Abhishek Banerjee

Biography

Abhi studied Biochemistry and did a DPhil in Physiology/Neuroscience at the University of Oxford as a Felix Scholar in the laboratory of Professor Ole Paulsen. In his DPhil thesis, he studied spike timing-dependent learning rules and the roles of presynaptic NMDA receptors in cortical development and plasticity. During his postdoctoral training, he continued focusing on studying cellular mechanisms underlying cortical plasticity as a Simons Foundation Fellow at MIT with Professor Mriganka Sur. He investigated circuit mechanisms of inhibitory dysfunctions in Rett syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder in the autism spectrum, and revealed altered functional mechanisms (inhibitory gain control, E/I imbalance, delayed developmental Cl- dynamics) underlying the disorder. His work also proposed mechanistic rescue of these deficits upon human IGF1 (Trofinetide; the only drug approved by the FDA for Rett Syndrome) treatment in preclinical animal models. During his time at MIT, he was also an Instructor at the Department of Biology and a Teaching Fellow in Neurobiology at the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University. He was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow and NARSAD Young Investigator to work with Professor Fritjof Helmchen at the University of Zürich, where he developed assays to study flexibility of learning and plasticity involving prefrontal-sensory interactions. After a brief stint at Newcastle University as an Associate Professor, Abhi joined the Department of Pharmacology at Oxford and Barts and the London Queen Mary as a Professor of Neuroscience. He is also an affiliate at the Department of Psychiatry at Oxford and the Institute of Neuroinformatics, ETH-Zürich. His research is supported by a Wellcome Trust Career Development Award and a FENS-Kavli Scholar Award.