Dan Feldman is a neuroscientist who studies the function of neural circuits in the cerebral cortex using the rodent whisker somatosensory cortex as a model system. This model has powerful experimental advantages that allow cortical function to be studied at cellular, circuit, systems and behavioral levels, and which allow sensitive measurements of circuit dysfunction in mouse models of autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

Past work in the Feldman lab has focused on sensory coding, cortical plasticity and excitation-inhibition balance. Experimental approaches include dense neurophysiological recordings and 2-photon calcium imaging in vivo, synaptic physiology and quantitative sensory behavior. Feldman’s lab has studied how excitation-inhibition balance affects cortical circuit function in transgenic mouse models of ASD and is now investigating neural coding phenotypes in ASD.