Team

Staff Profiles

Scientist, Sr.

Brian joined the Allen Institute in 2016 as a scientist in the Human Cell Types research program. Before coming to the Allen Institute, Brian worked in the laboratory of Dan Johnston at the University of Texas at Austin as a postdoctoral fellow and research scientist. He performed patch clamp recordings from the dendrite and soma to study differences in the function of subpopulations of L5 neurons in prefrontal cortex. His work also focused on how neuron function is altered in a mouse model of Fragile X syndrome, the most common form of inherited mental impairment and the leading identified cause of autism. Brian completed his PhD in neuroscience at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston in the laboratory of Mike Mauk. There he studied interactions between prefrontal cortex and cerebellum during a form of associative learning, trace eyelid conditioning. Brian obtained Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in psychology at Western Washington University.

Research Interests

The brain contains a seemingly endless number of neuron types, yet all neurons perform a similar transformation of synaptic input arriving at the dendrite into action potentials initiated at the axon. The details of this transformation vary across cell types and are crucial in determining the function of a given neuron in its circuit. I use patch-clamp recordings from the soma and dendrite to investigate how the unique morphology, synaptic and intrinsic properties of different cell types shape a neuron’s input/output transformation. In collaboration with Seattle area neurosurgeons, I am participating in a project at the Allen Institute to extend this analysis to human cerebral cortex. Our goal is to use a combined analysis of gene expression, physiology and morphology to create a comprehensive taxonomy of cell types in human temporal cortex.

Expertise

Neurophysiology
Ion channels
Dendritic physiology
Behavior

Research Programs

Human Cell Types

Signature morpho-electric, transcriptomic, and dendritic properties of human layer 5 neocortical pyramidal neurons

Neuron
September 15, 2021

Kalmbach BE, Hodge RD, Jorstad NL, Owen S, de Frates R, Yanny AM, Dalley R, Mallory M, Graybuck LT, Radaelli C, Keene CD, Gwinn RP, Silbergeld DL, Cobbs C, Ojemann JG, Ko AL, Patel AP, Ellenbogen RG, Bakken TE, Daigle TL, Dee N, Lee BR, McGraw M, Nicovich PR, Smith K, Sorensen SA, Tasic B, Zeng H, Koch C, Lein ES, Ting JT

Scaled, high fidelity electrophysiological, morphological, and transcriptomic cell characterization

eLife
August 13, 2021

Lee BR, Budzillo A, Hadley K, Miller JA, Jarsky T, Baker K, Hill D, Kim L, Mann R, Ng L, Oldre A, Rajanbabu R, Trinh J, Vargas S, Braun T, Dalley RA, Gouwens NW, Kalmbach BE, Kim TK, Smith KA, Soler-Llavina G, Sorensen S, Tasic B, Ting JT, Lein E, Zeng H, Murphy GJ, Berg J

Functional enhancer elements drive subclass-selective expression from mouse to primate neocortex

Cell Reports
March 30, 2021

Mich JK, Graybuck LT, Hess EE, Mahoney JT, Kojima Y, Ding Y, Somasundaram S, Miller JA, Kalmbach BE, Radaelli C, Gore BB, Weed N, Omstead V, Bishaw Y, Shapovalova NV, Martinez RA, Fong O, Yao S, Mortrud M, Chong P, Loftus L, Bertagnolli D, Goldy J, Casper T, Dee N, Opitz-Araya X, Cetin A, Smith KA, Gwinn RP, Cobbs C, Ko AL, Ojemann JG, Keene CD, Silbergeld DL, Sunkin SM, Gradinaru V, Horwitz GD, Zeng H, Tasic B, Lein ES, Ting JT, Levi BP

Enhancer viruses for combinatorial cell-subclass-specific labeling

Neuron
March 23, 2021

Graybuck LT, Daigle TL, Sedeño-Cortés AE, Walker M, Kalmbach B, Lenz GH, Morin E, Nguyen TN, Garren E, Bendrick JL, Kim TK, Zhou T, Mortrud M, Yao S, Siverts LA, Larsen R, Gore BB, Szelenyi ER, Trader C, Balaram P, van Velthoven CTJ, Chiang M, Mich JK, Dee N, Goldy J, Cetin AH, Smith K, Way SW, Esposito L, Yao Z, Gradinaru V, Sunkin SM, Lein E, Levi BP, Ting JT, Zeng H, Tasic B.

A multimodal cell census and atlas of the mammalian primary motor cortex

Nature
October 6, 2021

BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Network (BICCN)

