Lukas Ian Schmitt
Team Leader
I have always been fascinated by the brain`s ability to reflect relevant properties of the outside world and use that representation to guide action. To study this critical function requires the tools to measure, modify and model at a high resolution and so I am constantly seeking new technologies that better enable us to read information from neural activity and write it back using electrical and optogenetic techniques. My long-term goal is to apply such approaches to understand how brain networks, particularly in the thalamus and cortex, process and store information to create useful perceptual models.

Miho Nakajima
Deputy Team Leader
My long-term research goal is to understand the circuit basis of cognitive flexibility. My general aim is to uncover the properties of neural networks that allow the brain to flexibly and rapidly link behaviorally relevant inputs to outputs that can provide proper cognitive control over behavior.

Patrick Hosford
Research Scientist
My immediate research goals are to understand the interplay between the thalamus and cortex to enable sensory processing necessary for the completion of every-day tasks we take for granted. Longer-term, I wish to integrate brain metabolism into our model of cognition in order to answer why dysregulation of brain energy supply affects our ability to learn and remember? This question has profound implications for maintaining our cognitive health as we age.

Hao Mei
Postdoctoral Researcher
The interactions between distributed brain regions underlie various brain functions. My interest lies in understanding how information is maintained and processed within such neural circuits and ultimately produces specific behaviors. In the Schmitt lab, my research focuses on the pulvinar nucleus. In behaving mouse, by combining optogenetic and electrophysiological techniques, I manipulate/record neural activities within neural networks that includes the pulvinar nucleus, seeking to understand the mechanism of its contribution to cognitive functions and behaviors.

Jean Connier
Postdoctoral Researcher
Having worked on assistive devices for visually impaired people, I would like to get a deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying perception and cognition in such contexts.

Hiroko Tanaka
Graduate Student
I am interested in the neural circuits underlying neuropsychiatric disorders, especially organic/symptomatic mental disorders such as those resulting from thyroid diseases, and their circuit-based treatment.

Hosana Tagomori
Technical Staff
Coming from a background in psychology, I am interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the brain circuitry underlying attention, memory and perception and how this supports predictions made about the environment. I am also curious to learn more about how this circuitry may be altered in neuropscyhiatric conditions such as schizophrenia and autism.

Yuka Iwamoto
Technical Staff
I am interested in a better understanding of brain circuit interactions. I have been involved with constructing tools for visualizing nerve activity in the mouse brain so far. And now, I am involved with implementation experiments using these tools at our lab. Many things are new to me, and I am always excited to assist in projects.

Yuka Maeda
Technical Staff
My interest lies in studying perception and other functions of the brain using mice. I hope to contribute to the team by learning methods to study brain function and to make the most out of the programming experience I gained in my former job.