Dr. Sandra J. Kuhlman
Associate Professor, Biological Sciences and Biomedical Engineering
- Mellon Institute 187
- 412 268 8222
Mellon Institute 187
Carnegie Mellon University
4400 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Education
- B.S., Biology, Gettysburg College, 1993
- M.S., Biology, Northwestern University, 1996
- Ph.D., Physiology, University of Kentucky, 2001
Bio
Dr. Sandra Kuhlman is an Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences and jointly appointed as Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Kuhlman comes to Carnegie Mellon University from a postdoctoral research position at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Prior to UCLA, she held another postdoctoral research position at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and received her doctorate in Physiology from the University of Kentucky. She uses state-of-the-art microscopic techniques to visualize how the circuitry in the brain changes as it learns new skills. By comparing and contrasting how young and old brains adapt to new situations, Kuhlman seeks to better understand how circuit construction evolves over time and how this impacts learning and disease.
Research
Current projects in the lab are designed to answer the following questions, with a focus on cortical inhibition: What aspects of sensory-motor circuits are subject to modification during learning? How are the very circuits that are used during sensory-motor learning constructed in the first place? Computationally, how does cell-type diversity contribute to sensory encoding and learning? We use a range of techniques, including electrophysiological recordings of targeted cell types in-vivo and in-vitro, 2-photon microscopy, behavioral methods, and computational analyses.
Research Interests: influence of cortical inhibitory circuits on sensory development and perceptual learning
Awards and Recognition
- NARSAD Young Investigator Awards, 2006