Adam Kepecs, PhD

Adam Kepecs, PhD

Robert J. Terry Professor of Neuroscience, Professor of Psychiatry, and BJC Investigator

Kepecs Lab | Google Scholar Profile

Research

The long-term goal of the Kepecs Lab is to reverse engineer the computational and neurobiological processes underlying cognition and decision-making and apply these insights to biological psychiatry.

By reverse-engineering how the brain performs cognitive tasks — often surpassing the most advanced machine learning models — we aim to uncover the circuit-level principles driving behavior, inform AI design, and open new avenues in psychiatric research.

Key questions driving our research:

  1. What algorithms govern behavior?
  2. How do specific neural circuits and cell types generate cognition, motivation, and emotion?
  3. How do brain-body interactions shape physiology and behavior?

Our experimental approach combines marking, mapping, monitoring, and manipulating neural circuits to understand how populations of neurons control behavior, emotions, and cognitive functions. We integrate quantitative behavioral analysis, high-density electrophysiology and imaging, optogenetics, anatomical tracing, molecular biology, and computational modeling, working across levels of analysis from individual neurons to whole circuits.

Our multidisciplinary team brings together researchers from diverse backgrounds to tackle neuroscience’s toughest questions. Driven by curiosity, we seek answers that bridge individual neurons, entire circuits, and complex behaviors. We believe that bold, sometimes unconventional experiments push science forward and we’re constantly inspired by the intricacies of biology.

Since joining Washington University, we’ve expanded into biological psychiatry and immunology, exploring new frontiers in brain-body physiology. We’re committed to translating our findings from animal models to clinical applications, aiming to improve mental health research and care.

Selected publications

Full list

  • Fischer KB, Collins HK, Pang Y, Roy DS, Zhang Y, Feng G, Li SJ, Kepecs A, Callaway EM. Monosynaptic restriction of the anterograde herpes simplex virus strain H129 for neural circuit tracing. J Comp Neurol. April 2023; 531(5):584-595. doi: 10.1002/cne.25451.
  • Christensen AJ, Ott T, Kepecs A. Cognition and the single neuron: How cell types construct the dynamic computations of frontal cortex. Curr Opin Neurobiol. December 2022; 77:102630. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2022.102630.
  • Szadai Z, Pi HJ, Chevy Q, Ócsai K, Albeanu DF, Chiovini B, Szalay G, Katona G, Kepecs A, Rózsa B. Cortex-wide response mode of VIP-expressing inhibitory neurons by reward and punishment. Elife. November 2022; 11:e78815. doi: 10.7554/eLife.78815.
  • Schmack K, Ott T, Kepecs A. Computational Psychiatry Across Species to Study the Biology of Hallucinations. JAMA Psychiatry. January 2022; 79(1):75-76. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.3200.
  • Schmack K, Bosc M, Ott T, Sturgill JF, Kepecs A. Striatal dopamine mediates hallucination-like perception in mice. Science. April 2021; 372(6537):eabf4740. doi: 10.1126/science.abf4740.
  • Hirokawa J, Vaughan A, Ott T, Masset P, Kepecs A. Frontal cortex neuron types categorically encode single decision variables. Nature. December 2019; 576:446-451.
  • Li SJ, Vaughan A, Sturgill JF, Kepecs A. A viral receptor complementation strategy to overcome CAV-2 tropism for efficient retrograde targeting of neurons. Neuron. 2018; 98(5):905-917.e5.
  • Mohanty A, Li Q, Tadayon MA, Bhatt GR, Shim E, Ji X, Cardenas J, Miller SA, Kepecs A, Lipson M. An active visible nanophotonics platform for sub millisecond deep brain neural stimulation. Proceedings Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 8426321. Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics, CLEO 2018.
  • Lak A, Nomoto K, Keramati M, Sakagami M, Kepecs A. Midbrain dopamine neurons signal belief in choice accuracy during a perceptual decision. Curr Biol. 2017; 27(6):821-832.
  • Sanders JI, Hangya B, Kepecs A. Signatures of a statistical computation in the human sense of confidence. Neuron. 2016; 90(3):499-506.
  • Hangya B, Ranade SP, Lorenc M, Kepecs A. Central cholinergic neurons are rapidly recruited by reinforcement feedback. Cell. 2015; 162(5):1155-68.
  • Lak A, Costa GM, Romberg E, Koulakov AA, Mainen ZF, Kepecs A. Orbitofrontal cortex is required for optimal waiting based on decision confidence. Neuron. 2014; 84(1):190-201.
  • Kvitsiani D, Ranade S, Hangya B, Taniguchi H, Huang JZ, Kepecs A. Distinct behavioural and network correlates of two interneuron types in prefrontal cortex. Nature. 2013; 498(7454):363-6.
  • Pi HJ, Hangya B, Kvitsiani D, Sanders JI, Huang ZJ, Kepecs A. Cortical interneurons that specialize in disinhibitory control. Nature. 2013; 503(7477):521-4.

Education

1997, BSc, Computer Science and Mathematics, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary

2002, PhD, Neuroscience, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA

Selected honors

James and Cathleen Stone Faculty Award, CSHL

Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow

Eppendorf and Science prize for Neurobiology, Finalist

John Merck Scholar

Klingenstein Fellow

Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow

McKnight Memory & Cognitive Disorders Award