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Daniel H. O'Connor

Daniel H. O'Connor, MA, PhD

Highlights

Languages

  • English

Gender

Male

Johns Hopkins Affiliations:

  • Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Faculty

About Daniel H. O'Connor

Primary Academic Title

Professor of Neuroscience

Background

Dr. Daniel O’Connor is an associate professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

His research focuses on neural circuits for touch perception and his lab is working to reveal the neural circuit foundations of sensory perception and provide a framework to understand how circuit dysfunction causes mental and behavioral aspects of neuropsychiatric illness. 

Dr. O’Connor earned his Ph.D. in molecular biology and neuroscience from Princeton University. He was a research specialist at the Janelia Farm Research Campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute before joining the Department of Neuroscience and the Brain Science Institute at Johns Hopkins in 2012.

Centers and Institutes

Research Interests

Circuit dysfunction, Neural circuits, Neuropsychiatric illness, Sensory perception

Lab Website

O'Connor Lab - Lab Website

  • How do brain dynamics give rise to our sensory experience of the world? The O'Connor lab works to answer this question by taking advantage of the fact that key architectural features of the mammalian brain are similar across species. This allows us to leverage the power of mouse genetics to monitor and manipulate genetically and functionally defined brain circuits during perception. We train mice to perform simple perceptual tasks. By using quantitative behavior, optogenetic and chemical-genetic gain- and loss-of-function perturbations, in vivo two-photon imaging, and electrophysiology, we assemble a description of the relationship between neural circuit function and perception. We work in the mouse tactile system to capitalize on an accessible mammalian circuit with a precise mapping between the sensory periphery and multiple brain areas. Our mission is to reveal the neural circuit foundations of sensory perception; to provide a framework to understand how circuit dysfunction causes mental and behavioral aspects of neuropsychiatric illness; and to help others fulfill creative potential and contribute to human knowledge.

Research Summary

Dr. O’Connor applies advanced methods of behavioral analysis, electrophysiology, two-photon calcium imaging using genetically encoded sensors, and molecular gain- and loss-of-function manipulations to study the function of the cerebral cortex circuits. He investigates how the cerebral cortex circuits produce sensory perception and the ability to pay attention and how dysfunction in these circuits manifests as neurological disease.

Dr. O’Connor and his team use mouse models to study how brain dynamics affect a person’s sensory experience of the world. They train mice to perform simple perceptual tasks. By using quantitative behavior, optogenetic and chemical-genetic gain- and loss-of-function perturbations, in vivo two-photon imaging, and electrophysiology, they assemble a description of the relationship between neural circuit function and perception. They work in the mouse tactile system to capitalize on an accessible mammalian circuit with a precise mapping between the sensory periphery and multiple brain areas.

By unraveling circuits for touch perception in the mouse, they expect to gain key insights into principles of mammalian brain function, and to provide a framework to understand how circuit dysfunction ultimately causes mental and behavioral aspects of neuropsychiatric illness.

Google Scholar

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=96YQhUgAAAAJ&hl=en

Selected Publications

Graduate Program Affiliations

  • Neuroscience Graduate Program

    Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology Graduate Program

Expertise

Education

Princeton University

Ph.D., 2006

Princeton University

M.A., 2004

Hampshire College

B.A., 1999