Arkarup Banerjee
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., CSHL School of Biological Sciences, 2016
abanerjee@cshl.edu | 516-367-6878
During a conversation, our brain must interpret what we hear and control our vocal response. How does the brain transform these auditory sensations into action? My laboratory uses singing mice as a model system to investigate the neural circuits in the brain that underlie vocal communication in mammals.
Social animals must interact with each other to cooperate and compete. Using sounds for such interactions is common across many taxa. Humans engaged in conversation, for example, take rapid turns to go back and forth–a feat that most of us tend to perform effortlessly, but which breaks down during neuropsychiatric disorders. Our understanding of neural circuits that underlie vocal communication, especially in mammals, remains quite rudimentary. Recently, we have discovered that a neo-tropical rodent, Alston’s singing mouse, engages in fast vocal interactions, even under laboratory settings. The Banerjee lab, using this novel model system, seeks to pursue two complementary questions. First, how does the auditory system interact with the motor system to generate the sensorimotor loop required for vocal communication? Second, what are the neural circuit modifications that allow behavioral novelty to emerge during evolution? Various rodent species exhibit marked differences in vocal behaviors. Genes that determine such behavioral differences, for example between the singing mouse and the lab mouse, must act via neural circuits within the brain. Yet, the structural and functional changes in the brain that specify the distinct vocal repertoires across related species remain unknown. Research in the lab combines cutting-edge systems neuroscience and comparative evolutionary analyses of neural circuitry across rodent species to bridge this knowledge-gap.
2024 Winship Herr Award for Excellence in Teaching, School of Biological Sciences, CSHL
2023-2026 Klingenstein-Simons Fellowship Awards in Neurosciences
2022-2024 Searle Scholar, Searle Scholars Program
2020 Advances and Perspectives in Auditory Neuroscience Talk award
2017 Selected as a Junior Fellow at the Simons Foundation Society of Fellows, NY.
2016 National Science Foundation Travel Award, AREADNE conference, Santorini, Greece.
2015 Best Talk at the Graduate Student Symposium, CSHL, USA.
2007 Karyn Kupcinet International Summer Fellowship, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel.
A perception quiz to blow your mind
March 26, 2025
Ready to think differently about how you see, smell, hear, taste, touch, and make sense of the world around you?
The greatest challenge in the universe
March 17, 2025
How does the brain turn sensory information into world-building neural responses? New answers could open the door to AI-powered therapeutics.
Banerjee named NAS Kavli Fellow
March 4, 2025
The National Academy of Sciences selects CSHL Assistant Professor Ararkup Banerjee to participate in its annual Kavli Frontiers of Science Symposium.
At the Lab Season 1 Research Rewind: Neuroscience
October 15, 2024
What do you think? How do you know? And who are you anyway? We probe each of these questions with the help of Cold Spring Harbor’s neuroscientists.
At the Lab Episode 9: Musical mice
May 28, 2024
We put the ‘mice’ in ‘maestro,’ with singing lessons from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory neuroscientist Arkarup Banerjee.
CSHL celebrates SBS Class of 2024
May 7, 2024
The CSHL School of Biological Sciences conferred 11 Ph.D.s and one honorary Doctor of Science degree during its 21st commencement ceremony.
Alien language: CSHL returns to Cinema Arts Centre
March 12, 2024
March 26: CSHL neuroscientist Arkarup Banerjee discusses “Mysteries of Language & Communication” at a special screening of sci-fi blockbuster Arrival.
How a mouse’s brain bends time
January 30, 2024
How does the brain govern communication? It’s all about timing. CSHL investigates with the help of a “musical” mouse from Costa Rica.
Cocktails & Chromosomes: Best shots of 2023
January 16, 2024
After a four-year hiatus, Cocktails & Chromosomes returned in 2023. Relive the past year’s best moments and see what’s in store for 2024.
The sound of music … by mice
December 22, 2023
Ever hear a mouse sing? Now you can. Listen to a pair of mice duets and see how their “songs” are helping scientists figure out how the brain works.
Simons Foundation: Singing Mice Hint at How Sensory Input Turns Into Behavior
NY Times: These Mice Sing to One Another—Politely
Discover Magazine: These Singing Mice Take Turns During Duets, Offering Insights into Human Speech
ARS Technica: Singing mice could offer clues about how human brains manage conversation
Selected Publications
Selective expansion of motor cortical projections in the evolution of vocal novelty
14 Sep 2024 | bioRxiv
Banerjee, Arkarup; Isko, Emily; Harpole, Clifford; Zheng, Xiaoyue; Zhan, Huiqing; Davis, Martin; Zador, Anthony;
Temporal scaling of motor cortical dynamics reveals hierarchical control of vocal production
30 Jan 2024 | Nature Neuroscience
Banerjee, Arkarup; Chen, Feng; Druckmann, Shaul; Long, Michael;
Using focal cooling to link neural dynamics and behavior.
19 Jun 2021 | Neuron
Banerjee, Arkarup; Egger, Robert; Long, Michael;
Motor cortical control of vocal interaction in neotropical singing mice
1 Mar 2019 | Science | 363(6430):983-+
Jr, Okobi; Banerjee, Arkarup; Matheson, Andrew; Phelps, Steven; Long, Michael;
All Publications
Parametric Modulation of a Shared Midbrain Circuit Drives Distinct Vocal Modes in a Singing Mouse
5 Apr 2025 | bioRxiv
Zheng, Xiaoyue; Harpole, Clifford; Davis, Martin; Banerjee, Arkarup;
An evolutionarily conserved scheme for reformatting odor concentration in early olfactory circuits
18 Feb 2025 | bioRxiv
Shen, Yang; Banerjee, Arkarup; Albeanu, Dinu; Navlakha, Saket;
Neural dynamics in the rodent motor cortex enables flexible control of vocal timing
23 Jan 2023 | bioRxiv
Banerjee, Arkarup; Chen, Feng; Druckmann, Shaul; Long, Michael;
Long-range functional loops in the mouse olfactory system and their roles in computing odor identity
26 Sep 2022 | Neuron | :S0896-6273(22)00810
Chae, Honggoo; Banerjee, Arkarup; Dussauze, Marie; Albeanu, Dinu;
Convergent behavioral strategies and neural computations during vocal turn-taking across diverse species
31 Mar 2022 | Current Opinion in Neurobiology | 73:102529
Banerjee, Arkarup; Vallentin, Daniela;
A non-canonical feedforward pathway for computing odor identity
27 Jan 2021 | bioRxiv
Banerjee, Arkarup; Chae, Honggoo; Albeanu, D;