Jessica Cardin, PhD

Jessica Cardin's research group aims to understand the functional flexibility of cortical circuits. The physical elements of a neural circuit, including cells and synapses, are largely stable over short periods. In contrast, the functional circuit, the subset of cells that are active participants, changes on a millisecond timescale, as does the output of the circuit. Using a multilevel approach that combines intra- and extracellular electrophysiology, mesoscopic and two-photon calcium imaging, and behavior, they aim to understand how excitatory and inhibitory neurons interact to promote flexible circuit function underlying perception and cognition.

animal models ;  electrophysiology ;  optogenetics ;  two-photon imaging ;  optical imaging  

circuits ;  cognition ;  computational neuroscience ;  neurons ;  systems neuroscience  

Cardin received her BA in Biology from Cornell University in 1997 and her PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania in 2004 and spent postdoctoral time at UPenn and MIT. She joined the Yale faculty in 2010, where she is now an Associate Professor and Vice Chair of the Neuroscience Department, and she has a secondary appointment in Psychiatry.