email mitra@cshl.edu, phone (516) 367-6942, fax (516) 367-8389

I am interested in gaining a fundamental understanding of the behavior of complex biological systems, both from a mechanistic, physico-chemical perspective, and from an engineering perspective emphasizing function. I am also interested in applying this knowledge to help improve therapies for brain disorders.

My research combines a number of approaches, including theoretical work, informatics, and experimental work. My theoretical interests are primarily in formalizing the treatment of biological function using ideas and methods from engineering. The informatics component of my research is devoted to the development of computational tools for analyzing neurobiological data, particularly electrophysiological data from experiments designed to probe cognitive phenomena. In addition, I am working on building knowledge bases to integrate information from the neuroscientific literature, both for the research and medical communities. I have an experimental research program studying memory formation in the fruitfly, integrating information across genetic, neural and behavioral levels. In collaborative research, I study song development in the zebra finch. My research is highly interdisciplinary and has a broad scope. I am also interested in the communication of science to a general audience.

Please visit the Mitra Lab home page.

Selected Publications

Womelsdorf, T., Fries, P., Mitra, P.P., and Desimone, R. 2006. Gamma-band synchronization in visual cortex predicts speed of change detection. Nature 439: 733-736.

Derégnaucourt, S., Mitra, P.P., Fehér, O., Pytte, C., and Tchernichovski, O. 2005. How sleep affects the developmental learning of bird song. Nature 433: 710–716.

Pesaran, B., Pezaris, J.S., Sahani, M., Mitra, P.P., and Andersen, R.A. 2002. Temporal structure in neuronal activity during working memory in macaque parietal cortex. Nat. Neurosci. 5: 805–811.

Andrews, M.R., Mitra, P.P., and deCarvalho, R. 2001. Tripling the capacity of wireless communications using electromagnetic polarization. Nature 409: 316–318.

Llinas R.R., Ribary, U., Jeanmonod, D., Kronberg, E., and Mitra, P.P. 1999. Thalamocortical dysrhythmia: A neurological and neuropsychiatric syndrome characterized by magnetoencephalography. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96: 15222–15227.