Kristina Nielsen

Kristina Nielsen is an Associate Professor of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a researcher at the Zanvyl Krieger Mind/Brain Institute. She investigates the function, development, and plasticity of higher-level visual cortex circuits.

• PhD, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics (Germany)
• Postdoctoral work at Salk Institute (2006-2012) with Ed Callaway and Rich Krauzlis

Her research focuses on:

• Structure-function relationships in higher visual cortex
• Neural mechanisms of object recognition
• Developmental plasticity of visual circuits
• Two-photon microscopy applications in primates
• Viral vector-based circuit analysis

Key article trends include primate visual cortex organization, motion and shape integration, and cortical development mechanisms. She has contributed to journals like Nature, Neuron, and Journal of Neuroscience.

Scientific awards:

• CNRS 2025 bronze and silver medals

Current lab members include graduate researchers Dallas Khamiss, Emmanuel Osikpa, and Brandon Nanfito. Her team has received ANR funding for projects like 'Earlier stages of development of the motion pathway' and 'Encoding of 2D and 3D shape in primate V4.'