معرفی
Kauê M. Costa is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His research investigates neural mechanisms of learning, focusing on dopaminergic signaling, frontal-basal ganglia circuits, and cognitive map formation.
Education:
- PhD in Neuroscience, International Max Planck Research School/Goethe University
- MA in Psychology, University of São Paulo
- BS in Biological Sciences, Federal University of Pará
Dr. Costa's laboratory employs theory-driven behavioral tasks combined with cutting-edge techniques including fiber photometry, optogenetics, and CRISPR to examine how animals integrate experiences into adaptive behaviors. Research themes include domain-general prediction errors, neuromodulator interactions (dopamine/acetylcholine), orbitofrontal cortex contributions to cognitive mapping, and molecular regulators of learning.
His publications in Nature Neuroscience, Current Biology, and Science Advances demonstrate expertise in dissecting multi-scale neural processes from molecular mechanisms to circuit dynamics. Recent work reveals striatal dopamine's role in generalized prediction errors and neurotransmitter task-state dependencies.
No awards mentioned in provided text.
Dr. Costa leads a research team developing novel behavioral paradigms and molecular tools. Future work will examine dopamine-acetylcholine dynamics during latent learning and establish CRISPR methods for cell-type-specific gene editing in rats.
