Mayank R. Mehta

Mayank R. Mehta is a Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), holding joint appointments in the Departments of Physics & Astronomy, Neurology, and Neurobiology. He is a member of the Brain Research Institute and the W. M. Keck Center for Neurophysics at UCLA. His research bridges experimental and theoretical neuroscience, focusing on how neuronal networks encode space-time, the role of brain rhythms in learning and memory, and the impact of sleep and virtual reality on neural dynamics.

His recent publications highlight breakthroughs in understanding hippocampal spatiotemporal selectivity, dendritic activity during behavior, and the causal influence of visual cues on memory neurons. Notable findings include the discovery that dendrites generate ten times more spikes than neuronal cell bodies and the modulation of hippocampal theta rhythms in virtual reality.

• Research Themes:
  • Neurophysics of spatial-temporal coding
  • Dendritic contributions to learning
  • Virtual reality and brain plasticity
  • Neural oscillations in memory consolidation
• Key Collaborators:
  • Bert Sakmann (Max Planck Florida Institute)
  • Thomas Hahn (Bernstein Center Heidelberg/Mannheim)
  • Maryam Ghorbani (UCLA)

Mehta's lab at UCLA trains graduate and postdoctoral researchers in cutting-edge techniques combining hardware development, electrophysiological recordings, and biophysical modeling. His work has significant implications for treating learning and memory disorders like Alzheimer's disease.