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Sotiris Masmanidis, Ph.D.
Affiliations
Affiliations
Associate Professor, Neurobiology
Member, Brain Research Institute, California NanoSystems Institute, Molecular, Cellular & Integrative Physiology GPB Home Area, Neuroscience GPB Home Area
Research Interests

Our lab is broadly interested in the dynamics of basal ganglia and other neural circuits that mediate learning and movement. Some ongoing and recently completed projects are outlined below.

1. Dynamics of cortical and striatal circuits.

2. Function of dopaminergic circuits in associative learning and movement.

3. Altered neural dynamics in brain disorder models.

 

Biography:

Sotiris Masmanidis received an undergraduate degree in Physics from University College London, and a PhD in Applied Physics from the California Institute of Technology.  He was then awarded a Broad Fellowship in Brain Circuitry, and transitioned to neuroscience.  In 2012 he joined the faculty in the Department of Neurobiology at UCLA. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2019 and Professor in 2023.

Publications

A selected list of publications:

Lee Kwang, Claar Leslie D, Hachisuka Ayaka, Bakhurin Konstantin I, Nguyen Jacquelyn, Trott Jeremy M, Gill Jay L, Masmanidis Sotiris C   Temporally restricted dopaminergic control of reward-conditioned movements Nature neuroscience, 2020; .
Lee Kwang, Bakhurin Konstantin I, Claar Leslie D, Holley Sandra M, Chong Natalie C, Cepeda Carlos, Levine Michael S, Masmanidis Sotiris C   Gain Modulation by Corticostriatal and Thalamostriatal Input Signals during Reward-Conditioned Behavior Cell reports, 2019; 29(8): 2438-2449.e4.
Yang Long, Lee Kwang, Villagracia Jomar, Masmanidis Sotiris C   Open source silicon microprobes for high throughput neural recording Journal of neural engineering, 2019; .
Bakhurin Konstantin I, Goudar Vishwa, Shobe Justin L, Claar Leslie D, Buonomano Dean V, Masmanidis Sotiris C   Differential Encoding of Time by Prefrontal and Striatal Network Dynamics The Journal of Neuroscience, 2017; 37(4): 854-870.
Lee Kwang, Holley Sandra M, Shobe Justin L, Chong Natalie C, Cepeda Carlos, Levine Michael S, Masmanidis Sotiris C   Parvalbumin Interneurons Modulate Striatal Output and Enhance Performance during Associative Learning Neuron, 2017; 93(6): 1451-1463.e4.
Shobe Justin L, Bakhurin Konstantin I, Claar Leslie D, Masmanidis Sotiris C   Selective modulation of orbitofrontal network activity during negative occasion setting The Journal of Neuroscience, 2017; .