interrogate cellular processes at the nanoscale. |
xuk@berkeley.edu |
Stephen Brohawn | Associate Professor | Neuroscience, Molecular & Cell Biology | Faculty |
Molecular basis of sensory transduction and electrical signaling, especially mechanosensation. |
brohawn@berkeley.edu |
Anne Collins | Associate Professor | Psychology | Faculty |
Computational modeling of human learning, decision-making and executive functions. |
annecollins@berkeley.edu |
Evan Miller | Associate Professor | Chemistry, Molecular & Cell Biology | Faculty |
Development and application of molecular tools for studying neuroscience. |
evanwmiller@berkeley.edu |
James Olzmann | Associate Professor | Molecular & Cell Biology, Nutritional Sciences & Toxicology | Faculty |
Cellular lipid homeostasis, oxidative lipid damage and cell death, neurodegeneration. |
olzmann@berkeley.edu |
Ming Hsu | Associate Professor | Haas School of Business | Faculty |
Neural basis of economic and consumer decision-making. |
mhsu@haas.berkeley.edu |
Kevin Weiner | Associate Professor | Neuroscience, Psychology | Faculty |
Models to explain how brain structure and function contribute to measurable behaviors (e.g. face perception) |
kweiner@berkeley.edu |
Chunlei Liu | Associate Professor, Co-director of the Brain Imaging Center (BIC) | HWNI, Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences | Faculty |
MRI technology development for the study of neural circuits and modulation. |
chunlei.liu@eecs.berkeley.edu |
Steven Piantadosi | Associate Professor, Co-director of the Institute of Cognitive and Brain Science (ICBS) | Psychology | Faculty |
Understanding what computational processes support language acquisition, math learning, and general cognition. |
stp@berkeley.edu |
Mark D’Esposito | Distinguished Professor | HWNI, Psychology | Faculty |
Neural basis of high-level cognitive processes such as working memory and executive control. |
despo@berkeley.edu |
Richard Ivry | Distinguished Professor | Neuroscience, Psychology | Faculty |
Cognition and action, with an emphasis on how people select actions, learn skills, and produce coordinated movements. |
ivry@berkeley.edu |
Na Ji | Professor | Neuroscience, Physics | Faculty |
Novel imaging methods to understand the brain. |
jina@berkeley.edu |
Daniela Kaufer | Professor | Neuroscience, Integrative Biology | Faculty |
Molecular mechanisms of brain plasticity in response to stress and neurological insults. |
danielak@berkeley.edu |
Lance Kriegsfeld | Professor | Neuroscience, Psychology | Faculty |
Brain and endocrine regulation of circadian rhythms |
Kriegsfeld@berkeley.edu |
Stanley Klein | Professor | Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science | Faculty |
Psychophysical investigation of of visual processing and the role of perceptual learning, attention and binocular interactions. |
sklein@berkeley.edu |
Rowland Taylor | Professor | Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science | Faculty |
Structure and function of neural circuits in the retina |
|
Richard Kramer | Professor | Neuroscience | Faculty |
Novel chemical reagents for non-invasive optical sensing and manipulation of ion channels and synapses. |
rhkramer@berkeley.edu |
Diana Bautista | Professor | Molecular & Cell Biology | Faculty |
Molecular mechanisms underlying the sensations of itch, touch and pain. |
dbautista@berkeley.edu |
Eric Betzig | Professor | Molecular & Cell Biology, Physics | Faculty |
Development of new tools for imaging and image analysis to enable biological discovery |
ebcal@berkeley.edu |
Noah Whiteman | Professor | Integrative Biology, Molecular & Cell Biology | Faculty |
The role of dietary toxins in shaping the evolution of the nervous system and implications for treatment of neurodegenerative disorders |
whiteman@berkeley.edu |
Gül Dölen | Professor | Neuroscience, Psychology | Faculty |
Psychedelics; Critical Periods; Octopus; Social Behaviors; Evolution; Synaptic Plasticity; Extracellular Matrix; Oxytocin, Stroke; Fragile X; Autism; PTSD; Addiction |
|
Silvia Bunge | Professor | HWNI, Psychology | Faculty |
Neural mechanisms, development and plasticity of higher cognitive functions in humans. |
sbunge@berkeley.edu |
Linda Wilbrecht | Professor | Neuroscience, Psychology | Faculty |
Experience dependent plasticity and the development of circuits involved in value based decision making. |
wilbrecht@berkeley.edu |
Lexin Li | Professor | School of Public Health | Faculty |
Statistical neuroimaging analysis, brain connectivity analysis, imaging causal inference, multimodal and longitudinal imaging analysis, and imaging tensor regression. |
lexinli@berkeley.edu |
Ellen Lumpkin | Professor | Molecular & Cell Biology | Faculty |
Understanding force transduction mechanisms that initiate the senses of touch and pain. |
