The following tenure-track faculty work at the Kilachand Center.
Joe Larkin, PhD
Biography: Using microbial populations as a model, Larkin and his lab team seek to understand how new self-perpetuation strategies arise throughout the course of evolution. They study how the physical and chemical environment influences microbes and how microbes, in turn, engineer that very environment. More specifically, Larkin’s research examines how bacterial biofilms change local conditions […]
Heidi Meyer, PhD
Biography: Meyer and her lab team study learning, behavior, and affective neurodevelopment during adolescence, focusing on interneuron tuning of prefrontal-based neural circuits. Their approach leverages behavioral, systems, and molecular neuroscience techniques to examine the cognitive and neurodevelopmental underpinnings of affective regulation. Meyer’s research aims to address how behavioral patterns are learned based on an individual’s […]
John Ngo, PhD
Biography: Ngo joined the faculty at Boston University in 2015. In 2016, he was named a Reidy Family Career Development Professor, which recognizes junior faculty who are emerging future leaders in their respective fields. Ngo’s research applies principles of evolution, chemistry, and engineering to develop new tools for visualizing, measuring, and controlling biomolecules in living […]
Tyler Perrachione, PhD
Biography: Perrachione directs the Communication Neuroscience Research Lab. He and his team are dissecting the brain’s capacity for communication and speech perception. How do we learn a new language? How do we recognize people by the sound of their voice? Why do some children struggle with reading? Dyslexia is one of Perrachione’s primary areas of […]
Steve Ramirez, PhD
Biography: Ramirez aims to “learn how memory works and then how to hijack it.” His research focuses on revealing the neural circuit mechanisms of memory storage and retrieval, and artificially modulating memories to combat maladaptive states. Using optogenetics, Ramirez has located memory traces in the mouse brain and has explored how to reactivate these traces, […]
Benjamin Scott, PhD
Biography: In 2018, Scott joined the psychological and brain sciences department, where he directs the Laboratory of Comparative Cognition. His research revolves around the development and application of new tools to study the neural basis of cognition and complex, learned behavior, with a focus on working memory, problem-solving, and decision-making. His team is delving into […]
Matthias Stangl, PhD
Biography: Research in Stangl’s lab focuses on how the human brain supports critical cognitive and behavioral functions in our everyday life, such as spatial navigation and memory, and on the neural mechanisms that underlie age-related impairments in these functions. From a methodological perspective, his team employs novel neurotechnologies and advanced methodologies such as deep brain […]
Chantal E. Stern, DPhil
Biography: Stern is an expert in human brain imaging and was a member of the research team that pioneered the development of functional magnetic resonance imaging, including early work focusing on the human hippocampus. Her lab’s primary goal is to study how the normal brain encodes, stores, and subsequently recognizes visual, spatial, and verbal information. […]
John White, PhD
Biography: White employs engineering approaches to better understand how information is processed in the brain. Combining computational modeling, electrophysiological and optical techniques, and imaging methods, he and his team have worked to advance new biomedical devices to understand memory disorders and epilepsy. A fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, White has […]
Wilson Wong, PhD
Biography: Wong, a synthetic biologist and cancer therapy researcher, works to control immune system responses to cancer by genetically modifying T-cells to improve cancer-killing capabilities while minimizing the side effects. His lab focuses on the application of metabolic- and immune-cell engineering to rapidly and predictably produce desired properties to treat diseases. As part of this […]