Julie Haas is a Professor at Lehigh University investigating neural attention mechanisms through electrical synapses in the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN). Her research integrates electrophysiology, optogenetics, and computational modeling to decode how inhibitory circuits filter sensory information, with implications for attention disorders. Her educational journey includes a B.A. in Music and Mathematics from Indiana University, a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University, and postdoctoral training at Harvard University and UC San Diego, supplemented by Computational Neuroscience studies at the Marine Biological Laboratory. Research focuses on electrical synapse plasticity as the core mechanism for attentional selection. The Haas lab examines how dopamine, GABA receptors, and amygdala inputs modulate TRN circuitry using in vitro brain slices and optogenetic tools. Key discoveries include activity-dependent long-term potentiation at electrical synapses and their role in sensory gating, bridging molecular dynamics to circuit-level functions through innovative computational models. Publication analysis reveals a decade-long trajectory from foundational electrical synapse characterization (2012-2015) to neuromodulatory mechanisms (2016-2021) and recent dopamine receptor investigations (2022-2024). This evolution demonstrates increasing complexity in understanding how electrical synapses integrate neuromodulatory signals for attentional control. Funding from NIH, NSF, Whitehall Foundation, and Brain and Behavior Foundation supports her lab's work. She teaches advanced courses including Synapses, Plasticity and Learning (Bios 385/415) and Neurophysiology Laboratory (Bios 278), training next-generation neuroscientists in cutting-edge techniques. The Haas lab operates within Lehigh's neuroscience facilities with specialized electrophysiology rigs, optogenetic systems, and computational resources for multi-scale analysis of thalamic circuitry, currently exploring electrical synapse dysfunction in neurodevelopmental disorders.








