MISSION

Welcome to the Mukherjee lab!

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Here, we take a systems neuroscience approach to understand how brain circuits support complex cognition and how their dysfunction contribute to psychiatric disorders. Our research primarily focuses on the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and its dynamic interactions with key brain regions like the hippocampus and thalamus.

 

We use an integrative approach, combining behavioral physiology with modern techniques such as virus based circuit tracing, single-cell transcriptomics, and opto/chemo-genetic perturbations. Using rodents and treeshrews as model organisms, we investigate how specific populations of neurons within the PFC and across its wider network work together to support cognitive functions like memory consolidation and inference based reasoning. By studying these circuits in freely behaving animals we formulate hypotheses about their functional roles and causally validate them using optical and pharmacological tools.

 

A key goal of our work is to understand the functional maturation of cognitive control circuits across normal development and their fidelity in animal models of psychiatric disorders. Ultimately, we hope to identify cell type specific circuits for targeted neuromodulation aimed at enhancing cognitive function in psychiatric and neurological disorders.​

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We are based out of the Center for Brain Research in Development, Genetics and Engineering (BRIDGE) at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania. These two world renowned institutions offer state of the art infrastructure, strong peer networks and deep domain expertise in all areas of neuroscience.

 

 

WE ARE HIRING!

 

​​If you are interested in joining our team please reach out via the contact form. We are hiring across all levels including post bac students, research technicians and postdoctoral candidates. Graduate students are recruited through the various graduate schools  as well as the physician scientist and MD/PhD  programs at CHOP and UPenn.

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