Dr. Kanaka Rajan

Biography

Kanaka Rajan is an Associate Professor of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. Her research focuses on the computational neuroscience lab known as the Rajan Lab, where she utilizes experimental data and computational models to uncover the operating principles of the biological brain. Rajan's work merges the fields of brain research and artificial intelligence/machine learning to elucidate how the brain functions. By employing mathematical models grounded in collected neuroscience data, her laboratory designs artificial systems that mimic realistic behaviors of biological nervous systems. This involves investigating the mechanisms of learning, remembering, and decision-making as facilitated by the cooperative actions of neurons and synapses in fast time scales. Through her innovative research, she aims to bridge the gap between neural network theory and experimental data analysis, proposing integrative theories that can transform our understanding of brain functionality. Rajan's insights contribute to developing new hypotheses about the brain's operational dynamics, aiming to generate novel experiments that test her specific, quantifiable predictions about brain behavior.

Research Interests