Comparative cellular analysis of motor cortex in human, marmoset and mouse

Nature
October 6, 2021

Bakken TE, Jorstad NL, Hu Q, Lake BB, Tian W, Kalmbach BE, Crow M, Hodge RD, Krienen FM, Sorensen SA, Eggermont J, Yao Z, Aevermann BD, Aldridge AI, Bartlett A, Bertagnolli D, Casper T, Castanon RG, Crichton K, Daigle TL, Dalley R, Dee N, Dembrow N, Diep D, Ding SL, Dong W, Fang R, Fischer S, Goldman M, Goldy J, Graybuck LT, Herb BR, Hou X, Kancherla J, Kroll M, Lathia K, van Lew B, Li YE, Liu CS, Liu H, Lucero JD, Mahurkar A, McMillen D, Miller JA, Moussa M, Nery JR, Nicovich PR, Niu SY, Orvis J, Osteen JK, Owen S, Palmer CR, Pham T, Plongthongkum N, Poirion O, Reed NM, Rimorin C, Rivkin A, Romanow WJ, Sedeño-Cortés AE, Siletti K, Somasundaram S, Sulc J, Tieu M, Torkelson A, Tung H, Wang X, Xie F, Yanny AM, Zhang R, Ament SA, Behrens MM, Bravo HC, Chun J, Dobin A, Gillis J, Hertzano R, Hof PR, Höllt T, Horwitz GD, Keene CD, Kharchenko PV, Ko AL, Lelieveldt BP, Luo C, Mukamel EA, Pinto-Duarte A, Preissl S, Regev A, Ren B, Scheuermann RH, Smith K, Spain WJ, White OR, Koch C, Hawrylycz M, Tasic B, Macosko EZ, McCarroll SA, Ting JT, Zeng H, Zhang K, Feng G, Ecker JR, Linnarsson S, Lein ES

Human neocortical expansion involves glutamatergic neuron diversification

Nature
October 6, 2021

Berg J, Sorensen SA, Ting JT, Miller JA, Chartrand T, Buchin A, Bakken TE, Budzillo A, Dee N, Ding SL, Gouwens NW, Hodge RD, Kalmbach B, Lee C, Lee BR, Alfiler L, Baker K, Barkan E, Beller A, Berry K, Bertagnolli D, Bickley K, Bomben J, Braun T, Brouner K, Casper T, Chong P, Crichton K, Dalley R, de Frates R, Desta T, Lee SD, D'Orazi F, Dotson N, Egdorf T, Enstrom R, Farrell C, Feng D, Fong O, Furdan S, Galakhova AA, Gamlin C, Gary A, Glandon A, Goldy J, Gorham M, Goriounova NA, Gratiy S, Graybuck L, Gu H, Hadley K, Hansen N, Heistek TS, Henry AM, Heyer DB, Hill D, Hill C, Hupp M, Jarsky T, Kebede S, Keene L, Kim L, Kim MH, Kroll M, Latimer C, Levi BP, Link KE, Mallory M, Mann R, Marshall D, Maxwell M, McGraw M, McMillen D, Melief E, Mertens EJ, Mezei L, Mihut N, Mok S, Molnar G, Mukora A, Ng L, Ngo K, Nicovich PR, Nyhus J, Olah G, Oldre A, Omstead V, Ozsvar A, Park D, Peng H, Pham T, Pom CA, Potekhina L, Rajanbabu R, Ransford S, Reid D, Rimorin C, Ruiz A, Sandman D, Sulc J, Sunkin SM, Szafer A, Szemenyei V, Thomsen ER, Tieu M, Torkelson A, Trinh J, Tung H, Wakeman W, Waleboer F, Ward K, Wilbers R, Williams G, Yao Z, Yoon JG, Anastassiou C, Arkhipov A, Barzo P, Bernard A, Cobbs C, de Witt Hamer PC, Ellenbogen RG, Esposito L, Ferreira M, Gwinn RP, Hawrylycz MJ, Hof PR, Idema S, Jones AR, Keene CD, Ko AL, Murphy GJ, Ng L, Ojemann JG, Patel AP, Phillips JW, Silbergeld DL, Smith K, Tasic B, Yuste R, Segev I, de Kock CPJ, Mansvelder HD, Tamas G, Zeng H, Koch C, Lein ES

Specialized Subpopulations of Deep-Layer Pyramidal Neurons in the Neocortex: Bridging Cellular Properties to Functional Consequences

Journal of Neuroscience
June 13, 2018

Baker A, Kalmbach B, Morishima M, Kim J, Juavinett A, Li N, Dembrow N

A robust ex vivo experimental platform for molecular-genetic dissection of adult human neocortical cell types and circuits

Scientific Reports
May 30, 2018

Ting JT, Kalmbach B, Chong P, de Frates R, Keene CD, Gwinn RP, Cobbs C, Ko AL, Ojemann JG, Ellenbogen RG, Koch C, Lein E

h-Channels Contribute to Divergent Intrinsic Membrane Properties of Supragranular Pyramidal Neurons in Human versus Mouse Cerebral Cortex

Neuron
November 1, 2018

Kalmbach BE, Buchin A, Long B, Close J, Nandi A, Miller JA, Bakken TE, Hodge RD, Chong P, de Frates R, Dai K, Maltzer Z, Nicovich PR, Keene CD, Silbergeld DL, Gwinn RP, Cobbs C, Ko AL, Ojemann JG, Koch C, Anastassiou CA, Lein ES, Ting JT

Increased transient Na+ conductance and action potential output in layer 2/3 prefrontal cortex neurons of the fmr1-/y mouse

Journal of Physiology
March 31, 2017

Routh BN, Rathour RK, Baumgardner ME, Kalmbach BE, Johnston D, Brager DH

A systems-based analysis of dendritic nonlinearities reveals temporal feature extraction in mouse L5 cortical neurons

Journal of Neurophysiology
March 1, 2017

Kalmbach BE, Gray R, Johnston D, Cook EP

Cell-Type Specific Channelopathies in the Prefrontal Cortex of the fmr1-/y Mouse Model of Fragile X Syndrome

eNeuro
November 17, 2015

Kalmbach BE, Johnston D, Brager DH

Dendritic generation of mGluR-mediated slow afterdepolarization in layer 5 neurons of prefrontal cortex

Journal of Neuroscience
August 14, 2013

Kalmbach BE, Chitwood RA, Dembrow NC, Johnston D