Affiliates

The affiliates programme is currently open, on an invitation-only basis, to London-based neuroscientists whose work particularly aligns with that of one or several SWC Group Leaders.

Affiliates are invited to SWC events and have access to the FabLabs and some other core resources. They can host SWC PhD students for lab rotations and act as their joint supervisors for placements, subject to previous experience successfully graduating PhD students. They are also invited to jointly host seminar speakers at the SWC.

There are currently twenty-six affiliates from a number of UCL departments and other London universities, who are collaborating with SWC researchers on a wide variety of ideas:

  • Caswell Barry (UCL)

Our mission is to understand the brain - we seek to know what computations it performs and how its architecture performs them. To this end our research is focused on memory, in particular memory for places and events. Led by Prof. Caswell Barry, the lab uses a mixture of experimental and computational approaches including two photon microscopy, high yield electrophysiology, rodent virtual reality, as well as optogenetic and chemogenetic tools. Computationally we deploy machine learning techniques to model the brain and process data in addition to conventional systems-level models. We are based in UCL’s Research Department of Cell and Developmental Biology and have extensive collaborative links with groups in the SWC, including Neil Burgess and Tiago Branco, as well as throughout the Neuroscience Domain – benefiting from the sheer range and diversity of the researchers it contains.

  • Daniel Bendor (Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, UCL)

Professor Bendor is co-director of the Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, which studies the neural circuits and computations underlying behaviour. His group studies hippocampal replay, memory consolidation, and predictive coding using high-density electrophysiology (e.g. neuropixels) in rodents. He is currently collaborating with Julia Harris to study the phenomenon of targeted memory reactivation during sleep.

  • Isaac Bianco (Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, UCL)

Dr Bianco’s group is working to understand how animals make sense of their visual world and generate appropriate behaviour. They study how the brain perceives salient visual cues (for instance related to predators and prey), how visual perception is combined with internal state information to select appropriate actions, and how network dynamics within motor circuits produce behavioural outputs. The lab exploits the power of the tiny, optically transparent larval zebrafish and combines behavioural assays, calcium imaging (using 2-photon and light-sheet microscopy), optogenetics, neuroanatomy and computational modelling to understand the structure and operation of visuomotor circuits.

  • Jennifer Bizley (Ear Institute, UCL)

Professor Bizley's research seeks to link the patterns of neural activity in auditory cortex to our perception of the world around us. Making sense of the complex mixture of sound that arrives at our ears is a considerable neurocomputational challenge – and one that cannot yet be solved by machine listening devices. Their research methods combine electrophysiological recordings (from auditory, parietal and frontal cortex) during the performance of complex sensory discrimination tasks, with causal manipulations of neural activity, animal and human psychophysics and computational modelling.

  • Rob Brownstone (Division of Neurosurgery, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology)

Rob Brownstone, Professor and Head of the Division of Neurosurgery at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, focuses on the study of neural circuits for movement. Using a number of varied approaches, his lab group studies circuits primarily for command (brain stem) and organisation (spinal cord) of movement of the fore and hind limbs.

  • Neil Burgess (Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL)

Professor Burgess is a member of the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and the UCL Institute of Neurology. His research interests include the neural mechanisms supporting memory, with particular interest in the role of the hippocampus in spatial and episodic memory, and the role of other brain regions and forms of memory such as phonological working memory.

  • Matteo Carandini (Institute of Ophthalmology, UCL) and Kenneth Harris (Institute of Neurology, UCL)

Professors Carandini and Harris jointly run Cortexlab, which studies how brainwide populations of neurons process sensory signals, and integrate them with internal signals to guide decision and action. They study these questions by combining experimental techniques with each other and with advanced computational analyses. They work in the mouse brain, with techniques such as next-generation Neuropixels electrodes, optogenetics, spatial neuromics, advanced two-photon imaging, behavioral training, and virtual reality simulation. Matteo and Kenneth have collaborated with a number of SWC members and have a longstanding collaboration with Tom Mrsic-Flogel and Sonja Hofer as part of the International Brain Laboratory.

