Edward Mann received a BA in Experimental Psychology (1996), an MSc in Neuroscience (1998), and a DPhil in Pharmacology (2002) from the University of Oxford. His postdoctoral research in cortical network physiology was pursued under the mentorship of Ole Paulsen, University of Oxford (2002-2006), and subsequently Istvan Mody, University of California at Los Angeles (2007-2010). He was appointed University Lecturer at the Department of Physiology Anatomy and Genetics from 2011, associated with a Tutorial Fellowship at St Hugh's College.

 

The overarching goal of Edward’s research is to resolve how behavioural function and dysfunction can emerge from the electrical activity of cortical neurons. At the interface between levels, his work focuses particularly on how populations of excitatory and inhibitory neurons intrinsically coordinate their activity within cortical network oscillations - patterns of rhythmic brain activity that vary with behavioural state, and are disturbed in numerous brain disorders, including epilepsy and schizophrenia. The laboratory uses a combination of electrophysiological, optical imaging and optogenetic techniques in rodent cortex, in order to dissect the mechanisms underlying physiological and pathological oscillations, elucidate how these circuits are tuned by activity-dependent plasticity, and, ultimately, determine how different patterns of cortical synchronization shape behavioural motor output.