Krishnan Padmanab

Dr. Krishnan Padmanabhan is an Associate Professor at the University of Rochester with dual appointments in the Department of Neuroscience and the Department of Biomedical Engineering. His research bridges experimental and computational neuroscience, focusing on understanding neuronal function in the mammalian brain and its disruption in psychiatric disorders like Alzheimer's Disease and Schizophrenia.

• BS in Biology and History, University of California, Los Angeles
• MS in Physiological Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles
• PhD in Neuroscience, Carnegie Mellon University
• Francis Crick-Irwin Jacobs Junior Fellow, Salk Institute of Biological Studies

Research interests include neural circuits, population coding, biophysical diversity, and the application of iPSC technology and optogenetics to study sensory perception and internal state integration. His work explores how memory and experience shape sensory processing and how these mechanisms are altered in neurological disorders.

Recent publications focus on dimensionality challenges in neural coding, top-down feedback mechanisms in olfactory systems, and iPSC-based disease modeling. Key subfields include optogenetics, retinal imaging, and computational approaches to neurophysiological data.

• Francis Crick-Irwin Jacobs Junior Fellow, Salk Institute

As Principal Investigator of the Neural Circuits and Computation Laboratory, Dr. Padmanabhan's team includes graduate students Zhen Chen, Anna Kolstad, and Karol Szymula. The lab develops tools for analyzing large-scale neural activity and investigates circuit-level disruptions in disease models.

Additional projects involve studying sensory processing in relation to internal states, computational principles of neural circuits, and iPSC approaches to modeling schizophrenia and autism.