lumpkin@berkeley.edu |
Michael DeWeese | Professor | Neuroscience, Physics | Faculty |
Neural mechanisms underlying auditory processing and selective attention in the cerebral cortex and artificial neural networks. |
deweese@berkeley.edu |
Andrew Dillin | Professor | Molecular & Cell Biology | Faculty |
Genetic and molecular mechanisms regulating aging and aging-related disease. |
dillin@berkeley.edu |
Marla Feller | Professor | Neuroscience | Faculty |
Functional development and organization of neural circuits in the retina. |
mfeller@berkeley.edu |
Michael Rapé | Professor | Molecular & Cell Biology | Faculty |
Molecular mechanisms of cell fate decisions in development and disease. |
mrape@berkeley.edu |
Austin Roorda | Professor | Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science | Faculty |
Development of adaptive optics to track, measure, and correct the eye's imperfections. |
aroorda@berkeley.edu |
John Flannery | Professor | Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science | Faculty |
Gene therapies for inherited retinal degenerations. |
flannery@berkeley.edu |
David Foster | Professor | Neuroscience | Faculty |
Encoding of spatial memory and navigation toward rewards by neural ensembles in the hippocampus. |
davidfoster@berkeley.edu |
Mark Tanouye | Professor | Environmental Science, Policy & Management | Faculty |
Novel genetic approaches to study the causes of epilepsy and other nervous system disorders. |
tanouye@berkeley.edu |
David Schaffer | Professor | Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering | Faculty |
Engineering stem cell and gene therapeutics. |
schaffer@berkeley.edu |
Lin He | Professor | Molecular & Cell Biology | Faculty |
Cilia biology, choroid plexus function in cerebrospinal fluid production. |
lhe@berkeley.edu |
Matthew Walker | Professor | Psychology | Faculty |
The impact of sleep on human health and disease |
mpwalker@berkeley.edu |
James Hurley | Professor | Molecular & Cell Biology | Faculty |
Structural and biophysical basis of endomembrane mechanisms that contribute to neurodegenerative diseases. |
jimhurley@berkeley.edu |
David Whitney | Professor | Psychology | Faculty |
Visual perception and attention. |
dwhitney@berkeley.edu |
Randy Schekman | Professor | Molecular & Cell Biology | Faculty |
Membrane assembly, vesicular transport, and membrane fusion among organelles of the secretory pathway. |
schekman@berkeley.edu |
William Jagust | Professor | Neuroscience | Faculty |
Anatomic, biochemical, and neurochemical bases of brain aging and dementia. |
jagust@berkeley.edu |
Bob Knight | Professor of the Graduate School | Psychology | Faculty |
Neural coding underlying goal-directed behavior and development of brain-machine interfaces for motor and language prostheses. |
rtknight@berkeley.edu |
Jack Gallant | Professor, Co-director of the Brain Imaging Center (BIC) | Neuroscience | Faculty |
Identifying cortical maps to discover how the brain represents information about the world and its own mental states. |
gallant@berkeley.edu |
Daniel Feldman | Professor, Coates Family Endowed Chair in Neuroscience | Neuroscience | Faculty |
Sensory processing and plasticity in the somatosensory cortex. |
dfeldman@berkeley.edu |
Michael Silver | Professor, Director of the Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics (BCSP) | Neuroscience, Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science | Faculty |
Neurophysiological and neurochemical substrates of human visual perception, attention, and learning. |
masilver@berkeley.edu |
Frédéric Theunissen | Professor, Director of the Neuroscience PhD Program | Neuroscience | Faculty |
Perception of complex sounds. |
theunissen@berkeley.edu |
Bruno Olshausen | Professor, Director of the Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience (RCTN) | Neuroscience, Wertheim School of Optometry & Vision Science | Faculty |
Computational models of sensory coding and visual perception. |
baolshausen@berkeley.edu |
Joni Wallis | Professor, Equity Advisor | Neuroscience | Faculty |
Neuronal mechanisms underlying high-level cognitive and behavioral processes |
wallis@berkeley.edu |
Ehud Isacoff | Professor, Evan Rauch Chair in Neuroscience, Director of HWNI, Co-Director of The Weill Neurohub | Neuroscience, Molecular & Cell Biology | Faculty |
Mechanisms of ion channel function, synapse development, plasticity and neural circuit function. |
ehud@berkeley.edu |
Doris Tsao | Professor, Nan Fung Life Sciences Faculty Scholar | Neuroscience | Faculty |
Understanding how the brain builds a model of the visual world |
dortsao@berkeley.edu |
Yang Dan | Professor, Pivotal Life Sciences Chancellor's Chair in Neuroscience | Neuroscience | Faculty |
Neural circuits controlling sleep and mechanisms of executive control. |
ydan@berkeley.edu |