Principal Investigator
Spencer Brown
Assistant Professor of Biology

Spencer Brown is an Assistant Professor of Biology in the Neuroscience Program at Brandeis University, working in the Volen Center for Complex Systems. He received his PhD in neuroscience from Northwestern University under the mentorship of Indira Raman, where his doctoral work revealed that populations of Purkinje cells produce synchronized gaps in firing to disinhibit cerebellar output neurons and promote movement. He then completed postdoctoral training with Michael Häusser at University College London and subsequently with Indira Raman at Northwestern, developing high-speed voltage imaging technologies to record action potentials across large networks of cerebellar interneurons in awake mice. This technological advance led to the discovery of sensory-evoked interneuron synchrony that covaries with and modulates a fast whisking reflex. His research program at Brandeis centers on cerebellar circuit computation, combining in vivo voltage imaging and holographic optogenetics to understand how the cerebellum transforms sensorimotor input into precise motor output. His research interests span systems neuroscience, optical engineering, and neuromorphic computing.