Thomas Mrsic-Flogel is a neuroscientist whose work addresses a fundamental question: how does the brain combine sensory information with prior experience to perceive the world and guide adaptive behaviour? His research revealed that the structure of the sensory world is reflected in the specificity of synaptic connections between cortical neurons, establishing key principles of the circuit architecture that supports perception and inference. More recently, he has used large-scale approaches for recording and perturbing neural activity to study how computations within and across brain regions contribute to decision-making, working memory and flexible behaviour, working toward a mechanistic understanding of cognition at the whole-brain level.
Mrsic-Flogel has directed the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour at University College London since 2016, where he has built a research environment that integrates experiment and theory to achieve conceptual advances in understanding how neural circuits support intelligent behaviour. He previously held a professorship at the University of Basel (2013–2016) and was a Wellcome Research Fellow and Lecturer at UCL (2007–2013). He was awarded the Larry Katz Prize for Innovative Research in Neuroscience in 2015.
Professional position
- Professor in Neuroscience, University College London (UCL)
- Director, Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, University College London (UCL)
