Jack Waters is an Associate Investigator in the Neural Coding group. He leads a team who investigate the cellular and circuit mechanisms underlying changes in cortical physiology with behavior. Before joining the Allen Institute for Brain Science, he held postdoctoral positions at Stanford University and the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, Germany, and was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology at Northwestern University in Chicago. Previous research includes pioneering the combination of electrophysiology and 2-photon imaging techniques to study cells and circuits in intact rodents and examining how ongoing synaptic activity modulates the excitability of neocortical pyramidal neurons in vivo. He also developed the application of optogenetics to control the release of acetylcholine in neocortex and established that nicotinic acetylcholine receptors play a large role in shaping the effects of acetylcholine on neocortical pyramidal neurons. Waters holds a BSc in Biochemistry from the University of York and a PhD in Pharmacology from University College London.