Professor Pankaj Sah

I am Director of the Queensland Brain Institute at The University of Queensland; Director of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Science of Learning Research Centre; and Editor-in-Chief of the new Nature Partner Journal npj Science of Learning.

I’m well-known for research into neural circuits in the amygdala, an area of the brain involved in emotional processing.

I have a medical degree from The University of New South Wales, and a PhD from The Australian National University (ANU). After postdoctoral work at the University of California and UQ, I established my own lab at the University of Newcastle in 1994, then became a group leader at the John Curtin School of Medical Research at ANU in 1997, before joining QBI as a founding member in 2003.

My lab studies the amygdala using a combination of molecular tools, electrophysiology, anatomical reconstruction and calcium imaging. More recently we’ve been doing electrophysiological recordings in patients undergoing deep brain stimulation for the treatment of movement disorders in Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor and Tourette’s syndrome. I’ve published more than 110 papers in international peer reviewed journals.

I was one of the key members in a successful grant application for $16 million in funding from the Australian Research Council to support the Science of Learning Research Centre (SLRC). The SLRC brings together neuroscientists, cognitive psychologists and experts in education to understand the learning process.

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