Daniel Dombeck

Daniel Dombeck is a Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at Northwestern University's Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences. He holds the Wender-Lewis Teaching and Research Professorship. His research focuses on optical dissection of neuronal circuits underlying mammalian navigation, combining novel optical and genetic techniques to study neural activity in mice within virtual reality environments. Dombeck earned his PhD in Neuroscience from Cornell University.

• Affiliations: Department of Neurobiology, Northwestern University
• Key Research Areas: Spatial navigation, systems neuroscience, neuronal population dynamics

His work investigates how the brain encodes spatial and navigational information through cellular-resolution imaging of neuronal populations. Dombeck has developed advanced imaging tools for studying neural activity in awake, behaving mice, including VR systems and multiphoton microscopy techniques.

Awards:

• McKnight Scholar Award (2015)
• Klingenstein Fellowship in Neuroscience (2011)
• Whitehall Foundation Research Grant (2011)

His lab explores hippocampal and entorhinal cortex dynamics, dopamine signaling, and reward-driven spatial representations. Dombeck's research bridges molecular, cellular, and systems levels to understand neural circuit function in behavior and disease.