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Michael Yartsev

Michael Yartsev, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator · Professor of Neurobiology & Engineering · HHMI Investigator

Michael Yartsev is a Professor at UC Berkeley and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering from Ben-Gurion University and his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the Weizmann Institute, where he worked with Nachum Ulanovsky. He subsequently completed postdoctoral training as a C.V. Starr Fellow at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute with Carlos Brody.

His research focuses on the neuroscience of natural intelligence: the neural solutions that support the remarkable abilities animals naturally possess. His laboratory uses natural behavior as an experimental window into these mechanisms, combining neuroethology, neurotechnology, and NeuroAI to uncover general principles of brain function. Bats provide an especially powerful model because their natural repertoire includes demanding three-dimensional navigation, dexterous flight, rich social interaction, and other behaviors that expose neural computations that are difficult to access in more conventional preparations. His laboratory therefore follows the scientific question across brain systems involved in navigation, memory, movement, social interaction, and beyond, while developing the experimental and computational tools needed to study these mechanisms with precision.

Awards & Honors