  • Beverley Clark (Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research)

Dr Clark is Head of Department of the Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research, the Neuroscience Department within UCL’s Division of Medicine. Her group, which has strong scientific links with the Branco, Hofer, and Mrsic-Flogel groups, focuses on how patterns of synaptic connectivity and intrinsic electrical properties in neuronal networks together determine functional specificity of brain circuits that reflect their role in information processing during behaviour. Her work involves electrophysiological recordings, imaging and targeted activation of specific neuronal pathways. 

  • Claudia Clopath (Faculty of Engineering, Imperial College London)

Dr Clopath holds an MSc in Physics from the EPFL and did her PhD in Computer Science under Wulfram Gerstner. She did postdoctoral fellowships in neuroscience with Nicolas Brunel at Paris Descartes and in the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience at Columbia University. She is now a Reader (equivalent to Associate Professor) at Imperial College London. She is also a visiting researcher at SWC. Her research interests are in the field of neuroscience, especially insofar as it addresses the questions of learning and memory. She uses mathematical and computational tools to model synaptic plasticity, and to study its functional implications in artificial neural networks. At SWC, she works closely with the experimental neuroscientists, building experimentally-driven theory and proposing theory-driven experiments.

  • Philip (Pip) Coen (Cell and Developmental Biology, UCL)

In the natural world, brains are faced with a mixture of sensory cues from multiple modalities. For example, when listening to someone speak, we combine the sounds they produce with their lip movements–which is one reason that masks make conversations more difficult! How and where are these auditory and visual streams of information combined in the brain? Dr Coen's group uses the mouse model system to try and answer this question. They train mice to perform audiovisual behaviours and use the latest electrophysiology and optogenetic tools to dissect the underlying neural circuits. Dr Coen is also passionate about developing open-source, affordable neuroscience tools, and is currently collaborating with Ann Duan and Troy Margrie to optimise a new device for chronically implanting Neuropixels electrophysiology probes.

  • Florencia Iacaruso (Francis Crick Institute)

The brain has the remarkable capacity to integrate sensory signals of entirely different modalities to construct a complex representation of the environment and drive behaviour. This is achieved by highly organised neuronal circuits that have the capacity for experience dependent change. Dr Iacaruso’s group aims to uncover the principles that determine the functional organisation of multisensory neuronal circuits, how this organization supports neuronal computations that give rise to perception and behaviour and how it changes with experience. The lab tackles these questions by observing and manipulating neuronal activity at the synaptic, single neuron, circuit and system levels, using quantitative behavioural tasks and a battery of state-of-the-art neuroscientific methods.  

  • Jonny Kohl (Francis Crick Institute)

Animals are endowed with instinctive behaviours which are orchestrated by evolutionarily sculpted neural circuits. Work in the Kohl lab follows two major directions: (1) to study the circuit basis underlying instinctive behaviours such as parenting, aggression and feeding, and (2) to uncover how internal states shape the form and function of such circuits. The lab uses a highly multidisciplinary approach, combining methods from systems and circuit neuroscience, behavioural profiling, and cellular and molecular biology to address these questions in mice. Despite being largely specified during development, these circuits are highly malleable in adults and can be reshaped by experience, environment and internal states. The lab is also interested in how physiological states, e.g. those mediated by hormones, alter circuit function to instruct behavioural changes. Finally, the Kohl lab is developing novel viral approaches to interrogate circuit anatomy and function, in collaboration with the Murray and Isogai groups at SWC.

  • Dimitri Kullmann (Institute of Neurology, UCL)

Professor Kullmann's research addresses how cortical circuits become entrained in health and disease. His laboratory has uncovered dynamical principles underlying gamma oscillations, and uses closed-loop optogenetic manipulation to understand the roles of such oscillations in information propagation in the brain. Epileptic seizures arise from abnormal hypersynchrony of neuronal networks, and other work in the Kullmann lab aims to understand the mechanisms of propagation of seizures and how they can be interrupted both in rodent models and in patients. The lab also uses methods developed by SWC researchers including Neuropixels to follow single units during oscillations and seizures (Kampff) and localized glutamate uncaging to understand mechanisms of dendritic integration by interneurons (Branco).  

