Kwabena Boahen

Professor of Bioengineering, of Electrical Engineering and, by courtesy, of Computer Science

Bio

Boahen founded and directs Stanford’s Brains in Silicon lab, which develops silicon integrated circuits that emulate the way neurons compute and computational models that link neuronal biophysics to cognitive behavior. This interdisciplinary research bridges neurobiology and medicine with electronics and computer science, bringing together these seemingly disparate fields.

Academic Appointments

Professor, Bioengineering
Professor, Electrical Engineering
Professor (By courtesy), Computer Science
Member, Bio-X
Member, Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute

Honors & Awards

NIH Director's Pioneer Award, National Institute of Health (2006)
Young Investigator Program, Office of Naval Research (2002-present)
Faculty Early Career Program, National Science Foundation (2001-present)
Fellowships in Science and Engineering, Packard Foundation (1999-2004)

Professional Education

PhD, Caltech (1997)

Stanford Advisees

Doctoral Dissertation Advisor (AC)
Max Kanwal, Saarthak Sarup
Master's Program Advisor
Ta-Hsuan Chao, Kevin Chen, Priyanka Dilip, Aarya Mecwan, Kathleen Medill
Doctoral (Program)
Ziad Ali, Adam Dai, Mary Kate Gale, Nelson Hall, Madeline Hays, Max Kanwal, Laura Moreno Carbonell, AJ Phillips, Saarthak Sarup, Ajay Singhvi, Ian Thompson

Graduate and Fellowship Programs

Biomedical Informatics (Phd Program)
Neurosciences (Phd Program)

All Publications

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Stephen A. Baccus

Professor of Neurobiology
Research Interests
We study how the neural circuitry of the vertebrate retina encodes visual information and performs computations. To control and measure the retinal circuit, we present visual images while performing simultaneous two-photon imaging and multielectrode recording. We perturb the circuit as it operates using simultaneous intracellular current injection and multielectrode recording, and use the resulting large data sets to construct models of retinal computation.

38 Total Publications
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E.J. Chichilnisky

John R. Adler Professor, Professor of Neurosurgery and of Ophthalmology and, by courtesy, of Electrical Engineering
Research Interests
Functional circuitry of the retina and design of retinal prostheses

88 Total Publications
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Maria Inmaculada Cobos Sillero

Assistant Professor of Pathology
Clinical Focus
Anatomic Pathology, Neuropathology

39 Total Publications
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Sam Cooler

Postdoctoral Scholar, Neurosurgery

6 Total Publications
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Shaul Druckmann

Assistant Professor of Neurobiology, of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and, by courtesy, of Electrical Engineering
Research Interests
Our research goal is to understand how dynamics in neuronal circuits relate and constrain the representation of information and computations upon it. We adopt three synergistic strategies: First, we analyze neural circuit population recordings to better understand the relation between neural dynamics and behavior, Second, we theoretically explore the types of dynamics that could be associated with particular network computations. Third, we analyze the structural properties of neural circuits.

29 Total Publications
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Lisa Giocomo

Associate Professor of Neurobiology

57 Total Publications
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Keren Haroush

Assistant Professor of Neurobiology
Research Interests
Our laboratory studies the mechanisms by which highly complex behaviors are mediated at the neuronal level, mainly focusing on the example of dynamic social interactions and the neural circuits that drive them. From dyadic interactions to group dynamics and collective decision making, the lab seeks a mechanistic understanding for the fundamental building blocks of societies, such as cooperation, empathy, fairness and reciprocity.

7 Total Publications
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Shaul Hestrin, PhD

Professor of Comparative Medicine
Research Interests
The main interest of my lab is to understand how the properties of neocortical neurons, the circuits they form and the inputs they receive give rise to neuronal activity and behavior. Our approach includes behavioral studies, two-photon calcium imaging, in vivo whole cell recording in behaving animals and optogenetic methods to activate or to silence the activity of cortical neurons.

56 Total Publications
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Andrew D. Huberman

Associate Professor of Neurobiology and, by courtesy, of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Research Interests
1) We study neural regeneration with the goal of developing treatments to prevent and reverse vision loss. (e.g., Huberman, Nature 2020; Laha and Huberman, Science, 2017; Lim et al., Nature Neuroscience, 2016).

2) We are parsing the neural circuits for anxiety, and visually-driven autonomic arousal, (e.g., Salay et al., Nature, 2018; Yilmaz-Balban et al., Current Biology, 2021).

67 Total Publications
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John Huguenard

Professor of Neurology and, by courtesy, of Molecular and Cellular Physiology
Research Interests
We are interested in the neuronal mechanisms that underlie synchronous oscillatory activity in the thalamus, cortex and the massively interconnected thalamocortical system. Such oscillations are related to cognitive processes, normal sleep activities and certain forms of epilepsy. Our approach is an analysis of the discrete components (cells, synapses, microcircuits) that make up thalamic and cortical circuits, and reconstitution of components into in silico computational networks.

206 Total Publications
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Eric I. Knudsen

Edward C. and Amy H. Sewall Professor in the School of Medicine, Emeritus
Research Interests
Cellular mechanisms of spatial attention and learning, studied in the central nervous system in birds, using behavioral, systems, cellular and molecular techniques.

129 Total Publications
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Daniel V. Madison

Associate Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology
Research Interests
Our underlying forms of activity-dependent synaptic plasticity such as long-term potentiation and long-term depression, and in particular the function and plasticity of Parvalbumin-containing interneurons in neocortex. In the past few years, we have used a combinatorial approach to comparing physiological and anatomical plasticity-induced changes in synapses using electrode recording and Array Tomography in the same neurons.

82 Total Publications