Associate Fellow in Experimental Neurobiology
desai@nsi.edu

The mammalian neocortex plays a central role in perception and in nearly all behaviors. It has many remarkable features, including its complexity, stereotyped organization, and capacity for plasticity. This last is especially intriguing, as it is thought to be the physical basis of learning & memory. Broadly speaking, my research interest is in understanding the detailed functioning of neocortical circuits. That is, I wish to understand how the individual elements, with their disparate properties, act together to implement cortical functions. To do this, I mainly use the techniques of cellular neurophysiology, though I also have interests in computational and systems neuroscience. Most recently I have pursued two distinct lines of research. The first concerns motor cortex, which controls voluntary movements. Using dynamic clamp and anatomical tracing techniques, we have been investigating how natural spike trains and background activity affect motor cortical behavior and plasticity. The second concerns the neural basis of Fragile X syndrome, which is the most common inherited form of mental retardation. Using a mouse model for the disorder, we have been investigating altered cortical plasticity.

Education:

• S.B., Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.)
• Ph.D., Physics, Cornell University
• Postdoctoral research associate, Brandeis University

Awards and Honors:

• Phi Beta Kappa
• Sloan Center for Theoretical Neurobiology Postdoctoral Fellowship (1995-1997)
• NIH Individual National Research Service Award (1997-2000)

Selected Publications:

N.S. Desai, T.M. Casimiro, S.M. Gruber & P.W. Vanderklish (2006) Early postnatal plasticity in neocortex of Fmr1 knockout mice. J. Neurophysiol. 96:1734-1745.

N.S. Desai & E.C. Walcott (2006) Synaptic bombardment modulates muscarinic effects in forelimb motor cortex. J. Neurosci. 26:2215-2226.

N.S. Desai (2004) Homeostatic plasticity in the CNS: synaptic and intrinsic forms. J. Physiol. (Paris) 97:391-402.

E.M. Izhikevich & N.S. Desai (2003) Relating STDP to BCM. Neural Computation 15:1511-1523.

N.S. Desai, R.H. Cudmore, S.B. Nelson & G.G. Turrigiano (2002) Critical periods for experience-dependent synaptic scaling in visual cortex. Nature Neurosci. 5:783-789.

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