Cortex, Learning, Epigenetics, & Function
Our research investigates how meaningful experiences reshape the brain across timescales—from rapid sensory plasticity to enduring memory and cognitive resilience. We study how neural activity, sensory processing, and epigenetic regulation interact to stabilize adaptive brain states through coordinated changes in gene expression, neural circuits, and behavior.
Using approaches spanning systems neuroscience, behavioral neuroscience, electrophysiology, computational techniques and molecular genomics, we examine how learning transforms sensory cortical representations, how transcriptional dynamics influence memory formation, and how sensory dysfunction relates to brain health across the lifespan, aging, and neurodegenerative disease. A central goal of the laboratory is to uncover fundamental principles by which experience sculpts biological and psychological intelligence, and to leverage those insights toward improving brain health, cognition, and adaptive function across the lifespan.
"Within the labyrinth of auditory perception, With curiosity as their guiding light, They delve into the brain's grand interception, Unraveling the secrets of sound's delight." - ChatGPT
Directed by Kasia Bieszczad, PhD
A welcome to the CLEF Laboratory! We are part of the Department of Psychology, in the area of Behavioral & Systems Neuroscience (BSN) and situated on the New Brunswick Campus of Rutgers University, in Piscataway, New Jersey (USA). Our lab members are a team drawn from the rich neuroscience community in several Departments at Rutgers University and the Brain Health Institute, including the BSN Graduate Program, Neuroscience Graduate Program, and across Departments of Cell Biology & Neuroscience, Biology, Animal Sciences, Biomedical Engineering, Genetics, Psychology, Cognitive Science, and Computer Science. Together, our main goal is to understand how the adult brain learns and remembers information from our daily and significant experiences. A core feature of our investigation is understanding the mechanisms of neuroplasticity--the brain's ability to rewire and reorganize--especially in the cortex, at the highest neural levels of representation.
Read on to explore our research, team and approaches in more detail...
CLEF Lab Holiday Sweaters 2022
CLEF Lab December 2022
CLEF Lab Reunions June 2022
CLEF Lab December 2021
