Brian Lee
Senior Scientist
Brian Lee joined the Allen Institute in 2014 as a scientist in the Mouse Cell Types research program. Before joining the Allen Institute he was a postdoctoral research associate in the lab of Paul Kenny at the Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, FL. In Dr. Kenny’s lab he established electrophysiology and examined synaptic transmission and it’s role in nicotine reinforcement and aversion. Brian obtained his Ph.D. in neuroscience from Washington State University in 2011 under the guidance of Yan Dong, where he used electrophysiology, in vitro and in vivo optogenetics to examine the generation and maturation of neural circuits during cocaine exposure and withdrawal.
research focus
My research interests are to obtain a comprehensive profile of cell types within the visual cortex. Utilizing my experience in electrophysiology and in vitro optogenetics, I will use transgenic mice to methodically characterize the synaptic connections into the visual cortex, extract the cellular contents of single cells and obtain a full transcriptional profile with the hopes of further classifying specific cell types. With this information we can gain a more comprehensive understanding of the molecular underpinnings of the physiological diversity of different cell types, ultimately, building the framework of how visual information is coded within the brain.