  • Jennifer Linden (UCL Ear Institute)

Jennifer Linden is Professor of Neuroscience at the UCL Ear Institute. She is interested in the neural mechanisms that enable us to perceive complex, temporally varying sounds. She also seeks to understand how these mechanisms might go awry in systems-level brain disorders such as schizophrenia, developmental disorders and tinnitus. Research methods include in vivo electrophysiological recording, imaging and behavioural testing in mouse models. The Linden lab also studies central auditory processing in humans and in computer models, testing hypotheses about neural mechanisms that have arisen directly from the work in mice. The lab has long-standing collaborations with Prof Maneesh Sahani at the Gatsby Unit and Prof John O'Keefe at the SWC. For further details, see www.ucl.ac.uk/ear/research/lindenlab.

  • Andrew MacAskill (Neurology, Physiology & Pharmacology, UCL)

Dr MacAskill's lab are working to understand how precise synaptic connectivity between neurons in the brain allow reward-driven behaviour and decision making. Currently the lab are focussed on the ventral hippocampus, and its connectivity with areas such as the prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens. The lab investigate the function of this circuit from the synaptic to the behavioural level using a wide variety of techniques including viral circuit mapping, two-photon microscopy, optogenetics, electrophysiology and behaviour. Problems with the communication between these areas underlie the vast majority of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases, and so they aim is to find novel ways to combat these diseases by gaining a greater understanding of the processes that they destroy. Through shared interests in reward and motivation, Andrew's lab collaborate with a number of groups including the Stephenson-Jones laboratory in the SWC. 

  • Andy Murray (Sania Therapeutics)

Dr Murray is CEO and Co-Founder of Sania Therapeutics, developing novel gene therapies to treat neurological disorders. Dr Murray was previously a Group Leader at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre. The Murray Lab, established in 2016 at SWC, focused on the neural circuits that underlie movement, specifically the vestibular system in order to understand how the brain uses sensory information to modify ongoing motor actions.

  • Jason Rihel (Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, UCL)

Dr Rihel's lab use zebrafish to investigate why sleep is essential for animals as diverse as flies and humans, and to understand which regulatory genes and neuronal circuits control the timing, amount, and duration of sleep.

  • Sarah Ruediger (Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, UCL)

Dr Ruediger's laboratory studies how cortical and subcortical circuits function together as a network to shape sensory-guided actions. The lab’s current research focuses on understanding how the visual cortex communicates with evolutionary conserved subcortical circuits like the superior colliculus and the basal ganglia in visual tasks. The lab studies mice as a genetically tractable mammalian model system and uses a wide range of experimental techniques including in vivo electrophysiology, two-photon calcium imaging, optogenetics, and viral approaches to determine the role of defined circuit elements. Dr Ruediger’s research aims to shed light on fundamental processes underlying normal brain functioning while also contributing to our understanding of the basic principles behind negative sensory and behavioural symptoms in brain disorders.

  • Andreas Schaefer (Francis Crick Institute / Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, UCL)

Professor Schaefer studies individual nerve cells in the brain work together to create complex thoughts and actions, by focussing in particular on the olfactory bulb. They construct 'wiring diagrams' for this part of the brain and use genetic engineering techniques and chemicals to modify the genes and molecules inside olfactory nerve cells.

  • Katharina Schmack (Francis Crick Institute)

Our group studies the biological mechanisms underlying psychosis. Psychosis is characterised by disturbances of perception and thought. These are subjective phenomena and have traditionally been difficult to study biologically. Our recent work has established a new approach that combines behavioural observations and computational models to measure psychosis-like phenomena in humans and mice. We use this cross-species approach to investigate how neural and immune processes give rise to psychosis. For this, we study both patients and mice with behavioural tests, computational models, and in-vivo measures and manipulations. By studying psychosis, we hope to find new ways to treat brain disorders such as schizophrenia, and to understand how the brain generates perceptions and thoughts.

