Ole Paulsen gained a medical degree and a doctorate from the University of Oslo, Norway, before taking up a Departmental Lecturership in the Department of Pharmacology, Oxford, in 1994. During the years 1996-99, he was also a Junior Research Fellow at Wadham College. He was appointed University Lecturer in the University Laboratory of Physiology in 2000, associated with a Fellowship at Keble College.

Ole Paulsen's research interests are in cellular mechanisms of neural coding. In particular his research has focussed on understanding the relation between neuronal oscillations and synaptic plasticity in cortical circuits of the mammalian brain. His work has uncovered an important role for GABAergic interneurons in rhythmic network activity, and a role for specific spike patterns in synaptic plasticity. These results are important for the understanding of memory mechanisms in the brain. Future work will include the use of advanced imaging techniques to simultaneously monitor the activity of multiple neurons during network activity.

Further information can be found at Paulsen Research