Dr. John Assad

Biography

John Assad is a Professor of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School and the Director of the Harvard Program in Neuroscience. His research focuses on the neuronal mechanisms of voluntary movement initiation in the mammalian brain, utilizing non-human primates and mice to examine attention, flexible coding in the parietal cortex, economic decision-making in the orbitofrontal cortex, and the interactions of basal ganglia-thalamic-cortical circuits. His lab employs a variety of techniques, including electrophysiological, behavioral, optical, and computational approaches to investigate how animals initiate self-timed movements compared to reactive movements triggered by external stimuli. A significant aspect of his work addresses movement disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease, by exploring how self-initiated movements differ from reflexive actions. Current experiments in his lab are aimed at examining the roles of dopamine neurons in the midbrain and different subtypes of striatal neurons, alongside identifying specific brain areas that contribute to the generation of voluntary movements.

Research Interests

Experience