  • Simon Schultz (Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London) 

Professor Schultz works on neurotechnology, applying optical and electrophysiological techniques for probing neural circuits to brain circuits subserving vision and memory. He also develops information and theoretical tools for neural data analysis. He shares research interests in neurotechnology for whole brain connectivity mapping with Troy Margrie, and in two-photon imaging of changes in hippocampal circuit properties in mouse models of neurodegenerative disease with John O'Keefe.

  • Angus Silver (Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, UCL)

Professor Silver is a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow and Professor of Neuroscience in the Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology at UCL. He studies synaptic integration and circuit function in cerebellum and neocortex with in vivo, in vitro and modelling approaches. The lab also develops new tools for imaging and modelling network function including high speed 3D acousto-optic Lens two-photon microscopy, the Open Source Brain platform and NeuroMatic, an electrophysiological acquisition and analysis package. He has collaborations with the Mrsic-Flogel and O’Keefe labs as part of an NIH Brain initiative grant on microscope development and dissemination.

  • Jennifer Sun (Institute of Ophthalmology, UCL)

In July 2020, Dr Sun joined UCL Institute of Ophthalmology as as a Lecturer (Assistant Professor). The long-term goal of the Sun Lab is to answer how brain circuits maintain a fine balance between reliability and flexibility at different developmental stages. Our current research is focused on understanding how adult brain integrates sensory and non-sensory neuromodulatory information to regulate plasticity in the visual cortex, , through interaction in the local environment as well as crosstalk between different brain regions. To this end, we apply computational, physiological, pharmacological and molecular manipulation, with 2-photon imaging approaches to identify the underlying neural basis of visual cortical plasticity. We strive to provide a supportive environment and value the continued growth and success of every lab member, and welcome passionate and dedicated trainees with a wide range of backgrounds (engineering, computational, and/or neuroscience) to join our team.

  • Steve Wilson (Department of Anatomy and Cell Developmental Biology, UCL)

Professor Wilson’s group works on the establishment and function of left-right asymmetries in the brain using zebrafish as a model system.   They are addressing how neurons in the left and right habenulae acquire different functional properties and how these asymmetries impact behaviour.  The group has collaborated with Adam Kampff to analyse behaviour in young fish and are keen to develop more collaborative projects.  

  • William Wisden (Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London)

Professor Wisden studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, and then did his PhD with Stephen Hunt at the MRC Molecular Neurobiology Unit, Cambridge, followed by a period as a postdoc in Peter Seeburg’s lab at Heidelberg, Germany. He then moved to the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge as a group leader in the mid 1990s, followed by a return to Heidelberg, then to a Professorship at the University of Aberdeen (Scotland), and finally in 2009 to a Professorship at Imperial College London. William has worked extensively on the molecular biology of neurotransmitters receptors (GABA, AMPA, kainate receptors). More recently he has become interested in the circuitry regulating sleep. In collaboration with Nick Franks at Imperial he has used mouse genetics to investigate sleep-wake circuitry and the actions of sedative drugs. Recently, using activity-tagging methods, they have discovered a hypothalamic circuit linking skin warming and the induction of sleep and the control of body temperature. They have also discovered that neurons in the ventral tegmental area, a region usually studied for its contribution to regulating goal-, and reward-directed and social behaviors, contains GABA and glutamate neurons which strongly regulate sleep and wakefulness. His group are collaborating with Andy Murray, who is developing new circuit mapping techniques which are highly useful for mapping sleep-wake circuitry.

  • Petr Znamenskiy (the Francis Crick Institute)

Dr Znamenskiy’s lab studies how specialized circuits of neurons in the visual system are wired to help animals perceive and navigate their environment. The lab investigates how specialized classes of neurons in the visual cortex help animals solve the computational challenges inherent to vision, as well as how the properties of these neuronal populations arise as a consequence of their gene expression programmes and synaptic connectivity. To answer these questions, the lab combines molecular and systems neuroscience approaches, including CRISPR gene editing and transcriptional programming, two-photon calcium imaging, high-density electrophysiology, and viral tracing. The lab is also developing new methods for studying the relationship between gene expression, connectivity and function of cortical neurons. The lab collaborates with Tom Mrsic-Flogel on projects aiming to understand how animals use visual signals to make decisions.