Top Neuroscience Researchers at Columbia University for 2026

Columbia University’s neuroscience community spans clinical questions, cognitive mechanisms, and the methods used to study them. Over the past year, the work sampled here shows a campus-wide mix of research on memory, neurodegeneration, sensory systems, and neural signaling.

Below, you’ll find a closer look at researchers whose recent publications reflect that breadth, from studies of brain structure and biomarkers to work on cerebellar function, sleep, and decision-making.

Featured Researchers

Anil K. Lalwani

Anil K. Lalwani’s recent Columbia University work connects Sensory Systems, Cell Biology, and Molecular Biology through studies of music perception and emotional response in cochlear implant users.

Activity over the last year: 12 indexed journal articles.

Top publications:

• Emotional Responses to Music Are Diminished in Bilateral Cochlear Implant Users (Mar 2025)
• Bimodal fitting benefits emotional responses to music following unilateral cochlear implantation (Aug 2025)
• Music Enjoyment and Emotional Response to Music in Cochlear Implant Users are Independent of Listening Modality (Nov 2025)

Adam M. Brickman

Adam M. Brickman’s publications at Columbia University center on Psychiatry and Mental health, Physiology, and Imaging, with a strong focus on Down syndrome, cognitive stability, and Alzheimer’s biomarkers.

Activity over the last year: 17 indexed journal articles.

Top publications:

• A neuropathology case report of a woman with Down syndrome who remained cognitively stable: Implications for resilience to neuropathology (Jan 2025)
• The Alzheimer's Biomarker Consortium–Down Syndrome (ABC‐DS): A 10‐year report (May 2025)
• Decoding brain structure to stage Alzheimer's disease pathology in Down syndrome (Jan 2025)

Sheng‐Han Kuo

Sheng‐Han Kuo’s Columbia University research spans Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, Neurology, and Molecular Biology, with recent work on cerebellar ataxias and physiological recording methods.

Activity over the last year: 11 indexed journal articles.

Top publications:

• Home Training for Cerebellar Ataxias (Sep 2025)
• Spinocerebellar Ataxia Progression Measured with the Patient‐Reported Outcome Measure of Ataxia (Mar 2025)
• Protocol for recording physiological signals from the human cerebellum using electroencephalography (Jan 2025)

Jennifer J. Manly

Jennifer J. Manly’s Columbia University publications link Psychiatry and Mental health, Physiology, and Health through studies of cognitive functioning, neurodegeneration biomarkers, and vascular disease.

Activity over the last year: 11 indexed journal articles.

Top publications:

• Education and midlife cognitive functioning: Evidence from the High School and Beyond cohort (Feb 2025)
• Circulating Biomarkers of Neurodegeneration and Risk of Cognitive Impairment (Jul 2025)
• Alzheimer Disease, Vascular Disease, and Blood-Brain Barrier Permeability Biomarkers in Middle-Aged Adults (Oct 2025)

Qi Wang

Qi Wang’s Columbia University work bridges Cognitive Neuroscience and Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, ranging from inhibitory control and neurotransmitter signaling to amyloid-β pathology and pain perception.

Activity over the last year: 7 indexed journal articles.

Top publications:

• Phase synchrony between prefrontal noradrenergic and cholinergic signals indexes inhibitory control (Aug 2025)
• The interaction between neurotransmitter receptor activity and amyloid-β pathology in Alzheimer's disease (May 2025)
• Bidirectional modulation of somatostatin-expressing interneurons in the basolateral amygdala reduces neuropathic pain perception in mice (Aug 2025)

Yueqing Peng

Yueqing Peng’s Columbia University research combines Cognitive Neuroscience, Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, and Experimental and Cognitive Psychology across studies of seizures, sleep, serotonin, and nociception.

Activity over the last year: 6 indexed journal articles.

Top publications:

• Nociceptive neurons promote gastric tumour progression via a CGRP–RAMP1 axis (Feb 2025)
• Tonic-clonic seizures induce hypersomnia and suppress rapid eye movement sleep in mouse models of epilepsy (Jan 2025)
• Serotonin modulates infraslow oscillation in the dentate gyrus during non-REM sleep (Apr 2025)

Liam Paninski

Liam Paninski’s Columbia University publications bring together Cognitive Neuroscience, Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, and Electrical and Electronic Engineering in work on decision-making, motion correction, and dendritic excitations.

Activity over the last year: 9 indexed journal articles.

Top publications:

• Brain-wide representations of prior information in mouse decision-making (Sep 2025)
• DREDge: robust motion correction for high-density extracellular recordings across species (Mar 2025)
• Dendritic excitations govern back-propagation via a spike-rate accelerometer (Feb 2025)

Patrick J. Lao

Patrick J. Lao’s Columbia University research sits at the intersection of Psychiatry and Mental health, Public Health, and Physiology, with recent publications on Alzheimer’s pathology in Down syndrome and related conference advances.

Activity over the last year: 10 indexed journal articles.

Top publications:

• Decoding brain structure to stage Alzheimer's disease pathology in Down syndrome (Jan 2025)
• Genetically determined Alzheimer's disease research advances: The Down Syndrome & Autosomal Dominant Alzheimer's Disease 2024 Conference (Jul 2025)
• Age and sex are associated with Alzheimer's disease neuropathology in Down syndrome (Jul 2025)

What Columbia University's Neuroscience Community Is Working On

Across the sampled research, the most common themes are Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, Psychiatry and Mental health, Physiology, and Cognitive Neuroscience. That pattern suggests a community actively moving between molecular mechanisms and real-world brain health questions, especially around neurodegeneration, cognition, sensory function, and disease progression. The mix of subfields also points to a strong methodological range, with researchers pairing biological insight with clinical observation, imaging, and quantitative analysis to better understand how the nervous system changes across conditions and over time.

• Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience - seen across 4 of the featured researchers
• Psychiatry and Mental health - seen across 3 of the featured researchers
• Physiology - seen across 3 of the featured researchers
• Cognitive Neuroscience - seen across 3 of the featured researchers
• Molecular Biology - seen across 2 of the featured researchers

This snapshot offers just one view of how neuroscience research at Columbia University is evolving across lab, clinic, and data-driven approaches. If you’re exploring similar literature, keep following the threads that matter to your work—and consider using Resub to streamline citation discovery, manuscript formatting, and submission prep along the way.

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