Sheila Nirenberg is a Professor of Systems and Computational Biomedicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, renowned for her pioneering work in optogenetics, retinal prosthetics, and population coding in the nervous system. Her research bridges computational neuroscience and biomedical engineering to develop clinical solutions for visual impairments. B.A., State University of New York at Albany (1983) Ph.D., Harvard University (1993) Her research focuses on decoding neural circuits, particularly in the retina, to design technologies that restore vision. She has developed optogenetic therapies and computational models to understand neural coding, aiming to create high-resolution neuroprosthetics. Her recent work emphasizes translational applications of optogenetics in retinal degenerative diseases, with a focus on clinical viability, ocular safety, and real-time processing platforms. She has contributed extensively to understanding how large neural populations encode and transmit visual information. Nirenberg's lab has also explored retinal ganglion cell dynamics, predictive coding, and the role of correlated firing in neural networks. Her innovations include novel signaling pathways in retinal processing and methods for targeted neural ablation. She leads the Systems and Computational Biomedicine department at Weill Cornell, driving advancements in neuroprosthetic systems and computational models of retinal function.
